DUBAI: Dessert Oasis
Rising above the skyline of Dubai...the Burj Kalifa. It's scale makes the surrounding skyline seem insignificant. These are buildings that, in any other city, would dominate the skyline. Only when you stand at the base of Burj Kalifa can you really appreciate its massive scale. It stretches over twenty seven hundred feet over a massive shopping, residential, business and entertainment center that bears some resemblance of the Las Vegas strip... without the gambling.
This city has risen out of the desert over the last 20 years. Not without controversy. Americans tend to look at Dubai with some confusion, looking at the region through the lens of 9/11. The truth is, this city is a melting pot that grew out of a trading post on the Persian Gulf. An oasis on the Dubai creek. Its location makes it a bridge between east and west. To build this city, the Emeraties brought the people from all over the globe. Today when you walk though the city you can see and hear people from every part of earth. Some have become wealthy. Others come for a change of pace. And others have come to support their family, but find that they only just get by. All of them together make this place tick, but for none of them is Dubai home.
In the journey around the world, we try to see what makes this a hub of the global technology revolution.