Searching for the "real" Dubai

I’m starting to feel that the “real” Dubai is in the past. That the real heart of this place has been lost in the sands of time. Everywhere you go, everything is new. Breathtakingly new. It seems the past has been bulldozed.

When I get to a new place I like to try to get a feel for it. I like hearing about the history and going to the older parts of town. Everyone always wants to show off what’s new and shiny in a place. I always feel like they’re trying to keep me away from the real soul of a place when they do that.

So I have been looking for the “real” Dubai.

Videographer Alberto Moreno and I heard about the Gold Souk in the “old part of town.” A “souk” is basically a market. The Gold Souk is where you buy gold jewelry in Dubai. It’s a tradition that goes back “years and years,” according to our wonderful guide Donald.

We’re bouncing through the streets, I keep looking for something that looks old. Old like it looks in Spain. Old the way it looks in Rome. You know, “old!” So we get to the Gold Souk. It is old. The buildings go back 30 years! And I thought I felt old before I got here…

We get some video of people shopping and wander around looking at every kind of gold thing you can imagine. Gold watches, gold necklaces, small (and large) gold bulls. Anything you want in gold, it’s at the Gold Souk. And it does feel old. At least it feels older than the rest of the areas we’ve seen in Dubai. But it still doesn’t have the authentic thing I’m still looking for. That area you get to and go, “Oh yeah. Now THIS is Dubai!”

Men and women are dressed traditionally all around me. The men in their glowing, white Dishashas, the women in their perfectly black Abayas. They seem to clash with so much newness. Their older way of dressing in such contrast to the gleaming glass and steel.

We drive on.

We drive and drive a lot on these trips. I’ve worked all over the world making television shows. It’s always the same; get in a van, drive all over creation trying to get the shots you need to tell the story of the place. Whether it’s Dubai or Cuba or Los Angeles or even Yaak, Montana, it’s always the same. You’re trying to get the best possible shots of the most interesting places. And you don’t want to shoot everything at noon, or when the light is harsh or makes things look ugly. Or ugly-er. You’re always chasing the light to make sure it looks good on video.

So we’re chasing the light and banging around inside the van, the way we’ve banged around inside vans all over the world.

All around me are the clear signs of a place on the rise. I mean that literally as well as figuratively. The buildings are going up at an amazing pace, but it seems Dubai is rising as well. This is a place of business. I keep hearing over and over that trade is the main business. Dubai doesn’t have much oil and not many natural resources. But goods and supplies are moving through here fast. Basra was one of the main ports before 9/11 and the wars that followed. When that area got too hot for easy business, things moved to Dubai. So the ports are bustling and people are coming here from all over the world to do business. To “trade” one thing or another. Mostly what changes hands here is money.

Tom Miles, the MSU grad who runs Festival City, says this place feels a little like post-war America in the 1940’s. “It feels like a place where anything is possible,” he says. “And, really, it is.”

The Michigan State University campus fits right into that notion. People here have told me it makes perfect sense for MSU to open a campus here because the need is huge. One of the men who runs the educational system here told me it’s time to focus on the people of Dubai. He talked to me about how the making of money has long been the goal here, but that it’s not enough. He talked about how people need quality education. And no education is seen as more valuable than an American education here in Dubai, and around the world for that matter.

The fact that MSU Dubai is a non-profit makes a big difference. It means something to the parents who want to send their kids here. They know Michigan State is trying to provide the best learning experience and not line its pockets. We may be one of the few places here providing something you have to pay for, but can’t buy.

I am thinking about all of this as we careen through the streets of Dubai. We’ve just driven through a maze of construction. My head is spinning at the number of fantastic cars around here. It’s almost impossible to look around anywhere and not see Aston-Martins and Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis. This whole place seems like a sort of catwalk for car models.

Finally we slow to a stop at Jumeirah Beach. It’s one of the first places where I can look in at least one direction and see no cranes, no scaffolding. It’s beautiful. We all pile out of the van and get the gear set up. The sunset should be awesome because there’s a bit of haze in the sky. Clear skies make for lousy sunsets. A little haze or smoke…perfect.

I’m just wandering along the beach and picking up seashells for my kids. I’m thinking about how this place can be so confusing. I guess I feel a little confused because I haven’t been able to get a handle on Dubai. Usually I’m pretty good at that in new country. But as I’m walking along the beach, dusting off shells and tucking them in my pockets, I start thinking about all the running around we’ve done trying to make sense of this place and tell its story for our show. It seems to me that Dubai is a place of motion, a place where things change rapidly. An area unveiled as “New Dubai” is old in a few years and replaced with a new “New Dubai.” But I think that’s the way it’s been out here forever. The shifting sands meant the people who lived in the desert moved around a lot. They moved to find water and food. They moved to trade with other nomadic people. So maybe the “real” Dubai that I’m looking for is all around me. Maybe the “real” Dubai is about change, constant change. Perhaps the true spirit of this place is in the people who live here and their customs. You see it in the way they dress. The long white robes for men, the black for women. They are Muslim and pray five times each day in a tradition that stretches far into the distances of history. Maybe the “real” Dubai is there, in things like traditions and customs. In religion and belief. The buildings come and go. They get torn down and newer ones sprout up. Roads are built, used, abandoned and new ones take their place. As I walk along the beach I’m thinking about how the people here seem to take the best of what’s new while trying to retain their sense of the old ways. I suppose this fits in with what MSU’s doing here and why Dubai welcomed the school with open arms. They want what’s best to be available for their people here. Whether that’s new buildings, fast cars or American education.

I don’t know. I’m just walking on the beach, picking up shells. I look up and the sun is just setting behind the Burj Al Arab, the iconic hotel of Dubai. The first seven-star hotel in the world. The one with rooms that come in at more than $25,000 per night. It’s the one you’ve seen. So I’m going to take some pictures and post them here. It’s a scene that’s both timeless and brand new. The old sea, our ancient sun and a stunning creation of man unbound.

So is this the “real” Dubai?

I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure it out.

MSU Dubai

As we were being escorted out of the Queen concert I started to laugh. Things had been going so well, and now we were surrounded by giant security guards. They walked us all the way out of the arena, making sure our cameras were off and tucked away. It was a perfect night.

This whole trip to Dubai has been interesting. And interesting in a sort of upside down way. It started, as these trips do, with long flights and distant lay-overs that are now hazy memories for me. Then it was hit the ground running, making sure all the TV gear is working, suits, ties and craziness.

I’m here in Dubai with Alberto Moreno, our videographer for MSUToday. Our goal is to capture enough stuff for several segments for the show and also create a half-hour program on MSU Dubai for the Big Ten Network (BTN).

The first thing that hit me in Dubai was the heat. Just stepping out of the air-conditioned airport was startling. And that was at 2:00a. I must have mumbled something about the heat. The driver said, “Oh it is nice. Very cool,” with a broad smile. I suppose it is cool compared to the summer months when it climbs to over 125-degrees.

I grabbed a few hours of sleep at the hotel and then it was back into a van for a long ride to the MSU Dubai Campus. We drove and I was surrounded by cranes and construction. It’s like the whole place is a giant work zone. And unlike a lot of places in the States like Phoenix and Vegas, this growth isn’t on the edges. It’s all over, spread wide, growing skyward. The sky is an important place here. They’re building the world’s tallest building. I’d tell you how tall, but no one knows. The builders are cagey about the final height because they don’t want someone to find out and plop a big flag pole on top of the second tallest building and steal the title or something. What’s funny is that people are already living and working in the building as it’s going up. The bottom floors are occupied, the dizzying upper reaches are open steel and empty windows. It must be weird to wake up, step outside your apartment, look up and think, “Hmmm…I wonder how tall it’s gonna be today?”

The MSU campus here in Dubai is pretty cool. It’s part of a cluster of buildings that make up the Dubai International Academic City or, DIAC. This complex sits out in what today looks like the middle of the desert, but Dubai is ever expanding. You can tell that, pretty soon, the campus is going to be have a lot of company.

I met people quickly and started getting shots of the campus. Everyone was very excited to have the ribbon-cutting and official dedication get underway. As the day rolled on and the heat rose, local dignitaries began to arrive. President Simon and some members of the Board of Trustees were swept along in a sea of local press photographers and flowing robes when it was time to cut the ribbon.

I, of course, was dutifully running around in the heat with my camera taking shots for…well…for this.

Later there were speeches full of gratitude and recognitions. Some of the local students stood up and sang “Shadows,” the MSU Alma Mater. I’ve never heard it sung with such a collection of accents. Very cool. It was a tremendous event and things lasted well into the dark night.

After that it’s been a blur of TV work and hot taxi rides and trying to tell the stories of MSU in Dubai. One of the guys I wanted to talk with was Tom Miles. He’s an alum who has worked here in Dubai for a few years. I had heard he worked at one of the big malls here or something. My information was a little sketchy.

Tom and I traded email and agreed to meet in the mall. He said he was involved with the Queen concert, but that we could come over and follow him around, ask him some questions. So we piled into a wee taxi with all our gear and headed out to Festival City. Now what I didn’t realize is that Festival City is a mall, but it’s an awfully nice mall with amazing stores. Dubai has become an international hub for shopping. There are no taxes here so truly expensive items come at a bit of a bargain. Festival City is a mall, but it’s also a huge complex with multi-star hotels, a vast selection of restaurants, a marina, heliports and several concert venues. And the other thing I didn’t realize is that Tom Miles pretty much runs the whole thing.

Tom met us at a coffee place (No, actually not a Starbuck’s) and started showing us around. I pointed out the strollers the mall provides, shaped like camels. “That was my idea,” he said with a smile. Turns out just about everything in there was his idea. He was the point man on getting this place together from the beginning. Everyone knows Tom here. He’s The Man. “You wanna go to the concert tonight? It’s supposed to be good.” “Can we get some shots of you in the venue and some shots of the band?” I asked. “Sure. Lemme make a call.” And he did. Pretty soon we had wrist bands and press passes and were being whisked into the outdoor arena. The day was warm but the night was perfect. We got some shots of Tom checking with security. Some shots of Tom shaking hands with about a million people. Shots of Tom in the VIP area. Tom had to go check in with some people and left us up in the rarified air of the high-rollers.

Al said, “Man, this is so cool. We’re at the Queen concert in Dubai!” I was feeling that too. It was surreal to be there.

“You can’t have that camera here!” It was a very upset man with a two-way and a British accent. “I’m sorry, what do you mean?” I asked. “You simply cannot have that camera anywhere in here. The band will go completely MAD!” He was now shouting. Before I realized it, six huge security guards in polo shirts that could barely contain them were around us. “YOU have to go. YOU HAVE TO GET THAT CAMERA OUT OF HERE!” He was screeching at us. Turns out there was a mis-communication between the band management and the folks at the arena. We, as press, were allowed, but video gear was absolutely forbidden.

So the six giant security guys flanked Al and me, two I front, two on the side, two in back, and walked us all the way through the crowds, through the concessions, past the lines of people waiting to get in, further and further from the happy VIPs, out into the street.

I was laughing about it when Tom showed up. “I leave you guys alone for five minutes…” He was laughing too.

So we dumped the gear in his office and headed back to the concert. He pulled some strings so we could catch the show, but no cameras.

Things get started late here in Dubai. It was after 10:00 when the band finally went on stage. We were pretty whipped from a long day of shooting in the heat, but it was pretty cool to hear the old songs. Paul Rodgers who used to be with Bad Company was handling the lead vocals for Freddy Mercury who sadly passed away years ago. It wasn’t quite the same, but Brian May can still amaze with the guitar and the songs sounded good. Even accompanied by thousands of singers with all sorts of accents.

They sounded especially good on a warm night in Dubai.