The Billowing Sail (an excerpt)
by Mohammed , 7th grade
“Come on. We have to go check out the city. You can’t waste your visit sitting around,” my uncle said.
The Toyota SUV had a DVD player, but it was of little use in a car packed with 7 people, the radio on full blast and my father taping with a video camera. The drive was not as exciting as I had anticipated. All I saw was sand and trees for miles. This is what you call boring.
“This is the beginning of town,” my uncle said.
I peered out the window. A tall building was barely visible in the distance.
“Is that the entire town?” I asked.
“No,” he exclaimed, “of course not. We still have a mile to go to see any large buildings.”
Just as I thought it couldn’t get any more boring, I saw a group of camels walking down the side of the road. This was the first time I had seen a camel- and they were in the wild!
“What are camels doing here in a city like this?”
“They live here,” my mother replied, “and you will see some on the beach in town.” Wow, this place is not as boring as I thought.
We arrived in the city just as the sun reached its zenith. The scene was breathtaking. In sharp contrast to the desert, every single inch was inhabited by technology. Five-star hotels were on every block. I was appalled at how modern it was compared to the houses on the outskirts of town. The beach was the most striking. It was so peaceful and calm. I rode a camel on the beach- a huge creature, and pretty smelly too. We fired off a few fireworks down by the shore and watched a water-skier do acrobatics.
But the most exciting part was viewing the Burj-al-Arab, the “Star of Arabia.” It was elegant down to its’ shape- a billowing sail. The lobby was crowded with tourists wearing the finest clothes. I asked my uncle why all of the people seemed so rich. “It’s because it is very expensive to stay here. Just to get inside, you have to pay $7000.” I was amazed anybody could afford such luxury at a price like this. But alas, time played its toll, and we had to leave. The trip was not useless, for I had seen my first resort town- Dubai, Home of the Star.
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