Editor’s Note: In 2011, Andy Bowe and I flew from Chicago to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The next day we drove an hour and a half northeast along the south coast of the Persian Gulf to the neighboring Emirate of Dubai.
As the pictures of Dubai show, where camels once trod in a small fishing village, a new desert metropolis had come into being by 2011. Today, Dubai is a global transportation hub, a tourist destination, a financial powerhouse, and not least, home to some of the most amazing architecture on the planet, including what is now the world’s tallest building, the 163-story Burj Khalifa. A new elevated, rapid transit spine runs through the center of Dubai, a massive landfill development in the shape of a palm tree juts out into the Gulf and hundreds of office and residential skyscrapers have been built to accommodate Dubai’s recent growth.
So, take a look at all this yourself, while you listen to the Duke Ellington 1936 classic, Caravan, played by Dr. John and Les Paul.
