Brave new world

If there is one, construction unrelated thing that I have realised from this trip, it is that there is a whole new world out there. And this world is developing rapidly all by itself.

That might sound both obvious and naive, so let me elaborate a bit.

Living in Europe, it is easy to "do the ostrich", i.e. bury one's head in the sand. Probably because our institutions, media and even companies often do the ostrich themselves. Their focus is generally on Europe first, then North American and Japan, with minimum thought given to the rest of the world.

Though well travelled, it's been quite a long time; 10-15 years; since I've really spent an extended period outside Europe (that includes in Kenya). At that time, the world still seemed to be working on the sun and planet model which had been effectively installed by colonialism and remained thereafter; the west was the sun and the rest were the planets. For example, looking at Kenya 15 years the airport was dominated by European carriers (BA, KLM, Swissair); the cars and tyres were French (Peugeot and Michelin) while the trucks were German (Mercedes Benz); petrol stations were British or American (BP, Shell and Mobil); the biggest banks were British(Barclays and Standard and Chartered); the roads were funded by Americans; electronic items were Dutch (Philips) and restaurant chains were non-existant. In other words, the west was at the centre of the economy of Kenya and many other developing countries.

Nowadays in Kenya, a veritable mix of carriers can be found  at the airport, with Middle Eastern carriers (Turkish*, Emirates, Ethiad, Qatar) the most present after Kenya airways ; the cars are Japanese (Toyota), tyres Indonesian (GT) and trucks Indian (Tata); one of the biggest petrol station chains is Lybian; the biggest banks are Kenyan; the roads are built by the Chinese; electronics come from South Korea; and restaurant chains are South African. The west has been marginalised.

Some of these changes (such as South Korean electronics) are pretty obvious as they reflect the evolution of the wider world, and can be picked up on wherever you are. But other changes are less noticeable e.g. in Europe. The bottom line is that "the rest" are now largely cutting out the west.

Photo from Deira, the old part of Dubai. Which isn't really very old at all!

Financial centre looking like something from a sci-fi movie 

Now that is a big shopping mall!

Alina: "Inspiration for Romanian highways!"

View from the top

My flight to and from Kenya took me through a place which epitomises this new world dynamic; Dubai. A city which has literally grown out of the sand in the last 40 or so years, to become a real cosmopolitan centre for the new world.  People from all corners of Africa and Asia living in a city years ahead of most western ones. Burg Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 828m, dwarfs America's tallest (Sears Tower). The Dubai Mall makes a modern London shopping centre like Westfields look like a flea market. The infrastructure makes the whole city seem futuristic. Sure, it had the advantage of not having to update old infrastructure, as European cities tend to need to. But it still seems to have that "je ne sais quoi".

During this trip, my eyes  have been (re)opened to the new world. I won't let them close again.

* I'm putting Turkey with the middle east for simplicity, but I'm aware it's part European too!

------------------------------------------

A short break for xmas now. I'll be heading back to Kenya in the new year for a few weeks to finish off the works - as you can see from the other post, the house is better but not quite entirely ready.  And the blog will resume then!