Material Extravagance to the Max

Cumulative Miles Traveled: 28,254
Current Location: Dubai, UAE
Current Mood: Broke. Soooo broke. But the happy owner of several pairs of shoes so pretty I giggle when I look at them.

***

There's wealth. Then there's opulence. Dubai makes Beverly Hills look like Compton. I have never ever previously encountered opulence of the degree found in Dubai. My eyes were seriously bugging out at the decked out Arab women at the Mall of the Emirates. Women who wear blinding diamond rings that I would estimate to be 7 or 8 karats, watches completely encrusted with diamonds, bracelets dripping with more diamonds, carry Birkin bags, wear Chanel sunglasses even indoors and underneath their black burkas are wearing J Brand Jeans with 5 inch high Christian Louboutins. They have servants walking behind them carrying their numerous Harvey Nichols bags full of Gucci purses and more Christian Louboutins, which by the way, they pay for with huge wads of cash. I think we need to rethink what it means to be an Arab Muslim kept woman. After my uber-liberal education at Berkeley and NYU law school, I thought I was supposed to be feeling sorry for Muslim women who are required to cover themselves with full length burkas and have limited freedoms compared to women in the West and lucky to have the freedom to wear whatever the hell I want, drive, have a career. But I'm starting to think it's the Western women who have it all wrong. These Muslim women DO wear whatever the hell they want...they just cover it up with a full length black burka (at least the local Arab women in Dubai) in public. I've seen plenty of women driving in Dubai, but the truly privileged are chauffeured around by drivers in tailored suits in Range Rovers, Hummers and Benzes that must be expensive because I've never even seen these models in the States before. With all the windows, including the front glass, completely blacked out, which somehow adds to their opulent aura. And while these women don't work, I'm beginning to think having a career is sooooo overrated. You know what's not overrated? Having an unlimited allowance to buy Birkin and Chanel bags, sky high Christian Louboutins and Jimmy Choos and whatever else your heart desires...

Ok, so this was my initial reaction upon my first couple hours at the Mall of the Emirates, which is not a shopping mall, but a self-proclaimed shopping resort. The mall is so large you need a map to get around, and it really is almost a city into itself with a hotel, Carrefour (the French version of Target or Walmart), Ski Dubai (the famous indoor ski resort), restaurants offering every cuisine possible (American, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Lebanese, Turkish, McDonald's...the list goes on) and quite possibly the best shopping you will find on planet earth.

But at the end of two full days here, I'm back to thinking that I woudn't trade my life in for theirs (although I would love, love, love to have their seemingly limitless shopping allowance for just one day). Because I'm allowed to make my own religious and wardrobe choices. Because I have the freedom to travel the world if I choose, and I don't have to be accompanied by a male family member or even get a male family member's permission. Because come to think of it, I like that I earn my own money - I don't have to answer to anyone about how I spend it and I feel as if I earned the right to spend it how I want. Because I don't want to have to share my man with 4 other women (unless I'm also allowed to have 4 other men). Because I realized that if you could buy whatever you wanted anytime you wanted, it really wouldn't be fun anymore and you would never learn to appreciate the things you have. Because I live in beautiful, natural, moderately climated San Francisco and not suffocatingly hot, artificial Dubai. But honestly for a good 2 or 3 hours, I really thought that I wouldn't mind being a kept Arab woman with an unlimited platinum credit card, even if it meant I was part of a harem of wives and had to cover myself from head to toe in public.

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In case you can't tell from what I wrote above, money is a joke here. At Harvey Nichols I saw more than one woman pay for her purchases by taking out a huge wad of cash, which wasn't even dented by whatever purchase she was making (one woman paid for 6 pairs of couture shoes - I saw at least 2 Christian Louboutin boxes in the pile - with cash...which would be at least in the several thousands of dollars). It's utterly insane...they spend money as if it were monopoly play money.

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I used to think that Muslim women who are required to wear burkas didn't care about clothes or fashion since really what's the point when you have to cover it up with a full length black burka anyway? But underneath those burkas are the most faaaabulous clothes and shoes ever. The women are only required to cover up in the presence of men and appear to be very comfortable taking off their burkas when they are in the presence of only women. I spent the morning at Jumeirah Beach today, which happened to be Ladies Only day. Women would walk or drive in to the gated beach area covered from head to toe in their black burkas, then once inside, strip to the teeniest tiniest trendiest bikinis. Underneath those burkas there are belly rings, tattoos, fabulous curves...no wonder Arab men want their women to cover themselves up from head to toes (and sometimes even the face, with only the tiniest slit for the eyes) - some of the Arab women I've seen here are stunningly gorgeous and yes, I could see how such beauty could tempt men to sin (but if the men sin, that's their fault, not the women's fault for being so beautiful, no? Why make women carry the burden of not tempting men...why don't men just control themselves better? But I digress).

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Dubai is a shopper's dream. There is NO tax, NO customs regulations AND the prices on goods here are somehow CHEAPER than anywhere else in the world, even the country of origin. PLUS they have the best collection of shoes I've seen in my entire life at Harvey Nichols AND Harvey Nichols happened to be having their "ladybug sale" while I was there, which meant 25-40% off EVERYTHING in the store, including all luxury brands, which is absolutely incredible because in the States sales always exclude luxury brands. So really, it would be a SIN not to shop under such ideal circumstances. Not that I need to justify shopping...I'm just saying - it would be ridiculous to not shop in Dubai.

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The Burj Al Arab hotel is a self-proclaimed 7 star hotel, the only one in the world. It's one of the supposed must-sees of Dubai, so of course I went to go see it...only to be turned away at the gate because I wasn't a guest and didn't have a reservation at one of their restaurants. So I had the concierge at my hotel make a reservation. Just stepping inside the Burj Al Arab requires a minimum of $70 for breakfast (lunch and dinner is a minimum of almost $200 and afternoon tea, which was completely booked for the next 3 weeks, is $100). Also, they have a dress code - "smart casual", which means no sandals or flip flops! So it's a very good thing I bought some shoes at the Harvey Nichols sale, otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to shell out $70 for breakfast so I could see the supposed 7-star hotel. Maybe I'm jaded - I didn't get the hype and I definitely felt like it was not worth $70 just to step inside. For that level of pretentiousness, I expected the entire hotel to be gold plated. It's like a Vegas hotel, only Arab themed with a rainbow colored interior. It is however, as I expected, pretentious to the max. At the entrance to the hotel, you have 4 doormen on either side of you greet you as you walk in which I guess is supposed to make you feel like royalty but I just felt really self-conscious. My $70 breakfast consisted of 7 courses: a teeny shot glass of yogurt with berry coulis, a slightly bigger shot glass of muesli with yogurt, a tiny fruit plate, a plate with the daintiest bagels in the world - filled with cream cheese and salmon or cream cheese and turkey, a pastry tray with dainty croissants and muffins, a bread basket with French butter and silver serving tower with all kinds of mini honeys and jams and your choice between two different egg dishes - either scrambled eggs Turkish style or egg cocotte with lobster bolognaise. I wish I could have taken pictures of everything as it was all so teeny tiny and cute, all served on porcelain china and real silverware (the silver teapot came with a glove on the handle so you don't burn yourself), but as soon as I was seated the hostess gave me the ground rules, which included no pictures in the restaurant. Like I said, uber-pretentious. I've never felt so self-conscious while eating - the many servers watch you like a hawk and as soon as you put your spoon down from one course, it is cleared away.

***

I went dune-bashing and sandboarding in the Nashwa desert today. Dune bashing is basically getting in a 4X4 and driving crazily over sand dunes. It frightened the bejeezus out of me and made me carsick and I don't ever want to do it again. It's quite weird because I love rollercoasters...but dune bashing is seriously frightening to me. The driver speeds up and down crazy sand dunes and at times I literally felt like the car was going to flip over.

After about half an hour of feeling like I was going to die in a car crash in the desert, we were driven to a complex in the middle of the desert where we could get henna painting, smoke hookah, sandboard, ride camels, or ride ATVs over sand dunes, and where we also had our dinner served and a belly-dancing show to finish the night off.

Sandboarding is just like snowboarding, except that you are not strapped in to the board (just standing on it, basically), and sand has a lot of traction so even on the steepest sand dune, you go downhill rather slowly.

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Like Vegas, Dubai is a place that dazzles you at first, but after 48 hours you're so OVER it, completely broke and ready to leave.