Having been to a very poor Muslim country, I’m intrigued to go to a very rich one. These snippets from a New York Times article, reminded me of Mauritania and intrigued me as I wonder how oil changes the landscape of Arabic countries.
Dubai is building a archipelago of artificial islands resembling a map of the earth, covered with plush part-time residences for far-flung millionaires and billionaires and called simply The World. “It’s like Sea Monkeys!” Sea Monkeys are a novelty powder, really dried brine shrimp, that transforms into swimming creatures in water. “You start with nothing, just sand, You add water and – presto -instant city!”
Thudding jackhammers mingle with the call to prayer. I was reminded of the hot, flat sprawl of Tampa or Houston – until I glimpsed a fully veiled woman driving alongside my cab and saw two men in checkered headdresses pulling their Lamborghinis parallel to chat.
Only a third of Dubai’s residents are female.
And at my hotel that evening, I held the elevator door for a college-age Middle Eastern woman loaded down by bags bursting with huge boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.
“You came all the way to Dubai to buy cornflakes?” I asked in disbelief. She shot me a confused, slightly offended look. “I love cornflakes,” she said at last.
At twilight at the week’s end, you can almost hear the shouts of “Thank God it’s Thursday.”
