Sheik Zayed Mosque

We're down to crunch time here in Dubai. With less than a week left I still have to write my final report on all of the sites we have visited, study for a final, and prepare our final presentation. I will try to write one or two more posts before I come back to the US.

Earlier this week we went to the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is the largest mosque in the UAE and one of the ten largest in the world. The brilliant white marble of the mosque makes really makes it stick out from the high rises of the city. At each of the four corners stands a towering minaret so people in every direction can hear the call to prayer over the sounds of the city. The balconies and domed tops of the minarets are accented with actual gold leaf. Likewise, the many domes on top of the mosque itself are crowned with gold spires ended in shining gold crescents.

Three of these domes are over the main prayer area which contains the world's largest and probably more colorful rug. A giant chandelier is suspended from the central dome. The prayer area can outside to a giant courtyard for holidays and special services. The entire courtyard is white marble with flowers of different colored marble inlaid. Surrounding the courtyard are long, covered walkways. The roofs of these walkways are a line of domes all decorated differently but all accented in gold leaf. Supporting the roof are hundreds of columns carved to look like palm trees. More gold leaf covers the leaves of the trees.

All of the artwork is a strikingly different from the cathedrals in Italy. There are no frescoes of Dante's decent into the Inferno or images of God creating Adam like in the Sistine Chapel, but the mosque was equally as impressive. Islam forbids Allah to be depicted in human form so all of the paintings and carvings are of flowers or Arabic script. Arabic is a beautiful language to see the way they use it as art. Inside the mosque all of Allah's ninety-nine names are depicted on the walls. Many of the domes were also decorated in script. The mosque was more impressive than some of the luxury hotels we've been able to see.

Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque

One of the larger domes in the mosque

Courtyard mosaic

Courtyard walkway

Arabic Script

Rolex Tower

By now we have seen all of DCC’s ongoing projects. There is a sprawling island development on the Palm Jumeirah which includes over thirty $10 million villas and three, twelve-story apartment buildings. We have toured a fifty story luxury hotel and office building and we have seen six other projects in three cities and two countries. Out of all of those projects, the Rolex Tower is my favorite.

The Rolex Tower is a 62 story tower on the main road of Dubai, Sheik Zayed Road. The tower stands out from the rest with its simple glass exterior which alternates between light and dark green. A large rectangular section of the building is missing from the top few stories to allow more natural light in.

Most of the apartments were really impressive but it was the penthouses that made the Rolex Tower my favorite. Located on the 59^th and 60^th floors, each penthouse has amazing views of the entire city from every side. Even the bathrooms look down on the cities. One of the penthouses even has its own private pool as big as the pool for the rest of the apartments…combined. The maid’s quarters are almost as big as the apartment we’re staying in.

Rolex Tower

Foyer of one of the Penthouses

Master Bathroom

Atlantis

Finally had a day off yesterday. Everyone got to sleep in for the first time in weeks. After lunch all of the Syracuse students went to Atlantis Resort to the Aquaventure water park. Atlantis is out on the end of the Palm islands so there are spectacular views in all directions. From one side you can look off into the Arabian Gulf and see the World Islands. The water is so blue here but the air is so warm it heats the water up so it is never refreshing. All of the pools are chilled instead of heated. On the other side you can see the entire skyline of Dubai. You can see the Burj Khalifa towering over every other building, the Burj al Arab, and all of the hotels along the beach stretching for miles.

At the park we spent most of the day floating down the lazy river on tubes. There are also seven slides coming out of a ziggurat in the center of the park. Most of them you go down on tubes but there is one 100 foot slide you go down on your back. It is basically straight down. When you're standing in line you can see people lay down and push themselves forward and then they just disappear. The slide runs through a sting ray tank but you're going so fast and there is so much water spraying your face that you can't see it.

Wednesday we immersed ourselves in the culture of Dubai. We took a trip to the Gold Souk or open-air market for some bartering. As soon as we walked into the area we were approached by all sorts of guys trying to sell us fake Rolex's. Of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity so we followed these guys down back alleys, not one of the brightest ideas, into sketchy apartments where they have rooms full of stolen and knock-off watches, purses, and clothes. They are all really nervous and have cameras set up in the rooms to watch for cops. It's a lot of fun to bargain with these guys. They start off at ridiculous prices and then hand you a calculator to name your price. They usually laugh in your face until you start leaving. I talked one guy down to 150 Dirhams for a Tag Heuer from 400.

It's back to work for me but I will post some more later to make up for all of the days I missed.

Tom

Mosque in Amman, Jordan.

Roman amphitheater in Jerash

Petra

The Jordan River dividing Jordan and Israel

Jordanian Vacation

I just spent the last three days traveling around Jordan on a little vacation. There are so many contrasts between Dubai and Jordan. Dubai is moving so quickly to have every modern luxury that its culture has been covered up to tourists. In Jordan, thousands of years of culture can be seen around every corner. We ate traditional Arab food and even spoke to a Bedouin.

The first day we spent driving around Amman, Jordan's capital city. From the two construction sites we visited the city stretches for miles in all directions. Everything is built from the same, sun-bleached sandstone. The city definitely looks like the typical Arab city you would see in a movie. From Amman we drove to Jerash, an important Roman city from over a millennia ago. The ruins of the city were the best preserved I have ever seen. I thought it was more awe-inspiring than even Rome itself just because the land around it has been relatively untouched and you could see Jordan the way the Romans did. Their building technology was so advanced for their time. Some of the columns still standing were even built to sustain earthquakes. Ironic, because the rest of the city was leveled by an earthquake.

On Friday we drove down to the Petra. Petra includes the temple-like structure in Indiana Jones and Transformers 2 built right into a cliff face. The whole gorge is littered with ancient tombs from 2000 years ago. It is hard to imagine the amount of work it took to carve these tombs into the cliffs without any modern tools.

Yesterday we finally had at least part of a day to relax. In the morning we drove to Mt. Nebo, where Moses first saw the Promised Land, and then to Jesus' baptism site. Directly across the Jordanian baptism site was the Israeli viewing point. It was interesting to see the border, divided by only a slow, murky river that couldn't have been more than 20 feet across. There was no armed guard or concrete wall like elsewhere along the border.

Our final stop was the Dead Sea. We spent the whole afternoon relaxing at a resort on the Sea's edge. The Dead Sea is something everyone should visit to experience. It is so salty that it is literally impossible to sink. The Jordanian side is very rocky and some cliffs drop straight into the sea. Across the way in Israel there are huge salt flats leading down to the water. It is very cool to say I've been to both sides.

Pictures from Jordan will be up soon.

Tom

Today I visited the Kingdom of Sheeba, the second of our five project sites. This project is absolutely massive. The current stage includes over 30 villas and a central apartment complex with 74 apartments. The development is located on the outer most island in the Palm Jumiera, the man-made islands that alway pop up when you Google "Dubai." All of the buildings on site are designed with Yemini architecture in mind. They have brick facades, arched windows, and lots of terraces. The villas face either the city and have a private beach or look out to the Gulf of Arabia. They all have their own pool, three car garage and jacuzzis on the third floor terrace. Each of the villas are worth $8 million and are all being bought by Russian mobsters. There go my chances of buying one.

The other site I've been on is the Conrad Hotel Dubai. It's owned by the Sheik of Abu Dhabi, the second most powerful man in the UAE. He's the guy that bailed out the entire Emirate of Dubai when they started to default on loans. The hotel is 50 storeys tall, has a three storey reception area, and a fully automated car park. The car park might be the coolest part of the design. You drive into one of nine lifts and get out. The lifts and robotic arms take care of the rest. There are no floors for the cars to drive on. Everything is completely mechanical. the cars are stacked in racks and can fit three high in every level of a normal parking garage. The other cool aspect of the project in the bridge that spans between the tower and car park. It is 40 meters wide (about 130 feet for all of you Americans) and provides area for the pool, sun bathing, and a fitness center.

Tomorrow I am heading to Jordan for a little vacation. I am flying into Amman and will visiting the Dead Sea, Jerash, and Petra. It should be an incredible three days. Keep checking in for pictures.

Tom

Off-Roading in the Desert

On Friday we went on a Desert Adventure. You get picked up in a Chevy Tahoe and driven out into the desert. We met up with about 20 other trucks and drove out into the dunes. The dunes are constantly shifting but some of the bigger ones rise 40 feet in the air. They drop straight down on one side. It's usually the side the drivers like to take you down too.

It's hard to explain how much fun the ride is. The drivers speed through the desert doing about 40. They go flying over dunes so that one second you're starring at the sky and the next, the truck tips forward and the ground is rushing up at you. Then they drive up another dune and cut the wheel so the truck slides down on what feels like two wheels. Your seat-belt is constantly locked and the truck feels like it's going to tip over the whole two or three hour ride, but it beats riding a camel through the desert. I'm pretty sure the girls screamed that entire time.

They stop for people to take pictures of the sunset over the desert and then bring everyone to a camp in the middle of no where. There was a buffet of all of the Arab appetizers you can think of and barbecue for dinner. After dinner we relaxed, smoked hookah, and watched the most terrifying belly dancer in the world.

More to come soon,
Tom

One of the Tahoe's stuck on top of a dune