Fun

The United Arab Emirates seem to have a monopoly on follies on a grandiose and
megalomaniacal scale when it comes to sand. Not, of course, that they use the
vast sands of the desert hinterland that herd their cities on to the shores of
the Persian Gulf – those sands are useless for their gigantic construction
projects; rather, they dredge biblical volumes of essentially irreplaceable
marine sands from the Gulf. These they convert into concrete to build, for
example, the Burj Al Arab, the world’s only seven star hotel (self-proclaimed)
and the outrageous developments of [Ras Island](https://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2009/11/too-
much-too-little-and-often-in-the-wrong-place.html), or pour and compact into
the artificial islands that comprise the monstrous absurdities of the famous
“Palm” developments and “The World” – now largely suspended as a result of the
economic setbacks experienced by the rich and only somewhat famous, and
reportedly, like the world’s economies, sinking. Then there are beaches cooled
by water pipes in the sand, and golf courses in the desert – including the
famous billion dollar Tiger Woods resort that remains mostly desert.

But now we have perhaps the finest example of self-aggrandizing projects.
Although completed a few years ago, this has only been picked up in the world
press over the last few days – here, from the UK’s [Daily Mail](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2016841/Al-
Futaysi-island-Hamad-carves-2-miles-long-sand-visible-SPACE.html):

**Hamad, the biggest name in the desert: Arab sheikh carves two-miles-

long name in sand until it’s visible from SPACE**

Every child has written their names on the beach at some point.

But whereas most people’s ‘sandwriting’ is washed away, one super-rich Arab
sheikh has ensured that his doodles will last a little longer. Hamad Bin
Hamdan Al Nahyan, 63, has scrawled his name in sand on an island he owns
with letters so big they can be seen from space. The word ‘HAMAD’ measures
1,000 metres high and is a staggering two miles long from the ‘H’ to the ‘D’
on the Al Futaisi island. And rather than allow the writing to be washed
away by the ocean, the letters actually form waterways that absorb the
encroaching tide.The ruler’s name is even visible on Google’s map service.
Hamad dreamed up the idea and had his workmen toil for weeks to craft the
enormous piece of sand graffiti. It is not known how much it cost to make.

Anything’s possible: Hamad, 63, ordered workers to write his giant name in
the sand. However, the sheikh boasts a personal fortune second only to the
Saudi king’s. Hamad, also known as the ‘Rainbow Sheikh’, is a member of the
Abu Dhabi Ruling Family. He is understood to have some 200 cars including
seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted in different colours of the rainbow which he
stores in a giant pyramid. The Arab sheikh has a taste for doing things on a
large scale. He built the world’s largest truck - eight times the size of
the Dodge Power Wagon, with four bedrooms inside the cabin. Hamad
constructed a motor home in the shape of a giant globe which is exactly 1
millionth the size of the actual earth.

Alongside his lavish displays of wealth he has become a well-known
philanthropist in medicine and supplied a complete kidney stone operating
theatre to a public hospital in Morocco where he continues to fund its
staff.

As the images at the head of this post illustrate (assuming that Google
Earth’s historical imagery dates are roughly correct), Hamad having “his
workmen toil for weeks” is something of an understatement; perhaps not
surprisingly, their toil seems to have lasted a couple of years.

Beyond this, I can’t bring myself to comment further; however, for some reason
or another, Shelley’s poem comes to mind:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away”.

Originally published at: https://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/fun/page/2/