Eric Demay

Finally got to see up close the most iconic construction ever erected in Dubai. The Burj Al Arab —Tower of the Arabs in arabic— hotel, which is set 300m of the coast, was the coup d’envoi to internationally brand Dubai as a luxury tourism destination. Its mere shape and size (the tallest hotel in the world at the time), combined with a few good publicity stunts (remember Agassi and Federer exchanging volleys on the perched helipad) helped it assert the new direction of the Dubai’s contemporary development .

Anyways. Yesterday we went dancing at the outdoor club/balcony/pod that sits next to it. Pounding electro-dub, with a side of rich loud Lebanese kids going at it. Like Montreal’s picnik electronik but infused with this kitschy jet-set cliché vibe to it. But nobody seemed to care, everybody was enjoying the setting all too much.