I have had a flying visit through Dubai on my way back into Australia. Yesterday I took my jet-lagged self through Dubai’s extravagant Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall and discovered for myself the true gap between what they call the ‘have nots and the have yachts.’

The wealth in this city is obscene. So much so that it feels like developers have built all these phenomenal hotels, malls and attractions to use up all the money they, can but don’t have enough people to fill them. The malls I visited yesterday were quite empty. Dubai is a very large, sprawling city that just continues to grow, with so much continuous construction happening everywhere that I am not sure where they are going to find the people to fill these new buildings with.

There is a main Metro system that runs through the city, but many of the main tourist attractions, beaches and hotels are not accessible by it, so a taxi needs to be taken to and from many of the Metro stations resulting in a more expensive journey than first thought.

My plan for today was to go out Jumeirah Beach Park, the only publicly accessible beach in the main Dubai area. It has a $5 Dirham entry fee but boasts both park and beach areas with playground, picnic areas, change rooms etc. However as I was Googling how to get there this morning (it is not accessible by public transport) I discovered the beach was closed in October 2014 and will be close for the next 2 years due to upgrades to the canal. If you aren’t rich enough to afford a beachside hotel – you will be out of luck for a beach visit for the foreseeable future.

So I’m happy I have been able to see Dubai, see the city and I do understand the appeal to those who have money and would like to spend their riches on fine dining, shopping and living in the most extravagant way possible – but I wouldn’t stay here longer than a couple of days.[/fusion_text]