The Biggest Little Emirate in the World

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates --- Dubai does not do “subtle.”

Everything here has a superlative attached to its name. To date, we have seen:

a) The World’s Tallest Building: The 2,684-foot Burj Khalifa. You might remember this as the Burj Dubai. Not anymore. The building was renamed for Sheikh Khalifa, President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, after Abu Dhabi bailed Dubai out of economic bust (story). We have uploaded photos, but it does not do justice to the Star Wars-esque building that dominates the skyline day and night.

b) The World’s Only Indoor Desert Ski Dome: Located (where else?) in a mall, specifically the enormous Mall of The Emirates. The dome, kind of like a life-sized snow globe, even has a ski lift. A trip down the slopes will set you back a little less than US$100. We snuck a peek through the window, then went to the valet line to count the Porsches and Bentleys.

c) World’s Most Expensive Cocktail: In the Burj Al-Arab, Dubai’s iconic sail-shaped waterfront building with a helipad seemingly suspended in midair. The bar here, which looks like the one on the Starship Enterprise, offers a cocktail for AED 27,000 (about US$7,700). The reason for the hefty price tag: Macallan single-malt scotch whisky that has aged 55 years. The opulent Burj awarded itself seven stars – two beyond the five possible under most rating schemes – when it opened, but has since backed off this claim.

d) World’s Only Man-made Palm-shaped Islands: What do you do if you run out of beachfront? If you are Dubai, you build more. That’s not one, not two, but THREE palm-shaped islands of sand and rock plunked out in the Gulf off Dubai’s coast. Construction has halted on some projects, including a Trump hotel, but a Pepto-Bismol-pink Atlantis – a facsimile of the one in Nassau -- caps the canyon-like rows of hotels and residences on the original palm island. We have been assured that these islands are not disrupting the environment, the buildings are not sinking, and the sand is not eroding. Right …