First words dubai

Dubai is pretty central in the middle east. Google earth tells me that, as the crow flies, I am this many miles from (1 mi = 1.6 km):

Saudi Arabia 240 mi
Iran 100 mi
Iraq 550 mi
Afghanistan 475 mi
Pakistan 400 mi
Somalia 950 mi
Milwaukee 7200 mi

And at my next destination in Goa, India, it will be 8300 miles from milwaukee - only slightly shorter than the trip to eastern australia.

Dubai has a population of around 2 million, but the first strange thing I notice on arrival is that I hardly see any emiratis - natives to the United Arab Emirates. In fact they only make up 17% of the population. More than half the population is indian or pakistani, and southeast asians make up most of the remainder, with about 1% of the population being from Europe. What this translates to is that Dubai is a slave economy. While it's true that capitalism is slavery, it is particularly obvious here. Young emerati men drive around in incredibly expensive luxury cars, giving a vibe that one is in beverly hills. Apparently they work high paid jobs that are easy and only 4 hours per day, virtually guaranteed given their birthplace. This is juxtaposed against the background of a strange city in the desert, which one is constantly reminded of walking through the sand in between high rise apartment buildings. There are hints of poverty but the poor are tucked away somewhere on the outskirts, there are no shantytowns to be seen in the central city - so western tourists can't tell that they are only paid $7 per day to build this city under dangerous conditions. But I hope to rent a car to go see the slums, as well as the oilfields that they also would rather keep hidden.

The urban plan here is basically a nightmare. Some streets are almost impossible to cross on foot or bike, and while people don't drive as crazy as I anticipated, they don't give a fuck about anyone that isn't in a car. Even for stop signs they generally don't stop, even if you are already crossing the road.

But this country is a very, very rich country. Construction projects on vast scales abound. They are in the process of building three strings of islands, adding literally hundreds of miles of coastline to the city, and they plan to build housing for millions there. Jerome and I joke that the sheikhs just fuck around on wikipedia all day looking for the world's biggest this or that, and then making a bigger one. How else would they one-up milwaukee with a bigger four faced clocktower? They probably don't even know where milwaukee is. They've also built the tallest building in the world - 1000 feet taller than the sear's tower, the tallest in the United States. Most government buildings are in all marble, from top to bottom. But when the wind blows one can't forget that we are still in the middle of a brown desert with nothing to offer but oil and a meaningless spectacle.

The new architecture here is certainly trying to rival that in barcelona; in fact, in terms of bmx I would call dubai the barcelona of the middle east. It's incredible to me that when all those guys came here for the xgames they didn't bother to leave the fucking hotel. But hey, what's new? And this way jerome and I get to be the first ones to ride here - everything is untouched. Riding down the street there is stuff to ride almost everywhere. On one block there is the old architecture with random alley and street gibs; on another block a new skyscraper with a plaza that is basically a marble iceskating rink. In one neighborhood alone, on literally every block, there were wedges to ride, on every side of each building. It could easily be called "the wedge district" (like the hammock district..).

Jerome and I had an amazing session the first day, riding from the evening through half the night. The city is really huge, spread out over a long coastline. There is lots to explore here in terms of bmx, the spectacle, the desert, global capitalism.. I'm super psyched to be here.