Secret Dubai diary Intrigue and adventure in the United Arab Emirates





iPhone RPGs

Dubai Info

Best role-playing games
Spiderweb Software
for Mac & PC





20 April, 2007

Bur Dubai Island

Forget The Palm: the world's biggest artificial island hasn't even been built yet, but is already home to hundred of thousands of people. Introducing Bur Dubai Island, several crowded inner-city suburbs about to be encircled by the world's largest seawater moat. A glamourous residential prospect indeed.

Half a dozen major roads and myriad smaller roads will be severed by the Dubai Creek extension, not a particularly pleasant prospect for traffic despite promises of bridge building. Safa Park appears safe, going by Gulf News' map, but Jumeirah Beach Park might not be so lucky. The Co-op - so beloved of Emiratis doing their weekly shopping with all the family at 3am on a school night - also seems to be in the clear, despite persistent rumours of its imminent demolition.

The biggest feature of the Creek extension will be Business Bay, which will also hold a Guinness World Record for being the world's least bay-like bay. It is neither a body of water nor even part of the coastline. "Business Moat" would be a more appropriate name. Its aim is to be "similar in nature to Manhattan or Ginza, which are the business centres for cities like New York and Tokyo" and it will also feature "fascinating canals". Fascinating as in what, gondolas towed by giant hammour?

Looming over everything like a huge pointed lighthouse will be the beautiful Deathspire, set to get a Guinness World Record for being the world's tallest tower for the shortest amount of time.

And Dubai it will once again be unrecognisable from how it is today, just as it is currently unrecognisable from five years ago.

Labels: , ,

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Fascinating as in what, gondolas towed by giant hammour?"

This is so funny.

20 April, 2007 07:17  
Blogger marwan said...

You say Deathspire; I say Eye of Sauron.

20 April, 2007 08:55  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My sources tell me Safa Park is not safe.

20 April, 2007 09:00  
Blogger ann said...

And Dubai will once again be unrecognisable from how it is today, just as it is currently unrecognisable from five years ago.

The question is, is 'unrecognisable' a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing?

Resistance to change can be healthy (like perhaps the apparently successful resistance to the latest Jumeirah beach development) or it can be counter-productive.

20 April, 2007 12:48  
Blogger Will Nasr said...

"The biggest feature of the Creek extension will be Business Bay, which will also hold a Guinness World Record for being the world's least bay-like bay."

that was goood!! hahaha

20 April, 2007 12:54  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is one of those 'top' or 'flop' things - either it is the greatest thing ever that happened to Dubai (after the opening of Krispy Cream in UAE) or it is gonna be the of Duabi altogether...this is not venice, remember?

Oh yeah, giant hummours towing the gonodals - i wonder if they also get banned for going on strike...or just fried in a guiness batter.

20 April, 2007 13:45  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes - a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder."

20 April, 2007 17:04  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"We are The Borg, You will be assimilated, ... Resistance Is Futile." (Apologies to Star Trek)

20 April, 2007 20:32  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All things come to an end, just waiting till whole Dubai island collapses and some day, it will...

21 April, 2007 02:42  
Blogger Beckster said...

Hey there! The dress is from Karen Millen, but it was on sale in an outlet village called Bicester in England, it was £19 I think! All the Brits here can't wait for Dubai, cuz they have TOPSHOP, we miss it...last time I was in Dubai, we stayed at the Jumeira Beach Hotel I think, and Wafi Centre was brand new. I can't wait to see how they made a marina....keep up the great blog

21 April, 2007 13:30  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good blog. Nice information you have shared.

10 May, 2007 08:28  

Post a Comment

<< Home



next issue is no. 12




Google Secret Dubai
iopBlogs.com, The World's Blog Aggregator
 Blog Top Sites

Powered by Blogger




StatCounter stats