News once agains reaches TDL thatDubai is thinking of making a bid to host the Olympic Games.  There had been concerted activity about Dubai making a bid for 2016, however Dubai did not submit a bid by the September 2007 deadline. The nearby city of Doha, Qatar submitted a bid, possibly discouraging Dubai.

Dubai has created a committee to examine the feasibility of making a formal bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games - and the bid is all part of a greater initiative called ‘Dubai 2020,’ which is a master plan for pushing the emirate onto the world stage

Dubai’s recent economic and structural development would add some gravitas to the bid. The construction of the Dubai Sports City and a multitude of new hotels - such as the Burj al-Arab - would also boost its chances. Furthermore, any successful Olympic bid, or for that matter a World Cup bid, would somehow cement Dubai as one of the global majour players.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has also launched a bid to host the 2020 World Expo, which is a showcase for the latest innovations in science and industry that is held every five years.

Maktoum, 59, has snapped up Dalham Hall, a grade II listed property near Newmarket once owned by Cecil Rhodes, the mining magnate and colonial adventurer. It comes with 3,300 acres of farmland, parkland and woods, as well as 39 houses and cottages.

It is thought he will not be actually moving to the estate and has purchased the property as part of an investment.

Maktoum already owns the neighbouring Dalham Hall stud, a 3,000-acre site from which he runs his global bloodstock empire and where he spends part of his time.

By combining the estate with the stud, Maktoum will become one of Britain’s biggest foreign-born landowners.

However substantial, his holdings are still a fraction of those of aristocratic landowners such as the Dukes of Northumberland and Westminster who both hold more than 100,000 acres, or the Duke of Buccleuth & Queensbury, who has at least 250,000 acres.

Came across this story about a boy of 12 from Dubai who is offering free hugs to passers by outside the Larchmont post office, which for those of who think it is on the far side of SZR is actually in Westchester County, N.Y. (which is somewhere in New York).

The boys name (roll fan fare) is Marc Benson , his way of getting people to hug him for free is simple , absolute marketing genius (big wigs in big marketing companies take note) , he simply holds up a sign offering “free hugs”.  Marc says that hugging makes him feel better and his mother says that hugging is an international language.

Marc’s claim to fame is that he has now offered free hugs to people on two different continents , which I am sure is quite unique. However having done some digging (ok so I did a google search for “free hugs”) Marc is not the only one offering free hugs, it has become somewhat of a worldwide phenomemum you can find out more here.

As for free hugging in Dubai YouTube has some offerings of Free Hugging in action in Dubai.

It seems you don’t take notice of it for a few months and it has changed, has it reached it final heights some say yes and some say no. Will there be anything like it every again , well with money running dry it is too early to say, so just enjoy what belongs to Dubai.  Some photos (thanks to  skyscrapercity.com and gulfnews.com) follow.

A boy enjoys the day outside the burj Dubai - Shefeeq Rasheed/Gulf News Reader

The world’s longest ambulance is 18 meters (59 feet) and can hold up to 44 patients at the same time, according to Khalifa bin Darri, head of the Dubai Ambulance Center (DAC).

The ambulance has a helicopter landing pad on it’s roof and as well as internet and satellite facilities for the doctors. With state-of-the-art operating rooms, an intensive care unit, a radiography room and an integrated pharmacy, the ambulance is more like a mobile hospital.

“The ambulance will be a mobile hospital that immediately goes to the accident scene and rescues a large number of the injured who will get treatment inside till they are transferred to the hospital,” said Darri.

Although this may seem overkill for some , the fact is with the services offered on the ambulance it could mean that many patients don’t even need to go to hospital at all.   I guess it could come in use for large incidents and the like.

Passengers can book flights through the airline’s website (www.flydubai.com), its call centre and local travel partners. The seat price includes all taxes and a generous hand baggage allowance of 10kgs. When travelling with flydubai, passengers only have to pay for the optional extras they choose, such as checked bags of up to 32kgs each, seat selection and any desired food and beverages.

The question is will ordinary expats or Dubaians be able to slum it, after all they are used to lavish luxury as the following video only goes to show you!

You can see the video here:

That is only the tip of the iceberg. Reading the current news on Dubai is certainly depressing. If it is not human trafficking, it is the economic crisis hitting the region, or this, or this, or this.

It seems that no one likes Dubai or the UAE anymore, least of all it’s own people!

Before I end a few words about Dubai ,well three ‘Global Credit Crunch’.