IMG_0069.JPG So I’m in Dubai, UAE, for a presentation. I arrive Monday night local time, do an all-day program on Tuesday, then race back to my hotel afterwards to deal with a few urgent matters back in the States. Soon it’s 7pm and I’ve got only a few hours to explore a place I’ve been only once before. Weighing my options, I decide: Time to see the ski mountain inside the shopping mall.

I cab it over to the Mall of the Emirates (which happens to IMG_0071.JPGbe the largest shopping mall outside North America), I stride past the food court, and catch my first glimpse: Ski Dubai. I press my face against the glass wall and I see about 70 people in what looks to be a ski resort They’re riding a chairlift. They’re wearing winter clothes. And they’re slaloming down a snow-covered mini-mountain. Outside it’s 28 degrees. (That’s about 83 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you in Mynamar, Liberia, and the U.S.) In the mall itself, the temperature is maybe 21 or 22. But inside the the very large, multi-story area that’s been sectioned off with glass walls, the thermometer reads minus 3 degrees.

I stand there for about 20 minutes. I snap a few pictures like the ones to the right. It’s like watching a ginormous, sub-zero terrarium for human beings. I cab back to my hotel, delighted that I’ve seen something so bizarre and audacious.
Permalink

Comments are closed.