Dubai Marina, UAE. November 2019
Build it and they will come
On my first visit to Dubai, now 11 years ago, Dubai Marina astounded me. Over the next decade of Dubai stopovers and vacations, I saw it get better and better. The marina project was officially started in 2003 and what I saw of it in 2010 was just seven years old. It was literally built from zero on a barren, desert seashore. My enduring impression is that a slice of Manhattan's East Side was put between a beach and a canal. Along with Hong Kong and Chicago, in all my travels, only Dubai Marina reminds me of New York City. I watched with awe as one striking, twisted tower rose slowly to completion over the years. That building was later copied all over the world. Dubai Marina had become a place for architects to experiment and show off. In response to people's incessant question of "what was your favorite....", Dubai Marina has to be included - with one caveat.
Winter in Dubai, from late November to early March, feels pleasant. Hot days and warm nights, the temperature is ideal for visiting. In the "very hot" weather on either side of winter, night time is still pleasant enough, but daytime has roasting temperatures - Dubai is still tolerable. Then, there is the BIG HOT of June, July, and August where both day and night are oven-like and people remain indoors all day akin to deep winter in northern climes. Even if I won the lottery and bought a penthouse suite in Dubai Marina, I wouldn't choose to live there year round. In North America, we call people from the north who flee to the south for the winter, "snowbirds". Are people from Dubai who head to more moderate temperatures in summer, "firebirds" perhaps?
My friend DV commented once on how Chicagoans wildly embrace the summer. When he first moved there, he was shocked at how people seemed to want to suck every minute of enjoyment out of a summer day. After a winter in Chicago, he understood - their brief summer had to be squeezed dry to sustain everyone for the winter. The same can be said for Dubai. The Marina becomes a focal point for Dubai residents to enjoy the delicious winter months. On a December weekend, the Marina is mobbed with people dining al fresco and walking along waters edge. They are glomming onto all that good weather knowing what awaits them in July.
Two memories of Dubai Marina stick with me in spite of countless visits:
On an my first visit to Dubai with MWK, who lives and works there, we visited the Dubai Marriot Harbor Hotel, one of the Marina's tallest buildings. A quarter of the way up, we found a terrace with a restaurant overlooking the loveliest part of the harbor. We ordered some red wine at dusk and watched the sun set as the lights came on along the waterfront below - a breathtakingly beautiful travel moment shared with a dear friend. In the years that followed, MWK and I took many long walks with coffee stops in the Marina, but nothing ever topped that high flying glass of Shiraz overlooking the yachts of the rich and famous.
On my last visit to Dubai before the world shut down for the pandemic, I was with WMF from Duhok on his first visit to UAE. We also enjoyed a great walk through the Marina. He marveled at it all, but mixed in with his wonder, he had bitter commentary. "A bunch of uncivilized Arabs with no history discover oil and build this out of nothing. Iraq has far more oil, a better educated populace, longer history, better land - if Iraq had invested even a quarter of its oil wealth in building a modern state, it would be better than Dubai, maybe even better than Europe or the USA." Mixed in with enjoying a vacation was his sadness and anger at realizing what would never be for his own country. He gave me a completely different perspective of Dubai and its lovely Marina. WMF was not envious; he was just disappointed and frustrated. The Marina for him was just an opportunity missed.
When I win the lottery, an apartment in Dubai Marina is on my list of future residences. Stay tuned, but don't visit me in July.