Those in UAE prior to 2002 do you prefer the old or new Dubai?

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busybee2559

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EW MASTER

Latest post on 25 April 2011 - 16:33

I came to UAE begining of 1990 when Dubai airport was a tiny little thing with one small counter selling tea and one small duty free shop that resembled a jumble sale. All the gates where side by side with numbers above them and you were taken to the plane by a little old bus. I loved the old Dubai with the trade center being the tallest building (funny to see it now, it is so tiny compared to everything else). I used to go daily to the Chicago Beach hotel, where it was virtually empty with just a handful of German tourists. Not much choice in shopping malls either just Burjuman, City Center, Wafi, Lamcy Plaza and Al Guhrair. I have a photo of me in Mirdiff the second week I arrived and there is NOTHING there, zero, just desert and one house in the distance which belonged to my friend Sheikh Saqar Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Taxis were a nightmare, dirty little things being driven by equally dirty looking drivers spitting Pan out of the window and tooting their horns madly. No meters, they just charged you what they wanted. Dubai Sharjah road was virtually all desert with just a few stop off cafes on the way. We used to drive off the road onto the sand and fish for Hamour and Sultan Ibrahim. The sea that flowed through that area is now no longer there, its been built on lol. I spent every weekend in Kalba at our farm, Fujeriah back then was so outdated and old, the main hotel being the Fujeriah Hilton which we used to go and play darts on a thursday night with german tourists and the odd few Brit expats who worked in the area. I used to drive my late partners olderly uncle Abdul Rahman back to Abu Dhabi at the end of each weekend it took me 4 hours from Kalba to Abudhabi, bet it takes much longer now. I also remember when the Dubai AbuDhabi road was just one or two lanes, it was an uncomfortable journey when I first arrived as they had began to build the highway that is there now. I loved those days and miss them a lot. Sadly things began to change around the time I left in 2004, when I returned last year I got such a massive shock at the changes, I hated it at first. So many people, so many buildings, so many shopping malls. But underneath it will always be the Dubai I loved because it was the culture I fell in love with. Is there anyone else on this board that remembers the Dubai of old? Which do you prefer? Am I the only one who prefers the old? I came to Abu Dhabi in 1996. I remember the old ad/dxb road, as my hubs was working on it, and everytime someone asked me what he was doing, they always said "get rid of the speed bumps". It took him from 13th in AD to the border interchange 3 hours each way. The road system has come a long way since then, still a fair way to go though. I remember the Hard Rock Cafe was the "first big building" in dubai, and the first real highrises were the original ones along SZR. There were no shops in abu, you had to drive up to Deira City Centre for shopping or Lamcy, but then Ikea arrived too! I much prefer the old place, before it was discovered!

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