in Asia

Dubai // United Arab Emirates

bmonty — Mon, 3 Jun 2013 21:02:00 GMT

Living in a Bubble

This is not a walking city - though I certainly tried. The pedestrian is synonymous with the one who has no other means. The foreign migrant who toils in the 110 degree heat for a well below living-wage and still sends much of it home to a family he will seldom see. He has built this city, but it is not designed for him. Districts are divided by six lane super highways or barren tracts of desert. A souring skyline of offices and apartments he could never afford. Money drives everything; driving requires money. Some 70% of population are Asian immigrants, mostly Indian and Pakistani. And men outnumber their better halves almost four to one. Such are the bones of Dubai. A system of inexplicable exploitation comprising today's indentured servitude. A system where the sky is no limit. Even so, this Dubai is easily missed. Shrouded by extravagance, on the surface glows a modern metropolis unlike any other.

Burj Al Arab, the worlds most expensive hotel, and Bruj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, leave little room for modesty. The latter, an engineered marvel boasting about as many obscure world records as floors, exemplifies foresight with its 100 year projected lifespan. Sound like a lot? The Empire State Building was completed in 1931; the Chrysler building in 1930. Despite these notable exceptions, few buildings demonstrate any redeeming architectural value. Skyscraper developments huddle rejectingly and oblivious to their surroundings. The infrastructure linking them is sparklingly new, well maintained, and eerily sterile. Islands fabricated as giant date palms are apparently discernible from space - an important selling point for investors which certainly outweighs the tacky ridiculousness of it all. You can visit a theme park, aquarium, or take the family skiing all within one of several supercooled megamalls. Across the river, a historic gold souk dwarfs Ponte Vecchio; its hustlers as invasive as Istanbul's. Shopping here has actually become a tourist destination in-and-of itself. Come evening, expats and their families retreat behind the uninspired rows of gated cookie-cutter communities. Amidst a unbound landscape, I cannot fathom why these capacious homes were so indiscriminately crammed together.

Even against such criticism, one cannot deny Dubai has accomplished something remarkable. One look at a picture from just thirty years ago elucidates their sheer prowess. This city's transformation, literally from nothing, into a global hub for business and tourism was compressed into the span of a single generation. Imagine you were born during the American colonial era and lived to see the New York City of today. Implications to this unfettered growth do not rest solely on the marginalized migrants. These very achievements frame what is so desperately missing; substance, character. It is not that Dubai lacks roots, only that it seems intent on ignoring them. That such rejection becomes inevitable when a city undergoes such ferocious development I cannot say. But somewhere buried beneath this void onset by ’progress' you'll discover the city's Bedouin heritage; an ebullient past disjointed from its contemporary makeover in nearly every way.

Traditional semi-nomadic herders of the Arabian peninsula, the Bedouins lived in and by the desert. Leading their flocks by caravan from oasis to oasis, they, fished, traded, and cultivated dates. Their culture evolved harmoniously around a harsh climate and relied heavily on the dromedary, or one humped Arabian camel - a source of milk, meat, and the means to traverse otherwise impassable distances. Hides could be fashioned into clothing, fur woven into bags and camel dung was often used for cooking. They were amongst the first people who converted to Islam, which has been integral to their culture ever since. Tribes were patriarchal and families practiced both endogamy and polygamy. Daily life shadowed the sun; greater cycles mimicked the seasons. A deep tradition emerged of interpretive song and dance. Loyalties were paramount, and once fractured, could bring swift and often harsh justice. Bisha'a, infamously known as 'the ordeal by fire', was a once practiced ritual for lie detection. Supporting all else stood a people rooted in an unassuming hospitality towards both friend and foreigner. Even today, this remains a cornerstone to Bedouin way of life.

With the establishment of the once independent Deira on Dubai Creek, many Bedouin would earn renown as divers in the ever growing pearling industry. Along with fishing, subsistence came from the town's strategic location as a natural trading port between East and West. The traditional wooden dhow, now a novelty for tourist, once played a pivotal role in seafaring goods between Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, and China. European influence commenced in the region when the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama first circumnavigated the Cape of Good Hope in 1494. They were soon followed by the British whose interest lay in protecting trade routes with India. Through these periods of steady commerce, the city grew. Then in the 1920's, pearling revenues plummeted with the Japanese invention of the cultured pearl, and took a final hit during the Great Depression. This brought on hard times from which Dubai would not emerge until 1966 with the fateful finding of black gold.

The oil boom brought contracts, businesses, foreign opportunists, and of course money. Without it, this contemporary city would never have been possible. With it the Emirate took a giant leap from which it has never looked back. Yet today, petroleum revenues account for a mere 7% of GDP. Dubai's continued prosperity rests instead on visionary investments in infrastructure and conscious efforts at attracting corporations from abroad. Industry specific tax-free zones and a western-style model of business now drive the economy. Todays primary sources in revenue come from tourism, construction, real estate, and financial services. Weekends, Friday to Saturday, represent an intriguing compromise between the Muslim holy day and Western work week. Save this and the five time daily call to prayer, and you could easily forget you were visiting a Muslim country.

I know my experience in Dubai. I stayed with a family and a friend who were extremely kind. However, much of my exploration was solitary, and during these excursions I found Dubai most genuinely superficial. Physically, the lush vegetation and gardens would demonstrate their evanescence as quickly as the irrigation lines ceased their nurturing. Any hidden pockets of culture, mostly nonnative, would dry up as well if the money ran out. No place is ever as homogeneous as it may first appear, and there are always unseen levels. This I know too. But as a fusion with Arab culture, it is my take Dubai has come away with only the worst of what the West has to offer. You can find the greed of corporate capitalism, the fixation on material pleasures, a blind captivation with new technologies, and an unnecessary inability to take time. Many of the freedoms, the creative spirit, and those vexing labor and environmental regulations however, never made the migration.

So this bubble has a semi-permeable membrane, like the wall of a cell, which administers entry. Unlike a cell, what influence could have been nourishing for the people of this region is exactly what this entitled oligarchy had rejected. The result is a killer deal for the Microsofts and CNNs and one, for the faceless untouchable, not much better. The perversity lies not with the mere existence of the poor. It is that their plight seems so unnecessary under the massing of such immense wealth. In this way, at least, Dubai is keeping in historical accord with human nature. Transcending time and place, the human pervasively that justifies the dominance of some over others appears to exists just about everywhere. Americans and Europeans both certainly capitalized in this way; perhaps the Emirati are merely taking their turn.

Beirut // Lebanon

bmonty — Thu, 30 May 2013 03:05:00 GMT

An Incredibly Beautiful and Complicated Place

A friend used those words to describe the city for which I would soon embark. Beirut is a city in transition; dynamic, cosmopolitan, all while riddled with juxtaposition. High-rises from acclaimed architects tower alongside facades worn from age and war. Upscale shopping districts and grungy apartments straddle congested throughways. Pedestrians remain unhindered by the scarcity of crosswalks. There are few dogs, of which every one shits on the sidewalk. There are many taxis, of which every one honks incessantly. Police are scarce; military checkpoints common and the ubiquity of armed guards astonishingly comforting. Petrol stations are all full service and highways often lack lines or signage. During the warmer months rooftops host the most lavish restaurants, clubs and lounges. It is no coincidence this city is becoming renowned for its night-life.

But the road to today's bustling techno scene was a long, turbulent one. Lebanon is the middle eastern country with Phoenician roots, not Arab; rich in water, not oil. Known instead for its ancient cedar forests and mountainous hideouts, its terrain has sheltered countless persecuted peoples. Here, when you speak of the 'past', you speak to glory, to conflict, to perseverance, and you speak of a timeline coinciding with the beginnings of human civilization. This region served antiquity as a center for maritime trade and now unwillingly as a geo-political pawn. The Phoenicians fostered strong ties with the Egyptian Pharaohs, pioneered techniques in glass making, and are credited with establishing the alphabet from which most modern alphabets are derived. Such success brought the armies of Alexander, and with him Hellenistic rule. Other empires would follow, combining the arts, architecture, and lifestyles of the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, and French, into a chaotic mixing pot of tradition.

Later generations withstood an occupation from Syria, witnessed the assignation of several prominent political figures, and endured a brutal 15 year civil war. Though the cities have already undergone extensive reconstruction and recovery, the impact of such turmoil still materializes in the astute resolve or occasionally apathy of the Lebanese people. The Lebanese are not ignorant to the global forces at play around them. And they are never fully sheltered from the regions ongoing religious strife. This has made them strong and yet not hard. Life persist beneath such uncertainty the only ways imagine it could, moment by moment, day by day, improvising when necessary, and under a subtle yet pervading shadow.

Perhaps in part due to this tumultuous past, people here have developed deep traditions and foster a positive outlook. They love to eat, they love to shop, they love to party, and they know how to have fun. Mealtime still forms the cultural centerpiece for daily life. Fresh khebez (pita), fatush, halloum, olives, pickles, warak arich (stuffed vine leaves), and sambousek (fried pastry) are accompanied by diluted arak and followed by plates of fresh fruits. Add in hookah and dancing for the full epicurean experience. Colloquial speech has evolved into a fluid amalgamation of Arabic, French and English. Family ties are strong. Friendships are taken seriously. Children are encouraged to reside with their parents until marriage; and siblings often purchase adjacent properties. Friends who saw each other earlier that morning greet more affectionately than American siblings embracing for the first time in months. Even as an outsider, I witnessed unqualified trust and hospitality. People I had not known a week earlier would share their life stories and inquire genuinely unto mine. I was treated to dinners, helped with directions, and mocked only lightly when I made some classic tourist's blunder (one does not ask for cream in a Lebanese coffee).

It would be inaccurate to claim that everywhere in Lebanon is safe or that the country does not have its persisting struggles. Democracy is the exception in this part of the world - its admitted shortcomings as a slow, ineffectual system readily evident. The conflict in Syria has too taken its unavoidable toll. Refugees inflate the workforce and policy disputes on a proper response fuel political tensions. Stability remains inconsistent; certain parts of the country at time unsafe for traveling. During my stay, the government was trapped in a political deadlock whose influence was palpable. Restaurants I was told should have required reservations instead flaunted vacant tables. Small scale corruption seemed commonplace and wealth inequality overtly apparent. Laws often seemed somewhat malleable, or at least not enforced. Worker safety regulations are far from Western standards. Much of the infrastructure was in disrepair, and the city could benefit greatly from a decent public transportation alternative.

What I can claim, however, is that my moments of unease were rare. They involved photography violations (no pictures of residential or military structures), rather than run-ins with Hezbollah. Despite a stigma of unsophistication encouraged and perpetuated by misinformation or half-truths, I leave freshly invigorated by this special place. There is more to this nation than what we see on TV. These are not the mountains of Afghanistan. Evolved amongst the mixing of cultures, religions, and languages, Lebanon and the Lebanese are unique to the region as they are unique to the world. It is a beautiful place. It is a complicated place. And it is a place worth experiencing for yourself.

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bmonty — Sun, 19 May 2013 01:37:00 GMT