Last week I show some first impressions of Dubai, an amazing city in the Middle East.  

This week I’d like to share more about this incredible metropolis. 

 I enjoyed the  new,  shiny and planned.

One of the fun spots I hung out in with two of the tour guests after the Jim Cline Photo tour had ended was a beach. We didn’t go there to sunbath, but rather to see what it was like and to take pictures.   

I know beach towns, having grown up near the Lake Michigan beach and have watched the evolution of a small town into a tourist destination.   There are cute shops, art galleries,  places to buy ice cream and hot dogs, a boardwalk, lighthouse and, of course, the beach.  All evolved over years.  

  In Dubai a developer looked at the best elements of beach towns and created a destination almost overnight.  Shops.  Restaurants.  Changing rooms.  Street Art.  Gathering places. Of course, the beach.   It was fun and creative, but missing some of  grittiness of the real thing.

La Mer

But who am I to say what the “real thing” is?  This was pretty nice, creative, clean and packed with shopping opportunities, places to eat, street art and a nice beach right in the middle of the city.  Cool.  

The development is called La Mer.  We had dinner at Oshi restaurant, enjoying the cuisine and a spectacular view.  If you go, be sure to go upstairs and sit on the patio.  Lovely.

For a a blog post about an American planned community, go to Seaside. Click here. 

The Creek and Markets in Dubai

We also enjoyed the market by the waterway that called The Creek in Dubai.  It was a mix of businesses —mostly textile—with a smattering of touristy shops.  Great for photo shoots. 

Our Photo Tour company hired a model so we could capture someone in authentic attire.  We mostly found that folks in the area weren’t all that interested in being photo subjects. 

Camel Connection

I loved poking other shopping areas as well, looking for shops that reflect the area. 

This one focusing on camels caught my eye.  Everything in the shop had some camel connection.  Clearly this was geared for tourists.  You wouldn’t find this in the beach town were I spend a lot of time in Michigan.

One of the interesting facts I read about Dubai is that as a city there is a developing focus on attracting tourists.  Large hotels are locating there and we saw signs for water parks and other activities geared for the tourist trade.  

This hotel was located on the part of Dubai called The World– a huge planned community we toured by bus where we saw massive condominium projects and many hotels like this one under construction. 

A highlight of the photo tour was an opportunity to go to the tops of some of the buildings with a renown Dubai architectural photographer.  Here are a few shots from that experience.   I’m learning how to do night time photography.  Not easy. 

And to end this post with maybe a little mundane, but of interest to me.  Window washers.  When you think about all those tall buildings, think of the huge quantity of glass that needs to be cleaned in this city.  We watched these people for a while as they athletically cleaned these surfaces.  Impressive. 

Changes with DesignDestinations. org

I have decided to post new content on DesignDestinations to every other week instead of the weekly posts I have done for about ten years.  Given the lack of travel opportunities and the strange time we are in, it makes sense to me to take the pressure off coming up with weekly posts.  My plan is to publish older posts on the opposite weeks.

Look for these posts on Mondays.  When I am able to travel I expect to go back to weekly posts.

Please be aware that you can go back and travel the world with me by going to the top of this blog (called the Header) and using the pull down menus to discover what my guest bloggers and I have shared in the last ten years. I have over 600 posts so you won’t run out of places to visit with us.    I hope you enjoy and make comments in the comment section at the end of the blog.

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