Alas, these aren't the dramatic roadways lined with skyscrapers, or the ostentatious hotels sprawling out of the city along the palm-tree shaped beaches. But Dubai is surreal for more reasons than just wretched excess and questionable architectural bravado.For example:
1. All sorts of ill-placed, negligible-impact attempts at sustainability—recycling containers adjacent to air conditioned bus stops, on the side of roads clogged with SUVs all day, in the midst of near-empty hotels with pyrotechnic lighting displays and heli-pads. Its almost humorous to see recycling containers in a city that drinks up water and resources in the midst of a desert.
2. The brand new metro is quite beautiful—interesting, maybe even well-detailed organic forms (haven't gotten close enough to really inspect any details), consistent across the system—but the shiny form is coated with a thick layer of sand dust, and there's only one rail line, that noone rides...so far.
3. The speed of building has led to hilarious trip-ups: an ATM built just a bit too high for pretty much any user (even tall ones) had to be retrofitted with a set of steps below it.
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