It may be in the Middle East geographically but you could actually call it the New West.
Scott Hettrick
The United Arab Emirates, specifically and especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai, is a very Westernized area of the Middle East, despite being next door to Saudia Arabia, just a short distance across the Persian Gulf from Iran and Pakistan, and not far down the Gulf beach from Iraq.
I had a chance to spend a week in those two of the seven emirates a couple weeks ago. Both represent what you can do if you have more money than you can spend, and a blank canvas (of sand) on which to build the best and biggest of everything using all the newest technology. It’s quite a site to see as you may get a sense of in the following video highlights of my time in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai (my full blog listing numerous fascinating factoids can be found on the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce site, along with information to book a trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi yourself in March, 2014….)
It was very illuminating to see such a calm, peaceful and tourist-friendly and family-friendly environment. It’s extremely easy for English-speakers as all signs are in English, English is by far the primary language spoken, and everything ran smoothly and efficiently with a complete sense of safety — I never saw a single police or security person or the slightest sign of conflict or incident of any kind.
(If you cannot play the Flash videos below, click here to see YouTube versions of videos…)
Dubai (below – go up in tallest building, snow ski in a mall; take wild ride on desert dunes, see the world’s most amazing buildings, and more)…
Get the Flash Player to see this content.. Abu Dhabi (go inside two of the world’s most extravagant hotels, see the world’s fastest roller coaster at Ferrari World, and the world’s most oppulent horse track, and more)…
Get the Flash Player to see this content.— By Scott Hettrick