A brief, yet triumphant intermission

The Middle East. 

When most Americans hear those words, many of us still associate it with war, terrorism, religious extremists and otherwise negative things. I think we still don't have an understanding of what life is like in this part of the world because of what we're fed by the media and we don't know any better. And sometimes I get the feeling that we don't want to know any better. And while I'd never been anywhere in this part of the world before two weeks ago*, I figured I owed it to myself to check it out eventually, because surely there's more to it than we're led to believe. And as luck would have it, my first opportunity to travel there fell right into my lap.

So let's flash back and pretend I wrote this as soon as I got back.

Coming home from work on Monday, I ran into my coworker on the way home from work. We were catching up for a bit and she mentioned that she was leaving on Friday for a quick trip to the United Arab Emirates, where Turner was holding a conference to showcase some of new technologies. I mentioned how I'd always wanted to visit the Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and I half-jokingly suggested that I should tag along. She thought about it for a second and said "Actually, sure, why not? I think you'd be helpful to us and could learn a lot". I agreed. Awesome. 

Now, flash forward a few days and there I found myself on a plane to Abu Dhabi with that Russian coworker, my English boss Glenn, and 6 of our Russian clients, all of whom couldn't (or at least refused to) really speak English but were just happy to be along for the ride. Me too guys, me too. 

So, a few short hours later, we touched down in Abu Dhabi. To some extent, my initial impression of the UAE was exactly what you or I would imagine. The airport is essentially in the middle of the desert-

The airport

-so my introduction to the Middle East was landing in the hot desert and being greeted by an Arab passport agent wearing a thobe. Welcome to the Middle East! In all seriousness though, he was probably the nicest passport agent I've ever encountered and he thought it was cool that I was American. After we all made it through customs, our drivers picked us up to head to our hotel. And by drivers, I mean they brought a car for each of of the three of us (our other Russian friends split off) because you know, it's the UAE and why the hell not? On the drive to our hotel, I chatted with my driver about how life was in the UAE. He was an Indian man who had been there for 7 years, and had no plans on leaving. Things were good here, and exciting. I got the sense that just by being there, you felt like you were part of something grand. During my time there I would come to find that people seem to genuinely enjoy living there, which might explain why over 3/4 of the country is expatriates. Ali insisted I take his email address, and assured me that we would party next time I came to Dubai (I mean, yeah). In any case, whether it was my excitement to be in an entirely new place or my friendly driver or even because the UAE is that damn cool, everything from the time I landed onward seemed awe-inspiring. Take for instance one of the first structures I saw there, a bridge designed by Zaha Hadid (of course) and dubbed "the most complicated bridge in the world". A fine introduction, and foreshadowing of more to come.

Sheikh Zayed Bridge

After getting to the hotel and dropping our things off, we drove around the town for a bit and grabbed some dinner and beers. Yes, they serve beer in the UAE, and that my friends is a beautiful, beautiful thing because a) it's the desert-- it was in the 90s while I was there and gets up to 120 in the summer-- and what better to drink and b) because beer. A successful first impression of the country, to be sure.

As our time in the country was limited, we started early the next day. The plan was to drive around Abu Dhabi and up to Dubai, visiting various Turner projects along the way (and there are many). So me, Glenn, the Russians and our Indian driver** set off to explore the United Arab Emirates a bit. For those who aren't as familiar, the cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai essentially sprung up within the last 30 or so years. The government started pumping the oil money into new building and infrastructure and the result is the modern, ambitious cities you know of today. You can certainly feel the modernity looking around: when driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, look right and you'll see desert for miles and miles^, look left and you'll see massive new developments and buildings shooting out of the ground.

At one point, the UAE supposedly had a quarter of the tower cranes in the world. 

And yeah, they're still building.

Let's build a new city, who cares if it's in the middle of the desert?

Some of our stops along the way included: the Al Raha Beach development, a new coastal community stretching TEN KILOMETERS up the coast; the Saadiyat Island development, a planned cultural center consisting of a new Guggenheim museum (designed by Frank Gehry), a new Louvre museum (designed by Jean Nouvel) as well as other unique, eye-catching structures by world-renowned "starchitects" (Sir Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid); and the Emirates Palace and Hotel. Each of these projects was breathtaking in it's own way-- Al Raha in its size, scope and ambition; Saadiyat island in its cultural significance and rich architecture; Emirates Palace in its magnificence, craftsmanship and regality-- and though only a small sampling of the many, many incredible current and future architectural wonders in the UAE, I certainly got the feeling of just how big everything is here. 

The magnificent Emirates Palace

The even more magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The Emirati certainly are a proud and dignified people, and it shows in the country they are building. Their ambition to literally create the next great global cities is only contained by their seemingly endless resources. Domestically, we build for need. Here, they build for want. 

I unfortunately only had a day or so to really look explore, but even that was enough to blow my mind with the sheer magnitude of what's happening here, in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula nonetheless. And of course, this was all just the build up to the crowning jewel: the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. You first notice the Burj when you're still about 20 or 30 minutes outside of the city. Once you see it, it's hard to take your eyes off of it because whether you care for the architecture or not, it is iconic. And yeah, it's big. It looks like the Earth reach it's hands up towards the skies. Like a still lightning bolt shooting out of the ground. It's hard to ever conceptualize just how enormous it actually is, and it seems to never stop growing. For reference, I'm a reasonably tall guy at 6'2", and I am 0.2% of the height of the Burj. It's 439 times taller than me, or almost twice the height of the Empire State Building. It's pretty goddamn big. Walking around the Dubai Mall (the biggest mall in the world, which leads to the underground base of the Burj), you can see that this building isn't just massive, but it is extremely well built. The quality of the finishes is outrageous. If you see something that looks like gold, it's gold. If you see something like looks like marble, it's high grade, solid, imported marble. From a construction and architectural standpoint, this impressed me almost as much as the structure itself. It further shows that the decadence and greatness of the architecture in the UAE truly knows no bounds. 

One of my first glimpses of the Burj

The view from the top

The viewing platform near the top of the tower is surreal and still, with a constant warm desert breeze. Standing up here, you can feel the sense of accomplishment of what you're standing on. It's like climbing a Mt. Everest of steel and concrete. Though it's bound to be surpassed eventually, it's still an extremely impressive accomplishment that will surely stand the test of time.

The rest of the time here was dedicated to work, since that was technically the purpose of this trip. Not to say that this was boring by any means, as the conference itself was interesting and I was able to meet some really interesting people from around the world, both from Turner and from other companies. And I actually got to meet a Sheikh of the royal family and hear him speak (he was excellent). Though brief, I think this trip was both an excellent career and life opportunity. I'll never complain with getting to travel and experiencing first-hand a new global destination, especially one as foreign and unknown to me as the ominous "Middle East". Given the short time I was here, I couldn't really get too intimate with the culture of this country (outside of the architecture), but from my observations, it's a very peaceful, likable and livable place. And I admit that the UAE, particularly Abu Dhabi and Dubai, isn't the most tumultuous, dangerous or even foreign place in the Middle East, but it is still a predominantly Arab and Muslim nation. Visiting here was a great stepping stone towards understanding a people that I've been essentially been led to fear and question, and as always, I was grateful for the experience and perspective.

Recommended listening
The Magnetic Fields- 69 Love Songs
The Range- Nonfiction
Flying Lotus- Until The Quiet Comes

 *So it takes me a while to write and edit my pictures. You can't force creativity and inspiration, people.
^Ahem, kilometers and kilometers
** Different Indian, not as interested in partying. Also, I feel weird saying "our driver" but, like Moscow, this is normal. And not in snooty, privileged way; everyone just drives here.