[mabrodis]

Any of you been to Dubai? Was just looking up some details about the crazy building projects they have been doing there, the "World" islands, the "Palm" islands...they look awesome, but wow, what a project! (must have cost ungodly amounts of money!)

Just looked up tickets...random dates in Sept...$1300/person... Hotels were $250-$800/night (oh is that all? ) Does look nice though...just as soon as I win the powerball..

[mj1015]

Been there a few times. The building frenzy is crazy. If you go there you can snag a pretty decent hotel cheap in the older part of town. I like the area near the gold market a lot better than the new areas. The thing that will strike you is that almost nothing is done by the locals, all the service industry is manned by outside workers from all over.

[atoyot]

Heard a story about getting strip searched at the airport. Had to separate their buns to show their wasn't anything stashed. Kind of turns me off to the idea.

[Cruiser Clint]

I've been there many times while on deployment in the Navy, and the best I can say is that it's the nicest place in the Gulf to visit. Considering that I think that the rest of the Gulf is equivalent to a festering boil of puss on the asshole of humanity, it's not really much of a recommendation! The racism against non-Muslim people and especially white people gave me a glimpse of how black people felt in the early part of the 20th century in America. It was a very humbling experience for an American. I particularly remember a ship's company picnic where some unidentified gas was released in the HVAC system of the building where the party was held. There were a lot of sailors with strange ailments after that. Another sailor was walking back to the ship one day and was stabbed by a crazed old Muslim man who was mad about American policies. Both incidents were in the early 90's, but I can't imagine much has changed.

Clint

[Eric_FJ40]

As a Marine I was there in 94/95 - it was sort of our "home away from home" while we were in the gulf. The port was Jebel Ali - or Gerbil Alley as some called it.

I enjoyed it - there was quite a bit of modern mixed in with old-world. Much of a British influence, I thought.

Good night clubs - very posh and modern shopping mall. The Gold Souk was fun too.

No incidents while we were in and out several times over as many months. I would go back.

[Hank]

My parents and my brother's family have vacationed there. They had a decent time, the indoor ski hill is cool, way cooler than the one in Bejing where the bro lives. They said it was one of the most expensive places they have ever been. They can afford nearly anything so for them to mention expense on a vacation, it must have been out of line. They have now returned to holiday in Bali, they seem to love that alot and it is a nice change from Bejing/Singapore/Jakarta where they have lived for 9 years moving around. Bro works for Caterpillar, they move him around alot.