Concierge’s IT List: Places for upscale tastes, but maybe cheaper

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s The New York Times list of 53 places to go in 2008 (see post), the 40 travel tips and suggestions from London’s Times (see post )and now Concierge.com has an IT List of 10 more suggestions, all with sound reasoning behind each one.

The way a destination ends up on this list is that it’s had enough people show up to increase the odds that it has some sense of what travelers like, therefore it can deliver a vacation to write home about–or it’s a place people have gone to for years, but has something new to offer. In the case of this list, it’s luxury.

When I looked over the Concierge list, it occurred to me that there are places I’d like to go on a vacation if I had A LOT of money. Any place could be spiffy.

Oman, a place I never thought of going, but now that I’ve seen what it has to offer, I think it’s an option. For one thing, everyone I know who has gone to the United Arab Emirates talks about how expensive Dubai is. Oman, from Concierge’s description, seems to be a cheaper version of a place to travel in the Middle East that can provide some Western comfort, at least when it comes to lodging. Oman, like the UAE has luxurious hotels that I’d venture to guess are less expensive because a lot of people are not heading there yet.

The history of Oman is what attracts me the most.The 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta passed through here and from what I read, even though tourism is being developed, it’s possible to get a healthy dose of traditional culture.

If you’re looking for something tropical–like Bali, but not Bali since much of Bali has loads of tourists, one suggestion is Hainan Island, China. You can stay in luxury here too, but what caught my attention was the description of mountain villages. I’m not a more than a day or two beach person, but give me an afternoon of wandering through a village and I’m happy. Since I’ve been to several places in South East Asia, this would be a choice based on a place that would be different but familiar.

Mozambique is also on the list. I love the word Mozambique. Say it. Doesn’t that sound lovely? The trendy hotels and a beach scene are part of the draw, and the political stability has helped it excel. I’m intrigued by the Portuguese influence, plus the national parks and the music. I bet the traditional architecture is also fabulous. Besides that, I’d like to see how it compares to the other African countries I’ve been to.

Although I love Tuscany, Sicily, the Concierge.com’s suggestion of where to head in Italy this year, would be the place I’d pick to go if I could pick just one. The thing I like about this choice is that there is so much variety in not such a big place. I have a tendency to want to see everything. If there’s not so much ground to cover, it feels like the vacation can be interesting and restful.

After watching the Amazing Race teams navigate Croatia, Montenegro, a country that has been compared to it in looks and feel, seems as if it would be a fabulous choice. It’s also supposed to be cheaper than Italy and Croatia.

Paris, San Diego, Ecuador, St. Lucia, Puerto Escondido and the Oaxacan Coast are also on the list.

For some more details about what Ecuador offers, check out Aaron’s post on his trip there. For St. Lucia, check out Adrienne’s series St. Lucia There & Back. She has the ins and outs about all aspects of travel here. She did it all.

As for San Diego, Erik presented a list earlier in 2007 that tells you what to see there, a good place to start. He’s a guy who lived there, so he should know.

If you head to Paris, another possibility is a houseboat stay on the Seine, as Martha did with her mother.

As for the Oaxacan Coast, my dad, who has been to Mexico several times loves this section of Mexico. If I ever go to Mexico on an extended trip, Oaxaca is where I’m heading.

Mini-Lyon to be built in Dubai. Sigh.

by Abha Malpani on

The fact that I left Dubai and continually seem to be ranting about the city here might make you think I hate it. Truth is, I don’t. I’ve just had enough of it, and would never want to live there again. The city does have its own charm, something I will write about when I’m inspired to. However, the idea of building a mini-Lyon in Dubai isn’t part of it.

You would think that a city that is hardly 40-years old and has no money issues, would put in some effort to nurture and display to the world a culture it can call its own. But it always takes pride in doing the exact opposite.

Dubai is a strange, though fascinating, concoction of everything it isn’t but wants to be. This is why people like me who have spent a significant amount of time there often perceive its new ventures to keep the city in the world’s limelight as superficial ludicrousness.

The project to build a mini-Lyon in Dubai that will copy the city and even reconstruct the cafes, cinemas and schools, will be a €500 million project due to finish in 2012.
Why do you want a mini-Lyon in Dubai? It’s going to be “a small city with the accent on the best of French culture, and particularly Lyon culture.” Lyon is the 3rd largest metropolitan in France with a history that goes back to the 1st Century BC. This is impossible to imitate to any level of significance in 4 years.

Why doesn’t Dubai understand that copying cities and building “only-possible-in-Dubai” structures and islands, creates nothing but a confusion over the very word ‘culture’. I suppose in Dubai they would call it “redefining culture”.

When Dubai plans things like this, I think it just reinforces the cultural crisis it is in, but will never admit. It probably won’t affect its tourism industry, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Sigh.

Dubai Shopping Nightmare 2008

by Abha Malpani on

By now, you all must be familiar with the Dubai Shopping Festival. In its 12th year running (this year January 24-February 24), for the world it is a shopping wet-dream; the height of splurge — justified because it’s “the best bargain on the planet”; a gold-lover’s paradise; unlimited opportunities to win multiple cars, money and kilos of gold. But, for people who live in Dubai, it is hell.

I lived in Dubai from 1998-2006, and I hated the festival. Everything that stands on the road is lit up: lamp-posts, trees, buildings, bridges, bushes, gas stations, restaurants, shops — all have lights twirled around them; stand still for more than 5 minutes and odds are that you will be wrapped in lights too. It’s so illuminated, you need sunglasses at night.

Dubai probably has the worst traffic in the world: it would take me 45 minutes to drive to work on a normal morning; my office was only 7km from my house. It worsens during the festival as people from neighboring cities and countries drive in. Going anywhere is self-inflicted pain. To add to the chaos, the metro is under construction and half of Dubai’s roads are dug up, already causing havoc on the roads. I don’t even want to think about the what the festival traffic mess will be like this year.
The population of Dubai is about 1.25 million; in 2005, 3.3 million people visited Dubai during the festival month. And where do all these people go? To the malls to shop. DUH!

Shopping during the festival is punishment that begins the minute you head in direction of a mall: the traffic, the lines to park (most malls have at least 10-levels of parking but it’s impossible to find a spot quickly), and once you get in, don’t be surprised if you are part of a stampede waiting to happen. As for the shops, the prices are hiked pre-event, so come festival and the offers seem like a super-bargain. Not true. Also, shops often use the festival to get rid of old stock.

There are fun fairs on some of the main streets which means Disneyland type music blaring and a gazillion people walking around. The Global Village takes the fair concept to a different level as it promises a flavor of every country in the world. Although excellently marketed, it is a total anti-climax once you get there. Very little is authentic; most of the stuff is commercial and expensive. It is a rip-off and very crowded, so in general it magnifies the annoyance value of fun fairs.

And lastly: every night, for the whole month, at 8pm there is a 20 minute, non-stop, eardrum bursting firework display. It’s just about tolerable the first week, but after that you really want to hunt down and kill the person who invented firecrackers.

I suffered a serious and extended bout of migraine when one year it was canceled and the following year they decided to make up for it by having it for two months rather than one.

In conclusion: keep in mind that only a city like Dubai can pull something off like this with such audaciously ludicrous opulence (this year you can win 2 Lexus’s and up to US$205,000 EVERYDAY). Like the city, it’s worth visiting for amusement value.

Cultural sensitivity and conference travel

by Jamie Rhein on

My dentist told me all about her trip to Dubai for a dental conference when she was replacing a crown. Although my questioning capabilities were hampered by a few dentist gadgets, I wanted to get her impressions. It’s a habit. Whenever anyone tells me of a trip, I want the details.

Heading to a conference in Dubai was not like heading to a conference to many places. Before she arrived in Dubai, there was some cultural sensitivity training about how to dress as a female and how to talk with men. Since she couldn’t quite remember the details, and she wasn’t there for a long enough time to catch on to the nuances of the culture, she didn’t look up at the men at all. She figured that was the easiest tactic. Despite that, she enjoyed the experience and was happy she went.

Her details about discomfort with cultural differences reminded me of when my husband accompanied a delegation of employees of a battery company in Hsinchu, Taiwan to CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany. He sort of went along to help them with their English. They weren’t quite so interested in seeing Germany on their moments off since they wanted to eat instant noodles and pocket their per diem, so my husband went off to see some sights in Hanover his own.

The only time he really had to help the people he was sent to help out navigate the culture had to do with toilet paper use. In Taiwan you don’t put toilet paper in the toilet, you put it in a trash can. The plumbing can’t handle the paper, I was told. The guest house owner where they were staying pulled my husband aside, made a face, and asked him why people weren’t flushing the toilet paper but putting it in the “bin.” “Oh, I’ll take care of it,” my husband said. My husband told the leader to tell everyone else to not put their toilet paper in the trash anymore. Goodwill was redeemed with each flush afterward.

A city within a building: Dubai’s latest “Pearl”

by Abha Malpani on

The latest soon-to-sprout architectural bewilderment in Dubai is the Dubai Pearl.

It’s hard not to be entertained by Dubai’s fetish for constructing (well, wanting to construct) rare-shaped buildings: a cube, a chess piece, a tulip, numbers (1 and 2), a wave, a sail and an iPod, are amongst some of the ‘only-fathomable-in-Dubai’ types. It was therefore a pleasant(?) surprise that this Pearl plan, isn’t in the shape of a pearl. I quite like its design — more of a sci-fi scape and less of a monstrosity, in my opinion.

Anyway, to be constructed at a Dubai-throw-away cost of $3 billion, the Pearl is special because not only will it have the usual luxury mall, hotel, spa, and residences, but it will also have a climate controlled pedestrian city — yes, an interior area built for people to walk!

In Dubai, if you are walking on the street (especially in the heat), don’t be surprised if you are the only soul using his feet to commute, or if someone stops to give you a ride because they see you as mad trying to walk anywhere in the city. But, build a space for people to walk, and people will drive there to go for a walk.
City Center — one of Dubai’s main shopping centers has something like “City Strolling” every Friday morning, where you go there especially for a morning walk. Yes, in a mall. Yes, many people go. So a climate controlled “pedestrian city” with sidewalk cafes will probably be a super hit in the city.

The Pearl will also boast a 21st century Covent garden (not sure if this will be inside or outside) and robot valet service! (*gasp*) I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I doubt people will be comfortable giving their Lamborghinis to some R2D2 to park.

It also says that the building will be the world’s first column-free structure (what does that mean!?), will have the capacity to cater to 20,000 people, and is due to open in 2010.