It just so happens that my amazingly brilliant cousin is currently studying abroad in Jordan this semester. And it just so happens that she turned 21 back in February. And what better way to celebrate a 21st birthday than to head to Dubai, one of the few places in the Muslim world where you can get an alcoholic beverage (sort of). We met up with Amy Kyleen in Dubai for a long Easter weekend. Of course the fact that we went to a Muslim country for Easter was terribly amusing to Jeremy. After picking Amy Kyleen up at the Dubai Youth Hostel and making a needed stop for chocolate eggs and potato chips, we headed east across the desert to Al Fujairah, a resort town on the Indian Ocean. I won't lie, we didn't do a heck of a lot beside sip brightly colored drinks and work on our tans...but I do have a few interesting pictures. We did visit the oldest mosque in the 
UAE, here on the left. We happened to arrive in time for the noon call to prayer and watched as several families of devout Muslims scurried in to pray. I am fascinated by Islam and would like to learn more, but, I must admit, the fact that non-Muslims are not allowed into places of worship makes it tough to try and learn more. I'm Catholic and our churches, for better or worse, are open to everyone, believers and agnostics alike. I am sure I am over-simplifying things...The UAE is incredibly barren and inhospitable. Humans absolutely positively should not live there. I'll hold off on my rant on Dubai for another paragraph or so...BUT...some how I expected that at least this "resort town" of Al Fujairah would maybe be lush and green, some sort of oasis. It not. It's dusty, sunny, hot, dry, rocky, and, surprisingly, quite beautiful. If you are a camel or scorpion, this is exactly the place you should live.
I don't have anything profound to say about the pots, we just thought they were worth taking pictures of. Every roundabout in Al Fujairah had strange fountains in the center. Jeremy liked this one.
Okay, so now for my rant about Dubai. And, I promise, I'm not just bitter because I bought a brand new iPod Nano that turned out to be fake (okay, maybe that has something to do with it). I have never seen a place where humans are more hell-bent on forcing their environment to be something that it is not. Refer to my earlier comment. Humans should just not be existing in these numbers in Dubai. Perhaps it was fine when it was a few nomadic goat herders. But, I think one must seriously question the wisdom and sustainability of indoor ski slopes and green lawns in a place that make Las Vegas look tropical. I'm a civil engineer, my dad and sister are real estate developers. Believe me, I subscribe to the notion that if a little concrete is good more must be better. I can even (on a good day) justify the Three Gorges Dam in China. But Dubai left me speechless. Four lane streets that a pedestrian wouldn't dare cross. Medians that go on for literally miles. Everything that cities in the US and Europe have learned about modern urban planning seems to have been ignored in Dubai. My friend and urban planner Ken back in Denver would have a heart attack. Everything that, Denver at least, is NOT doing with respect to the revitalization of down town is being done in Dubai. Dubai is essentially one big middle finger pointed at mother nature. It's trite, but, as humans we have a tendency to assume that we can make nature be as we want it to be. Most of the time, we're right. But, once the oil is gone I have to seriously wonder whether or not Dubai will continue to be so brash.
"Under Construction"
