Dubai Is An Odd Place.

It's black and white from Muscat to Dubai.  While the former is populated by friendly Omanis,  the  work force of Dubai is 99 percent foreigners, largely of Phillipino, Indonesian or Pakistani origin.   All very friendly and helpful, mind you, but you don't run into many resident nationals.   What I saw in a day was of coarse limited.   I was excited to see the QE2, docked in front of us at Port Rashid.   Cunard ran a free shuttle to a shopping mall (gleaming new),  which happened to be on Dubai's newly opened metro line.    I took it out past a row of skyscrapers and a ten lane highway to the world's tallest building,  Burj Tower, to see if I could get to the top.   The underground station at the mall is perhaps the most beautiful new one I've ever seen,  all bathed in serene blue.    The tower has it's own stop, and, of coarse, it's own shopping mall.  Dubai's malls are famously huge and over the top, this was no exception--the world's largest!.      It was a short walk across  a sandy landscape, there was no entry into it save down a ramp into the parking garage, then a long and winding stroll to the far side where the tickets are sold.    Dubai is in a terrible recession as you know, the shops are all high end and were notably empty, I thought.   But not the ticket counter for the At The Top Experience, as they call it.    They were selling tickets  at $40 for three days later, or for immediate entry, about $120.    I thought about a minute, said well I'm here, could have spent $270 for tea at the sail-shaped hotel on the Cunard tour, go for it!      The tower is now called Burj Khalifa, in a humiliating bit of bad timing it's opening coincided with a $15 billion bailout courtesy of neighboring Abu Dhabi's ruler Sultan Khalifa.   The only bit of the tower to open was the observation level, which is not At The Top, but rather floor 124 of 160.     It was January 27 the day I was there,  on Feb 9, the elevator "malfunctioned",  to the sound of an explosion, broken glass and smoke.   They had to lower a ladder into the shaft to evacuate the terrified passengers.  The tower is now indefinitely closed.  ,  So I'm really glad I did it!    The tower from the outside is really, really beautiful--like from Metropolis.    It resembles a bit Frank LLoyd Wright's design for a mile high skyscraper,  though it's just over half a mile at 2,717 feet.   Twice the height of the World Trade Center,  and much taller the rest of Dubai's skyline, which is now plagued with idled cranes.  The view was murked up by haze, what was really obvious was that the city is very unfinished and very sandy!    I wouldn't want to live there, imagine 110 degrees and a sand storm!   Yikes!   It was fun and at the same time creepy to be up there,  what really creeped me out though was the elevator.   It was tiny, they said it was the world's fastest, at 25 mph, was lined with glass, behind which LEDS flashed and videos played, touting the buildings real estate for sale, all to soft Arabian music.  It took a long minute!     After descending (without incident, thankfully)   I went back to the metro, where I talked to an American engineer who said that 95 percent of construction was stopped, that the interior of the tower is unfinished, and that it was depressing to be in Dubai at the moment.    Took the Metro to the old part of the city, which was a lot more interesting, really.   Dubai was founded on trade, and here, along Dubai Creek is where you'll see all kinds of old wooden boats, piled high with goods.        Strolled around a bit,  then back to home on QM2!