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Published: February 19th 2015
My visit to the great city of Dubai started off as just a stepping stone on my way to India; a trip I was taking soon with my dear friend Natalia and her sister Tati. Dubai is one of seven city states that make up the United Arab Emirates, and it is an exceedingly lavish city. Even flying to Dubai on the Emerites A380 airline was quite a nice experience, and it's definitely one of the most comfortable long flights I've ever taken. Nothing is impossible or too expensive to build here. For example, if you want a huge island in the shape of a palm tree, Dubai says, "Yes of corse we can build that! And that is just the beginning!" There are huge projects in the works for this power-house city, and you can expect it to continue to push the limits of what is to be created and built by man. It is the reason why immigrants from all over the world move here and comprise the majority of the population. It is hard not to notice what amazing strides this city has made, especially considering it was once a sleepy fishing village surrounded by miles of dry
desert land. Yet, I could not really see myself getting as excited about my visit here as everyone else was. I guess that's mainly because I did not find modern high rise buildings or mega malls to be that interesting. So I decided right away that I would do my best to find the traditional aspects of Dubai culture while I was there, even if it was just one souq visit or one mosque visit. This way I'd be able to experience what I usually found interesting on my travels and mix it up with a bit of the new and modern aspects of Dubai as well.
If you are ever making a connection flight in Dubai, or flying to Dubai in general, the airport is really nice. It has a beautiful water fountain inside, and everything looks brand new. Unlike many other airports, if you are ever stranded here you will have options like a resting room to sleep in, and a handful of spas to retreat to (if you have the cash for it.) You will most likely be greeted at the airport by people wearing the traditional Arabic garments ( long white robes
with head piece for men, black burca and head scarf for women) and get used to it because you will be seeing a lot of it while you are in Dubai. You'll also notice as soon as you leave the airport that it is very hot, so from now on you must constantly be drinking water, and start keeping water bottles handy. It must take a lot of water and a lot of maintenance to keep the flowers alive all around Dubai. There are little black hoses everywhere running in every direction keeping these poor flowers living on sand... and they look like they are hanging on for dear life! That's probably why they named Dubai's garden attraction the "Miracle Garden."
The Dubai Desert Safari In my opinion, the best way to escape the lavish city aspects of Dubai and enjoy a day away from all the hustle and bustle is by incorporating a desert safari in to your itinerary. Usually this involves a sunrise or a sunset, but it doesn't necessarily have to... it's just better climate-wise not to arrive at the desert at peak heat hours. The three of us woke up super
early and were picked up at 6AM to begin the tour. The desert is about a 45 minute drive away from the city. I could see that the farther away we got from the city, the more the homes and streets started to resemble the poor and humble areas of Cairo. I hope that at some point they will plan to restore this extension of the city too, as this is most likely to be the residence of the local working people; the backbone of every nation.
Upon reaching the desert, The driver of our 4WD released the pressure from the tires, and started racing through the sandy dunes of the desert. I was instantly taken off guard... I had no idea how scary dune bashing was. My heart was ready to jump out of my chest as the driver found the highest and scariest peaks of sand to bash through. How in the world was this SUV not flipping over?! I almost forgot how to breathe, and my mind was racing with "Omigods" and "This is not right, this is not right!" My friends on the other hand, were laughing and enjoying this as a fun ride. After
about 20 minutes of dune bashing (and of me clenching my entire body and praying to the good Lord that I wouldn't get nausea LOL), we came to a stop and were let off to take pictures. We got the most beautiful clear view of the sun rise, and we were the only people out there at this hour to enjoy it. I whipped out my tripod and snapped away as the most gorgeous orange colors swept over and across the sand dunes revealing the most serene desert landscape ever. Then we each took turns posing for our desert pictures, which was really fun and the pictures came out so lovely. If you chose to do a tour like this at sunset, there are many other options you can chose from to make your experience memorable: You can experience a delicious Arabian style meal with belly dance performance, you can go sand boarding, you can go on a hot air balloon over the desert, or you can go on a camel ride. You can even go camping over night in the desert, which many emerite families do together to remember their heritage.
I almost forgot to mention,
that on our way out of the desert our 4WD got it's tires stuck in the sand! It was quite funny. Our poor driver had to take out his shovel and try to loosen up the sand around the wheels. Since this was the early morning and there were hardly any other tours out, we were pretty much out there on our own. In the evening hours, when most tours are out on the desert safaris, the guides usually help each other out when this happens. Luckily, our driver was able to maneuver out of the sand after a few minutes, and we were back on our way out!
The Jumeriah Mosque Not to be confused with the mosque in Abu Dhabi,
The Jumeriah Mosque is one of the biggest mosques situated near the city center of Dubai and it is just as photogenic and special to see. Visiting hours are in the early morning, and includes an hour of Islamic teaching and understanding, with a questions and answers opportunity. People are advised to dress conservatively and wear a scarf to cover their heads. They lent me a pink scarf and wrapped it around my head
the way most Islamic women do. I'm not sure if it's because I am not accustomed to the head scarf, but it was pretty itchy and I am glad I only had to wear it for a short time! Once everyone is ready and modestly covered, you remove your shoes near the door, and sit down on the rugs while a woman from the Sheik Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding stands in the front and begins the lesson.
I learned so much about the
Islamic culture. I learned how Muslims pray and how they start by bowing and then kneeling down in an act of humble and loyal submission. They prepare themselves for prayer by washing their mouth, hands, legs, and face of all impurities (and you will find most bathrooms in Dubai have a hose which they use to cleanse themselves with). The call to prayer comes five times a day at specific times, and they must pray in the direction of Mecca. Mecca is very important to the Muslim faith, and they must go there at least once in their life time... it is where the very first Muslim church was born. I learned that
Muslims pray from their holy book, the Qur'an, but that they also believe in the Old testament of the Holy Bible and even acknowledge Jesus as a prophet. I learned that during Ramadan it is important for Muslims to fast in the daylight hours in order to discipline themselves and reflect on the new year ahead, which will hopefully be full of good deeds. Muslims believe in angels, and they believe there is an angel on each shoulder taking note of all their good and bad deeds, which is why its so important for them to remember to be on their best behavior. I learned that Muslims often wear the same style dress, that way there aren't many social or economic differences separating them, which would ultimately lead to greed and envy among themselves. When it came time for the question and answer part, I asked who was allowed to see the women in her home without the burca and face covering scarves, and the answer was all immediate family remembers and close female friends, but never strangers, especially men.
The Traditional Souqs The souqs are the traditional markets that were used to buy
spices, textiles, and all other major goods back in the day. You will find good bargains here but you will have to haggle prices down, which is a challenge for some people. I love the experience of exploring the alleys and looking for scarves, perfume scents, and little trinkets. At one point while I was exploring the textile souq, I couldn't help but burst into giggles as the souk workers called out to me in funny versions of what they thought my name was: Angelina, Carolina, Shakira, Maria, and everything in between! They'd yell out, "Hey Shakira, come into my store, I have beautiful scarf for you, very good price!" These guys are professional sales men, they will lure you in to their stores in any way possible, they even spoke Spanish to us (which we are fluent in) to get us to buy something, and it kinda worked! Other Souqs you can visit are the gold souq, the spice souq, and the covered souq.
The Old Quarter, Al Fahidi & the Creek The old quarter of Dubai is where you will find most of the souq markets, and where you can explore
Al Fahidi and the
old Dubai Creek. On the day Tati and I decided to come here, we got really lost. Our taxi dropped us off somewhere close by, but we weren't sure how to find this old quarter. I was even beginning to think I was misinformed, and that it didn't actually exist. Fortunately, we were lucky to have asked a nice man from Minnesota and his family if they knew where it was, and he guided us all the way there. My advice would be to tell your taxi driver to drop you off some place on the edge of the old Dubai creek, because the old quarter is right along the edge of the creek.
So why would you visit this older quarter? Well, I personally enjoyed it because it gives you a glimpse into what the city used to look like before it became the modern super city it is today. Here, you will see traditional architecture, courtyards, and wind towers. The wind towers served the purpose of deflecting cool air down into the homes. Even when it was really hot outside, we could definitely feel the cooling sensation that the wind towers and
open windows provided. This is also the area where you can take a short camel ride if you haven't already done it in the desert. I loved the Arabian doors and windows, which had decorative screens and panels. There are also some art galleries, and a museum that we walked into for free which displays Arabic art. You can take a break and eat at many of the little restaurants along the creek. We ate at one that was very lovely and also served as a guest house.
If you get a chance, take a wooden dhow or abra ride along the creek, it only costs 1 AED. Or you can just walk along the creek and take in the beautiful sight of all the colorful boats. Dubai started off as a fishing village operating mainly creek side, but it also had its own pearl industry. Trading with other countries and connecting to them by water is what lead it to be what it is today. The Dubai Museum has more information on this topic if you wish to visit it during your stay.
Modern Dubai Some
of ya'll who don't really care about the cultural/traditional parts of Dubai want to know, is all the hype about Dubai true? Is it worth seeing? Is it really as amazing as everyone claims it to be? Well, the answer to that is subjective, as everyone "clicks" differently with certain places. If you like shopping for designer clothes and accessories, fine dining, and if you like all the glitz and glam of places like Las Vegas and Monaco, then yes you will love it there. Dubai is truly defining what it means to be a mega super wealthy city. It is so wealthy in fact, that it will blow away any competition; from most expensive hotel in the world, to tallest building in the world, to biggest malls in the world, to biggest man made island in the world, to biggest... well, you get the picture. Everyone who lives in Dubai is proud of this fact, even the expatriate taxi drivers. I get the feeling that Dubai is on a mission to be the best of the best and beat every world record imaginable... if only to keep people interested in vacationing here and to continue coming back for more.
The Dubai City Skyline
(viewed from the Shangri-la Hotel)The one down fall that I see, is that it is so
HOT that it is actually uncomfortable to go out during peak day light hours. And because this is a desert, the summer is excruciating with virtually no shade and the only escape being the AC filled malls. If you can't see yourself escaping to the mall or keeping in doors everyday from 11AM-4pm then you will not be able to handle living here! Dubai is almost deserted during peak day light hours, it seems like everyone disappears and then reappears after 4 pm. Perhaps they are at the Atlantis resort swimming in the pool, or hiding!
One thing I almost forgot to mention is that the taxis are actually very cheap and affordable compared to other world city standards. It might have something to do with the value of the AED, but it definitely made a positive difference for us travelling here. From our hotel, a trip to the airport was only 40 AED.... that's only $10 American dollars. Most of our trips around Dubai were under $7 split 2 or 3 ways. That's not bad compared to the almost $50 I once spent to
get to the airport from Rome! You will notice that eating out and shopping here is not as expensive as you might think, just make sure you keep an eye on the currency conversions and you'll be good.
The malls in Dubai are something else entirely. It is no surprise that Dubai holds the record for the largest malls in the world. Not only are they the biggest, but they also house huge aquariums and ski resorts inside as well. Every store you can imagine is here (1,000 stores total), and they have some of the most beautiful displays I've ever seen. Even the Islamic women covered from head to toe in their black burkas can not resist the temptation to shop here. You will get lost in these malls for sure. The challenge is not how to get in, but how to find your way back out to the taxi stand when you are finished shopping. At one point, every mall worker said the same thing: that in order to find the taxi stand, you must go "straight and then to the left". If you hear this, be warned, you will probably make a
full circle around the mall and end up back where you started. It takes lots of practice to learn to navigate the mall properly, but that is half the fun of it! Wear comfortable shoes for all the walking you'll do here, you will need it.
In the hours we were out, we visited the
Burj Al Arab, and
Burj Khalifa, which both have their own flare.
The Burj Al Arab is situated near the beach, and is built to look like a wind sail. It is the only "seven star" hotel in the world, so the only way to get in is to pay a high amount for a room, or tea, or for dinner. We viewed it from the outside one day and then walked over to the
Madinent Jumeriah to escape the heat, which is a charming complex with Arabian architecture, luxury shopping, and beautiful terraces overlooking a series of water ways and canals.
The
Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, and it's a cool place to visit both in the day as well as as night. I really like the bronze horse sculpture by famous
Colombian artist Botero which is right outside this building. We stopped by at night and watched the beautiful water fountain display (which is the biggest water fountain display in the world, of corse) and walked around to take pretty night pictures of the surrounding cityscape. Continue walking around this building and you will reach the
Dubai Mall, the aquarium inside is really big and there were stingrays swimming right over our heads, it was quite mesmerizing.
Below I have uploaded a video of the Dubai Fountain. The food in Dubai was pretty good, and we got a chance to eat at many of its nice restaurants. Most of the food that we tried was Lebanese, which included lots of fluffy oven baked bread with different styles of hummus, veggies, meats (which my friends ate), falafels, and tabbouleh. One night we ate out and enjoyed a belly dancing performance, but the food was so plentiful that we got really stuffed and even vowed not to eat Mediterranean style food again for a long time! LOL The fun part of fine dining in Dubai is finding a restaurant with good atmosphere and beautiful views, like the one we went to in
front of the Burj Khalifa, where we enjoyed a relaxing hookah. Don't be surprised if Fararis and Bugatti's wiz by while you dine outdoors; it's all part of the Dubai experience, living among the rich and famous.
This concludes my overall experience in Dubai! The next chapter of our travels resumes in India, a country that Natalia, Tati, and I couldn't wait to visit! The girl's trip continues... :-)
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Great adventure!
How wonderful that you got into old Dubai and to the sand dunes as well as the amazing modern city. I love it that the mosque visit including teaching on Islam, since so few people are aware of it. And the Lebanese food sounded great! Happy adventures in India!