Day 9 - Oil rigs, Dinner on the beach, Trip to the Burj Al-Arab hotel, Thursday Jan 6

The theme for the morning and afternoon today was: Oil. In the morning it was a class on Oil and Development in GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council]. The topic was the same which we had heard throughout the whole trip: Oil will run out at some point for these countries and diversification is the key to sustaining a healthy economy. Currently, the biggest gainers are Bahrain and Dubai. The reasons behind this? Bahrain was the first country in which oil was found, by USA's Standard Oil company, in 1932. The other end of it is that Bahrain is also going to be the first state which runs out of oil. The government saw the "Writing on the wall" years ago, and has moved away from petroleum-based resources as the sole meaningful way of creating revenue. With Dubai, it is a similar story; the economy was built on oil reserves yet at this point represents only 5% of the GDP for the Emirate. Dubai and Bahrain have set themselves as the model that the rest of the GCC wants to emulate. As I have mentioned before, the key diversifying businesses that will allow the Gulf countries to thrive are: trade, logistics, finance, and tourism. Already Abu Dhabi (which currently does rely alot on oil) has started construction on a huge project to create a man-made island which will become a world-class leisure, residential, business, and cultural hub. Included will be two large museums: Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Louvre Abu Dhabi.
After class it, we took a trip out of Dubai to another Emirate, Sharjah. Here the class saw the manufacturing and refurbishing of oil rigs by the foreign company, Lamprell (Lamprell plc is incorporated in the Isle of Man, in Europe). Some of Lamprell's top brass gave us presentations on the history and current status of the company, and even the engineering designs of these "Jackup Rigs" as they are called. The first photo shows work being done on the grounds. The speakers were accommodating to our available time, and even took us for a live tour. Next time you see an oil rig in the ocean, remember that it may have taken 2 years for it to be constructed from start to finish!

After all that class and knowledge, we really earned our day. Now it was time to go to the Jumeirah Beachcomber, back in a district of Dubai, for an all-you-can eat buffet right on the beach! Planned ahead by Dr Chaudhry, our view was of the Burj Al-Arab hotel in the background, and the food was an assortment of salads, meats, vegetables, soups, noodles, rice, and desserts. An unexpected treat was that of a live band which would come to each table and play the a requested song. These guys were good! On the other side of the world from the U.S., Villanova MBA students were singing along with the band to tunes like "Sweet Caroline". I did not want to leave. But we had to- the Burj Al-Arab awaited with our reservations to go in. With all the hype in our minds, we all took chauffeured golf cart rides from the Beachcomber to the Burj Al-Arab. It literally sits on the water, away from everything else. Walking in the doors, my initial sense was that it was all a scene of opulence and shine. Here is a youtube clip of the hotel. I had to skip around a bit since it's a promotional video, but you'll get the idea! When I walked around, I saw water fountains that danced, gold, and inviting sofas all around, as well as Christmas trees! It seemed like everywhere in Dubai there were Christmas trees.
With all of us taking pictures like the tourists we were, it was amazing to see the attention to detail. Part of the reservation package included a trip to the Sky View Bar. We all took our seats, with a nice panoramic view from the 27th floor.
The entire experience of the evening was finished late night, and it was back on the Fancy Bus to IMT. Our next two days were free open days with each one of us free to explore anything we wanted, including: the beach, the souks, and even a neighboring country! Then we would board back onto the plane and return back home. I appreciated the entire experience, and as a result of this course & trip I have decided to specialize my MBA in International Business.
-Pete