News flash from Dubai: This place is crazy rich. At least the parts we saw today on our tour of new Dubai, which is one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. We're not talking Chester County horse farm rich here, we're talking what would you do if money were no object wealthy.
Let's start with the Atlantis Hotel, where the top room goes for  $35,000 a night.
What respectable hotel doesn't have a full-scale acquarium in it?
And the floors, every stop had ornate smooth marble floors.
Let's move on to the Royal Mirage, where you're greeted with statues of golden camels with riders on them. Don't forget Burj Al Arab. The building that's shaped like a sailboat is built on a man-made island and lights up at night.
And of course, there's  Burj Khalifa,  the tallest building in the world with 124 stories.
Pictured from top are: An artwork created at the entrance of the residential units in Burj Khalifa, fish in an acquarium at the Atlantis Hotel, a hallway at the Royal Mirage, and the Dubai skyline looking down from Burj Khalifa.
 Brian McCullough

We visited Old Dubai today and were impressed. Since we've arrived in Dubai our travels have taken us to, or around, the buildings and attractions built in the last decade. And they're very impressive. But old Dubai has the look, feel and smell of what you think of when you think of a Middle East city: crowds of people, intense salespeople (no, for the 127th time, I don't want to buy a knockoff Rolex), the faint and sometimes not so faint waft of human body odor (when it's 105 with 70 percent humidity on teeming streets, you'll have this), and the various robes and languages on display.
In other words, it's a pleasant assualt on the senses. Below, Frederica Massiah-Jackson and Clifford DeBaptiste cross a busy street in Old Dubai on Saturday. Massiah-Jackson and DeBaptiste are part of a group from the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry visiting Dubai this week. Further below, the group meets on a street corner to map out strategy and a general street scene is below that.
-- Brian McCullough

Pictured at bottom is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Richard Merion and several other travelers from the Chester County Chamber of Commerce's trip to Dubai took a side trip to neighboring emarite Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and is the wealthies of the seven emirates. This is the second largest mosque in the world.

As part of the tour we drove into the grounds of the President's Palace when an armed guard wouldn't allow us through the main gate. Our guide informed us the president is a very friendly person who sometimes drives himself around the city on his own.
At top is the interior of the Grand Palace Hotel in downtown Abu Dhabi. Rooms there go for several thousand dollars a night. All the floors above the first floor are reserved for VIPs and members of the Royal Family. Numerous museum displays are exhibited throughout the hotel.
On the way to Abu Dhabi we passed numerous palaces surrounded by walls and orchards, all owned by members of the Royal Families.

Richard Merion of West Chester

Dubai's biggest business these days is tourism. And one of the most popular tourist activities is the Desert Safari. The group from the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry took one Thursday and the day included camel riding, an adventurous ride across sand dunes in  four-wheel drive vehicles that can leave visitors wondering what is up and what is down,  a barbeque dinner and a display of traditional dancing.The group also stopped at a traditional Dubai shopping mart on their way to their desert activities to test their hand at bartering. As usual, the sun beat hot Thursday, when tghe heat was decidedly not dry.

We’re in Istanbul Airport waiting for connecting flight to Dubai.

Group consensus seems to be the all night flight went extremely smooth for such a thing.

Flight takeoff was delayed about an hour late because  computers were down at Turkish Airlines at JFK.

One of our party, Sue D., says American airlines could learn a lot from the way  Turkish Airlines ran the flight. Air attendants friendly, little gift bags, dinner and breakfast well prepared. Free drinks, including wine and mixed drinks.  

I just spoke to Marty Manco, an attorney with the West Chester law firm of Goldberg, Meanix, McCallin & Muth. He and his wife Sharon are going on the trip and are excited the day is almost here. Marty spent much of his early career working in commercial real estate and can't wait to see what the buildings he's seen in pictures look like in real life.
I can't either because the just the photos of Dubai's skyline make your jaw drop.

Brian McCullough, business editor of the Daily Local News, is traveling to Dubai with the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry. He will arrive in Dubai next Wednesday and will soon upon arrival begin blogging about his observations and impressions of the great city of Dubai. He plans to conduct interviews, take photos and video. Come back next week to follow his very important trip.