November 14, 2024
Events of November 11
License plates tell a story about the owner. Most plates have 5 digits. You pay extra for only 4 digits, lower numbers cost more. 3 digits more status. We saw one but I do not have a picture. 2 digits cost more. If you have a Bugatti, so does the next guy. But If you really want to impress you can have a 1 digit license plate for only 4 million dollars if you can even find a seller. That’s just for the plate, the car is extra. Can you imagine the house of a guy who can spend 4 million dollars on a license plate? That gives you an idea of the kind of crazy money circulating around here.
We passed a Rolls Royce with a 5 digit plate. What a loser. I’d be ashamed to be seen in it.
More fun facts:
How about a tax rate of zero? There is a vat tax of 5%.
No beggars. No homeless. No crime. No honking.
If you lose your job you have 30 days to find one or you are deported.
Before you decide to move here there is a downside. All vaccinations are free and mandatory. 100% vaccinated.
Cameras are everywhere. Surveillance. We had to pose for facial recognition and probably an iris scan at the airport. I asked our guide about censorship. You can say what you want but you have to be careful what you say. Our guide came from India. They don’t follow the rules in India. We had seen cars on the highway driving the wrong way. No problem there. Big problem here. Everyone here follows the rules. It is clean and safe. There are people living here from 194 nations. It all depends on leadership. Compare zero crime to San Francisco where you can steal up to maybe $1000 and it’s OK. Leadership.
Citizenship is not easy. We met someone whose family has been here for 3 generations yet are not citizens.
Where are the poor folks? They live in apartments, 5 to a room. Housing is expensive. An estimated 19% live in poverty but you don’t see them.
The building boom started in 2004 when the current sheikh came to power. He encouraged investment and tourism. Anyone can buy property in Dubai. I counted 19 construction cranes in one small area.
There are 7 Emirates. Dubai is one, Abu Dhabi is another. 7 kings. 7 sets of rules.
According to travelzita, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum is an Emirati politician and businessman who has a net worth of $14 billion. He serves as the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, as well as the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai. He is estimated to have 7 wives.
Properties are sold out before construction. You make installment payments along the way. This boom feeds other industries. All these apartments need floors, countertops, furniture etc. Workers to build and maintain. Boom, boom, boom.
We met workers from India, Pakistan, Belarus. Many more.
Traffic is awful. We were passed by a scooter on the expressway. The highway in front of our hotel has 30 lanes. Plus a train and bike lane.
They can build like this because they are starting with a blank slate. India has been occupied for hundreds or thousands of years. Those slums aren’t going anywhere. They relocate some but it’s not easy.
Yesterday we took a tour of the Heritage village. It’s brand new but built to look old. Disney like. Purely for tourists
Our guide wanted to show off his photographic skills
We couldn’t take a boat across the river gold souk (shopping area) because it was impossible to park. Not to worry, we had to drive.
We entered a jewelry store and a salesman wouldn’t even look up from his phone at us. Why waste the energy moving his eyeballs?
Some people might consider a gold dress tacky but after you have bought everything else, like a 4 million dollar license plate, you have to spend your money on something.
Here is the world’s largest gold ring.
We had some time to kill after our tour and before our scheduled visit to the highly touted Museum of the Future so we were dropped us off at the Dubai Mall.
This is the Asian section. Much prettier in person.
What is a mall without a waterfall?
How about a giant TV over the ice rink with a peek a boo from the food court?
There’s more.
We had to skeedoodle to the Museum of the Future so we found our way to the taxi stand and there was a line of about 1000 people and it wasn’t moving so we got out of line to get to the Uber section because an Uber would come in 2 minutes. I had to fill out forms and read (skip) pages of rules and when it was all done I got a message that Uber is not taking riders so back to the taxi line. Meanwhile we passed about 1000 taxis waiting for the 1001 people waiting for taxis and it’s beyond me why they couldn’t match up the two groups. So while I went in the exit to get back in line they wouldn’t let Laurie in that way and sent her around the other way past limos waiting for fares. I couldn’t make this up. So Laurie tells the limo to wait while she finds me back in place 1002 in the taxi line and to make a long story short off we go in the very reasonably priced (really) limo and get to the Museum of the Future in the near future. No waiting for taxi or Uber.
That was fun. The Museum of the Future had a neat blimp roaming around where you were waiting in the third line inside which was very cool.
The future they took us to was 2074 which it’s unlikely we’ll see and I can sum up their future in three words: I hope not. Since you were so patient I’ll give you another three words: save your money. We did get some neat pictures though.
Now for some more transportation fun. Uber was back in business so I called for a ride. The knowledgeable security guard told us the Uber spot is on the other side so we went to the other side like obedient tourists and wouldn’t you know our driver was waiting for us on . . . the original side. After one more round of ring around an Uber we did meet our driver and by the way we passed about 50 taxis while we were running back and forth doing the Uber dance. It was a nice Lexus so I convinced myself it was worth it.
That’s enough for one day and that was yesterday so I’ll tell you about today tomorrow.
Regards,
Steve & Laurie