New Year's at Medina Jumeirah

Take a look at Medina Jumeirah:










And by night:



It’s quite lovely. The trees, the waterways, the stylish towers: It looks like the Elven magical city in the forest from Lord of the Rings. Only the elves didn’t have a Lamborghini parked outside their magical city.

One other difference: Medina Jumeirah is a mall. It’s actually Souk Medina Jumeirah, which is Arabic for Medina Jumeirah Mall. This is a mall that might impress even those of you reared in the magnificent shadow of the Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe, Kansas. It has everything a mall should have: chic bars, trendy clubs, wildly overpriced restaurants, and, of course, a Cinnabon.

I love thinking that maybe somebody drove that Lamborghini up to Medina Jumeirah just to pick up a double-dipped pecan bun and some chocolate milk.

Because Christians like to spend money too, Souk Medina Jumeirah features two – yes, two – enormous Christmas trees, bedecked with glowing lights like nothing I’ve ever seen before this side of the White House lawn.



Note Arab man in corner for size perspective.

The mall surrounds a multi-leveled pavilion where you can sit, drink your non-alcoholic beverages ($7 beer is for inside, silly) and watch the boats sail around the little canals to nowhere. Up in the club, nestled in the top level among the medieval elf towers, a massive light display performed all night New Year’s Eve. The central feature was a spinning circle – it looked like an old-style rotary telephone, red background with white dots, just spinning away. Once I got so entranced that I couldn’t look away and I almost fell over. Tipsiness had nothing to do with it.

And here’s the part I’ve been waiting to tell you: Medina Jumeirah, lush as it is, sits in the shadow of a true giant of luxury. Towering over the souk, massive, glowing, regal in its grandeur, blinking and shimmering and changing colors like a beautiful but needy child craving attention – the Burj al-Arab.