Dubai, the largest of seven metropolises in the United Arab Emirates, loves extremes: everything there is bigger, more colorful and louder. There is no mediocrity here. Superlatives are produced non-stop. Visitors experience futuristic skyscrapers, gigantic shopping malls and spectacular amusement parks.
The late afternoon sun makes the white roof of a golf club, modeled on the sail of an Arabian wooden boat, appear even more glaring. We sail past this elegant building in our small seaplane in Dubai on the natural inlet of the Persian Gulf.
Until pilot Bryan McDonald turns his ten-seater plane on the gentle waves of the creek and applies full throttle. Now the engine roars, the machine shakes and shakes, the spray from the two swimmers slightly fogs the windows of the plane and the nine-person travel group is in the air – above what is without a doubt the craziest city in the world.
Dubai – the largest of seven metropolises in the United Arab Emirates – loves extremes, there is no such thing as mediocrity. Here, ever more gigantic, unusual buildings are being built in the former desert, and the emirate is taking giant steps towards the future.
Superlatives are churned out and one world record after another is set. This is how Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, loves it. However, the glittering metropolis had to postpone the “Expo 2020” by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims to accommodate the most tourists in the world by 2025. Income from international tourism has already ended dependence on oil.
Where pearl divers once did their work
Just a few short blinks of an eye and we are flying over the congested highway at dizzying heights. The view falls on another impressive structure, a 150 meter high picture frame. The Dubai Frame at Zabeel Park is clad in 15,000 square meters of gold-colored steel and 21-carat gold leaf, now glistening in the sun. We visited it yesterday and strolled through the past in the form of an old souk in the lower part of the picture frame.
It recreates the time before oil was discovered in 1966, when most residents were still practicing their trade as fishermen or pearl divers. From there the elevator takes you to the upper part of the frame in 75 seconds. The view through the large glass fronts is gigantic.
On one side, towards the north, the view falls on old Dubai with the low buildings of the Deira district, where it all began. On the opposite side, the futuristic skyscrapers rise up and with them the tallest tower in the world, Burj Khalifa at 828 meters.
Right now the view is falling on him from the plane window and his thoughts are going into a tailspin. You go back to the Dubai Mall with the artificial lake, Lake Burj Dubai. We wanted to reach it shortly before 11 p.m. the previous evening to enjoy the last dancing water fountain, which shoots up every 30 minutes every day from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
150 meter high water fountains dance to music
Due to the usual traffic jam, we were so late that we had to run through the Dubai Mall with its 1,200 shops. There was only a short stop at a huge aquarium, which is home to 33,000 sea animals and fish, including sharks, bass, rays and other reef inhabitants.
And then we managed to marvel at the water fountains in front of the 828 meter high Burj Khalifa on time. After all, they also hold a world record, dancing up to 150 meters high, which corresponds to the size of a 50-story skyscraper, accompanied by various music tracks.
By the way, Burj Khalifa will be replaced as the tallest tower in the world by the Dubai Creek Tower at 1,345 meters. The current completion dates are between 2023 and 2024. Its foundations have already been completed by a German specialist company.
When it comes to speed, a revolutionary American idea is also striving to set the world record in public transport. The Hyperloop will connect the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi at a speed of 1,200 kilometers per hour in just twelve minutes. The passengers are transported through a vacuum tube in autonomous cargo capsules.
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Mega theme park with more than 100 attractions
Now the artificially raised palm island of Palm Jumeirah appears from a bird's eye view in the middle of the turquoise Persian Gulf, as well as next door – almost small when viewed from the plane – Burj Al Arab, the 321 meter high luxury hotel in the shape of a sail, which is now one of the landmarks of the Emirati city.
Before pilot Bryan McDonald turns his plane around for the return flight, the extensive green spaces of the “Dubai Parks and Resorts” come into view far back on the edge of the city. The mega theme park offers more than 100 indoor and outdoor attractions. You can even spend the night there: in a palm tree resort modeled on the South Seas, complete with lagoon-shaped pools.
During our visit we noticed the many young women who proudly wore their Arabic clothing with the cloak “abaya” and the headscarf “lahaf”, just as their husbands were friendly with tourists in the “dishdasha”, the long Arabic robe Swimwear entertained. You rarely experience something like this in a German theme park – just like the passionate live performances full of action, dance and romance in the Bollywood film world.
Our seaplane gently touches down again on the “creek”. It has long been clear to passengers that Dubai is right with its vision of superlatives and craziness. In addition to the always perfect weather, they are without question another reason for this rush of tourists.
Further information: www.visitdubai.com/de
Participation in the trip was supported by FTI. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at here
