Kottke posts an altered version of the Midtown skyline. Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

Photo by Larsz via Flickr (Creative Commons)

“It’s all a bit scary,” one expat tells the Washington Post’s Andrew Higgins. He’s not the only one cowering and fleeing. Many expats believe there’s a hunt on for “foreign culprits to blame for the sheikdom’s sliding economic fortunes.”

In Dubai’s defense, its Media Affairs Office told Higgins that it “prides itself on a well-established system of law and order and judicial fairness,” but it didn’t “respond to repeated and detailed questions.”

Photo of Dubai’s airport by joiseyshowaa, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The list of lost-cost carriers now has two new names: JetAmerica and flydubai.

JetAmerica, a charter company with a home base in Toledo, Ohio, will fly to five cities. They are advertising $9 fares, with a “convenience fee” of $5, thus selling some seats (before taxes and fees) for $14.

Over at The Cranky Flier, Brett Snyder isn’t optimistic. “I honestly couldn’t make this sound any worse if I tried,” Snyder writes. “The CEO is John Weikle, one of the original founders of Skybus.”

Meanwhile, in the U.A.E., flydubai has been born, with initial routes beginning this week between Dubai and Beirut and Amman. They plan to expand from there. “You’ll soon be able to flydubai to other cities in the Middle East, GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] and India,” their website states. “And eventually, the network will extend to Iran, Eastern Europe and North & East Africa.”

It’s been a rough few months of sewage-on-the-beach damage control for the city of excess and $25,000-a-night hotel suites on artificial islands shaped like palm trees. After raw sewage, chemical waste and toilet paper washed up on opulent, luxury hotel-lined Jumeirah Beach and made international headlines, an environmental group is trying clean up the beach and others along the United Arab Emirates coastline. The Emirates Wildlife Association will encourage managers of the beaches to apply for Blue Flag designation and meet international standards for water quality and cleanliness.

Ten thousand camels will participate in what may be the most bizarre (and perhaps also best) beauty contest of them all. Held in the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi, the contest "is one of the richest and biggest events of its kind, with more than $9m and 100 cars in prizes up for grabs." Camels from as far and wide as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be participating in the 6-year-old pageant, which is part of the Mazayin Dhafra festival that starts today. "Organizers hope it will remind Emiratis of traditional desert values;" or, in other words, vanity. Just kidding, it's really more of a pissing contest, since camels were for a long time the way in which one's wealth was measured. [BBC]

Ten thousand camels will participate in what may be the most bizarre (and perhaps also best) beauty contest of them all. Held in the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi, the contest "is one of the richest and biggest events of its kind, with more than $9m and 100 cars in prizes up for grabs." Camels from as far and wide as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be participating in the 6-year-old pageant, which is part of the Mazayin Dhafra festival that starts today. "Organizers hope it will remind Emiratis of traditional desert values;" or, in other words, vanity. Just kidding, it's really more of a pissing contest, since camels were for a long time the way in which one's wealth was measured. [BBC]

At the top of my List of Places I Would Love To Visit But Eh Probably Won’t is Dubai. Some time ago, I met a good looking girl who passed along an article on the city written by George Saunders.

I highly recommend reading the article, but for those of you who eschew recommendations absent of hyperlinks, here is the summary: In the middle of the desert exists the most perfect place in the world where one gets the feeling money actually can buy love, especially if you love sunshine, sand and obscene luxury. This is a city that, in 2006, officially changed its weekend to Friday and Saturday, as a convenience to its tourists. Let’s see Cleveland do that.

After I read it, I immediately emailed her:

“I am now going to become a news reporter specializing in Dubai. I am fairly certain that the only “news” I would report would be items like “Everyone is Still Happy” and “Nuclear Bomb Hits Middle East; Dubai Magic Shield Withstands Blast, Radiation.”

The vast dessert, with its man-made coastlines is like a rich man’s Vegas. But instead of going there to lie in the sun and gamble, people go to lie in the sun and swim (Scrooge McDuck-style) in giant pools of gold. And since gambling is prohibited, nobody bets their rent on a dumbass pair of 9s and then has to sleep in their Ford Escort (stupid, Dan, stupid).

Home to the world’s only six star hotel, what Dubai lacks in tradition it makes up for in opulence. What’s the extra star for? Chauffeured Rolls Royces, 24-hour butler service, a private reception desk on every floor, and dancing girls, tons of dancing girls.* (And not the cheap kind offered by the Hiltons.)

Dubai’s latest shrine to overindulgence is an underwater hotel – Hydropolis, from the Latin “hydro” meaning water, and “dropolis” meaning cliché. And why, you ask, would anyone want to hold their breath all vacation? To experience the joy of finally realizing that Little Mermaid fantasy, of course. Or, perhaps, to lure that pretty girl with great taste in foreign cities away for a $10,000 weekend of fun. Although something tells me, eh, I could probably have her for half that.

* This fact has not been verified. But will be.

- by Dan Murphy of [redacted] fame

The NY Times has their end-of-year picks, while the LA Times and Washington Post finally get their snow-season specials on the lift (where were you two weeks ago, guys?) Included are three separate articles about the here-to-fore little-known mountains of Big Sky, Montana–so much for that bit of “insider info.” The Guardian crashes the après-ski festivities with tip on the really unknown winter destination of Kashmir, written by the amazingly, frostily named Minty Clinch (seriously).

NYT End-Of-Year Bests
– “Budget Destination: Albania, Europe’s Rough Corner, Loosens Up”
– “Hotels: The Toiletries, the Concierges, the Spas. For 2007, Conspicuous Luxury Is In”
– “Luxury Destination: In Zambia, Safaris With a Penthouse Touch”
– “Party Destination: Amid the Minarets of Istanbul, Club Music Pulses”
– “Family Destination: The French Riviera is an Adult Playground, With a PG Side”
– “Buzzword: Carbon Neutral – Raising the Ante on Eco-Tourism”
– “Entrepreneur: The Sheik of Dubai”
– “Adventure: Yemen, An Arabian Oasis for the Intrepid”

Washington Post Ski Issue 2006
– “Deer Valley: A Little Snow-How”
– “Montana: Plenty of Snow For Everyone”
– “Berguen, Switzerland”
– “La Grave, France”
– “Sainte-Foy Tarentaise, France”
– “Slopes With the Most”

LA Times Winter Holidays
– “Montana: White open spaces”
– “Montana: A quick whoosh through Big Sky”
– “Finding thrills on those smaller hills”
– “Lift-ticket deals: Less green stuff, more white stuff”
– “Brand names resonate when it comes to online bookings”
– “FIVE REASONS TO…Explore spectacular Whistler”
– “Fat but so light on your feet”

The Guardian
– “Why Kashmir beats Klosters”

Previously:
– “Weekend Travel Section Roundup: Snow Report”