The tallest building in the world: shaped like a flower when looking down on it from a sky-view; rising up from the dust of the desert as high as an airplane would fly. 

A member of our security staff  was in the van that picked me up from the airport when I arrived here. As we drove into the city that is Dubai, I saw the towering skyline, the largest billboard advertisements, and the intricate (I'll argue way too complicated) network of roads and highways, for the first time. In response to my staring in awe and wonder, he said to me, "This is what money can do. All of this: built and sustained on nothing but the pure, dry desert." And he is right. The United Arabic Emirates is the eighth richest country in the world, just behind the United States. And that is saying something, considering the entire country is barely the size of some of our smallest states. The money that comes from the UAE's oil supply is slowly shifting to instead come from a newly developed tourism industry. Dubai is the forefront of such tourism. 

Dubai offers the world's only 7-star resort hotel (Atlantis on the Palm), the world's tallest building, the world's largest indoor ski hill, the world's largest mall, man-made islands in the shape of palm trees and also in the shape of a world map. It seems to me that half of the tourism draw is the city striving to have the "largest," "best," "tallest," "only," or "first" of many entities in our world. It may not even be all that great, but the curiosity to find out what all of the talk really means for such places is enough to get people in and paying the required fees to see such things. 

The Burj Kahlifa is one such entity. You have to go up the tallest building in the world to see what its really like, right? Being the easiest thing to organize for our first day off (the day after arriving) in Dubai, quite a lot of us bought the ticket to take the ride up to the 124th floor Observation Deck (out of 163 floors total). I will say, it is a cool experience to see Dubai and its surrounding desert from so high up. The observation deck circles almost all the way around the building, so you can get a good 360 view from the top. The walk to the elevators and the elevator itself felt as if we were in the future; everything is sleek, clean, modern, and innovative. Even the music playing felt futuristic. 

The unfortunate fact is that the dusty air here makes it near impossible to have an entirely clear view of anything. And my camera wouldn't focus on the background view when taking a picture of us on the deck. But what can I say? You win some, you lose some. :-) 

The best way to find the entrance of Burj Khalifa is through the Dubai Mall - the largest mall in the world. Yes, you will get lost. We took the metro from the station near our hotel to the Dubai Mall station, and yet it was another 20-minute walk through seemingly never-ending skyways to actually get into the mall. And another hour of wandering and wrong-turns among every store one could possibly ask for before finding our way to the Burj. The mall is impressive. There is an ice skating rink (certainly a novelty in the desert!), an aquarium, a mini-theme park, towering fountains, a garden atrium, countless restaurants, countless shops large and small, and of course the entrance to Burj Khalifa. I personally found it overwhelming. The "first day jet lag," extreme air conditioning and artificial lighting took a toll on most of us throughout the day there. 

Despite being worn out from mall walking and an ear-popping elevator, the Dubai Fountain show made for a great end to the day. Just outside the Dubai mall is the largest fountain show in the world (of course). It is similar to the Bellagio Fountains in Vegas, only twice as vast with higher water spouts. A minute-long show plays every half hour starting at 6pm. Having seen the Bellagio Fountain show last year, it was fun to see this one and compare. The water "choreography" along with music and lighting made for a very impressive show. 

Our day at the Burj and the mall certainly made for a good gateway into what Dubai is all about - the largest, best, most innovative, and shiniest. It is hard to fathom how much money is so apparently poured into one city, and almost a little discomforting. It is a complete culture change from being in South America just several days prior. Yet I am striving to experience it with open eyes; ready to learn and appreciate what the Middle Eastern culture is, as I honestly do not know much about it. Here's to experiencing it all! 

A full week of flying: leaving Santiago, Chile on Monday; arriving in Raleigh on Tuesday; leaving Raleigh on Friday afternoon; arriving in Dubai, UAE on Saturday evening. I am grateful for those couple days in Raleigh to do laundry, switch out my clothes (for the change in weather and culture), and see my wonderful family. 

I am also grateful for having only one layover in my travel to Dubai. Once I arrived and had dinner in Dulles International Airport, it was a simple twelve-hour flight to the Arabian peninsula. I cannot say it is comfortable to sit (or stand, or walk, or shift positions a million times) for twelve hours, but it is quite simple to settle and occupy oneself until... you're there. It was a nice change from the multiple layover flights I'd had going to and from South America, and I truly cannot complain. The airline ticket stub stating "Dulles to Dubai" may be the only airline ticket I ever keep.