The year 2010 was a year full of colours for me. I landed a new job, moved to a new studio (all for myself), meeting my girlfriend’s parents for the first time, and so on. On the other hand, I also had to say goodbye to one of my closest friends this year and even had a big fight with my mom just a few weeks before the New Year bell tolled.
I must admit that my first 2011 moments were far; very far from perfect. We spent our New Year’s Eve watching a fireworks & dancing fountain collaboration show at the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest skyscraper) which was not bad, but was dwarfed by the hype their marketing team created. Early in the morning, half of Dubai received a text message from Emaar (the company behind all this) inviting them to witness this “fabulous” show (or rather reminding them, because we already knew this show was going to take place, anyway). The same was also advertised full-page on the country’s leading papers.
For Dubaians, there was only one must-see fireworks show in the past, i.e.: that of Burj Al Arab (yup, the sail-shaped “seven star hotels” off Jumeirah beach). I remember people from all over Dubai used to flock around the area as early as 6 or 7 PM to secure the best spots. Then came the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah and Dubaians’ love of anything new and shiny took some of them away from their first love. Meanwhile, those who live in the areas closer to reality (like Deira & Bur Dubai) and cannot afford the tiresome journey across the town might prefer a less grand, but nevertheless colourful fireworks show at the Festival City.
It was only last year that Burj Khalifa entered the competition (although really there are no prizes except prestige and media exposure which last one week top) and promised a spectacular combination of special New Year’s Eve dancing fountain & fireworks show, which took 5 minutes and was really brilliant, except that the old contender seems to once again bag the Best NY Fireworks Award this time, with far grander, more beautiful fireworks, and lasted a full 15 minutes (according to witnesses)! That said, Burj Khalifa’s offer of something different, i.e.: marrying fireworks with its renowned dancing fountain would definitely ensure some repeat guests this year.
Anyway, it wasn’t really the 5 vs 15 minutes which made me regret choosing at Burj Khalifa this time. First of all, there was no traditional countdown which is the bread-and-butter of any NY celebration in all parts of the world! That, and the lack of crowd organization which I would say have compromised the safety and security of the spectators. While rumour says there are some good thousands of people that night, I could hardly spot any security guard, except when the show was over. We were lucky enough to be relatively close to the fountain by 9.30 pm, but we could still feel people trying to get through 20 – 30 minutes before midnight while clearly there was no more space available. There was even a few thugs wearing Arabic traditional dress who violently pushed their way till they reached the very first row when everybody had already settled, obviously either totally uneducated and uncivilized or simply showed off their status as the super-nationals. Luckily there were not many ladies, children, or elderly, as otherwise things could have been much more serious.
The barbarians apart, the traffic from & to the Burj Khalifa was a nightmare, although not unanticipated by us. I still have no clue what exactly was happening, but people said the authorities blocked some of the roads around the area even after the show ended, causing us to arrive home no earlier than 3.40 AM, while it usually takes roughly 20 minutes. Luckily it was not a school day since despite being a Muslim country, UAE declares the Gregorian New Year as a public holiday, along with the Islamic one.
All in all, I refuse to allow the incident let me down and I’m still up with my 2011 resolutions, which will be listed on my soon-to-come next post. Till then, I wish you a great year ahead and may this year be one full of blessings, hopes, and love. Amen.
(PS: I was planning to upload a video of Burj Khalifa’s fireworks show, but I noticed that there are a lot of them already on YouTube, the best of which might be www.youtube.com/watch?v=PncblITUZTs, as broadcasted by Dubai TV. Then compare to Burj Al Arab's on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntocjEdO-yM. Enjoy them and decide where you wanna go this year, pals!!)
0 comments:
Post a Comment