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Published: August 9th 2007
Don't you just hate it when something comes to an end?! Yes, I'm back and believe it or not but it was me who dragged that sun over here!
Anyways, I'm back in London and found myself straight in the middle of a whirlwind - it couldn't be any other way, could it? Flat hunting, revising for the approaching cima course, catching up with friends - that's already quite busy and I want it to be over! A new job is stressful enough, at least I deserve a place to live, right?
OK, before I get on a rant, let me tell you about my last stop on the way here: Dubai.
You know how people say Dubai is a building site? Well, IT IS one! You have to admire the Arabic entrepreneurship: all that advertising money well spent - people are actually going to spend their holiday…on a gigantic construction site! Amazing! The buildings that are actually finished do look awesome & you can see how cool this place is going to look when it's done - very impressive, futuristically impressive. It's like downtown Manhattan only 10 times bigger. The highest, the biggest & the craziest architecture
you'll ever get to see in such density. After a while of staring at all these skyscrapers, thy start to look almost the same and become a part of a glass and concrete jungle, which is not so great, as you can imagine. Especially when it's as hot as it was there! And the fact that they don't have much greenery or little shops & cafes, that we are so used to, makes Dubai a bit of a dry place. I'd just hate it if I had to drive to a shopping mall every time I needed milk, wouldn't you??!!
Now, shopping malls are a separate experience. Since it was the last stop of my trip , I thought it'd be wise to be sensible and not to do any more shopping. So, I decided not to visit any of the shopping malls they have here. Unfortunately, (you know what's coming here, right?) the weather was so unbearably hot that I was FORCED to hide in an air-conditioned place, i.e. a shopping mall. Can you see the logic here? Neither can I but it kinda works :o) And the mall was great! First of all, the architecture & the
interior designs are very cool. Second of all though, it's incredibly cheap! And we like cheap! And I mean cheaper than Bangkok plus you don't have to haggle (which makes shopping a long-drawn activity) and you are not sweating thanks to the almighty air con!
In terms of prices, I don't know how about you guys, but I wasn't expecting to buy 4 items of clothing at the total value of 7 GBP!!! I actually had that constant suspicion there was some misunderstanding going on in terms of the prices. I kept on asking in shops about the exchange rate and after a while I just had to accept it was 7:1. Then, I decided that maybe the prices were displayed in US dollars (as in Vietnam for example) but they weren't! They were dirham and things were cheap! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! as they say...
In terms of where I was staying, there was a neat deal going on (one of the very many at the moment) & so I booked myself a 5 star pad right on the Jumeirah beach. Don't you just love posh hotels? They do make you feel very special over there too ( e.g. everyone somehow
remembered my name) and it's always nice when someone makes you feel that way, right? Plus, I just love it how no matter where (& why) you leave your stuff behind, it'll always find its way to where it belongs and all of that without you even noticing it! Aren't those hotel cleaners like elves? You know they are out there but you never get to see one!
To enhance my Dubai hotel experience, I booked myself an Afternoon Tea in Burj Al Arab - the 7 star wonder. Now, THAT was fun! First of all, you can't enter the hotel premises without having a booking and the guy at the gates welcomes you with a smile and he knows your first name too! The building itself does look stunning, plus just on the opposite side, there is another architectural landmark: the Jumeirah Beach Hotel - very cool too. Once you enter the Rich Arab (that's how I call it), you are hit by...the wealth of the place of course. The design is a blend of a futuristic spaceship with accents of baroque love of everything that's gold, rich and heavy. And all of that together makes you feel
as if you were inside of a Christmas tree. Not that I've ever been in one but from now on, that's how I'm going to be imagining it.
The service at the Rich Arab is absolutely wonderful and they do know their stuff. I actually got a customer satisfaction survey to fill out and some of the questions in there were the following: Did our employees smile every time you encountered them? Did our employee display the approach of mutual respect when speaking to you? Was the first answer ever "no" when asking a question to our employee? Etc. We've got something to learn from these guys, don't we?
The Afternoon Tea was heavenly with lots of sandwiches, cakes, English scones and chocolates! I didn't get through to the end - it was more than plenty! That's good though - value for money, right?
After a few hours of hanging out in the hotel and chatting to some random people, it was time to head back to my shabby Sheraton - somehow, it wasn't so posh anymore ;o)
You'll be probably quite interested to hear about the tourists too. Well, you get 3 types there: ebony-skinned
Italians & Russians, the "innit" people of England and the rest of us which I'm going to call miscellaneous. I've put the Russians together with the Italians as both of these nations simply look the same, only speak a different language (and please, it's an overgeneralisation - don't get offended if you are a pale Italian or something like that). They have leathery brown skin, bleached hair and lots of gold. I must say, that wasn't such a surprise but I wasn't expecting to see that many "innit" ones though! However, with all the deals from lastminute.com, it's quite understandable they would come in there too. And you can spot them before they even open their mouths to speak: they are bright red, men wear football tops and women have false nails with French manicure and don't wear much in general, allowing everyone to see the effects of eating too much chips and drinking too much booze. It was almost nice to have them around though as they reminded me of home ( England that is), so I decided to embrace them and let them be, hehe.
There is one place where you don't need to see one complete family
of them though: the Rich Arab! Is it just me or is there just something wrong about a 16 y.o . kid with a tattoo on his arm and looking like a rowdy football fan having afternoon tea at the 7 star hotel???
So, you are probably wondering if I like the place after all. Well, in terms of the looks, it's certainly quite impressive (or rather: it will be when it's finished) but to me it lacks soul. Having said that, it's amazing for shopping & has THE BEST customer service in the world, I dare say, and I would go back there just for that. However, it's not a place where you can truly relax & get some fresh air on the beach because there IS NO FRESH AIR ON A BUILDING SITE! You can't even do much walking as every few minutes you end up on yet another…building site! Have you got the picture yet?
I will want to go back there in a few years to see the finished product (and anytime anyone wants to take me to the underwater restaurant at the Rich Arab!). But it's always going to be a stop-over/shopping city
downtown Dubai
no, it's not a sand strom, it's haze!for me. There are just much more beautiful destinations out there and New Zealand is the best example. I simply prefer encountering whales or dolphins to Arabs operating gigantic cranes. I think that's fair enough…
So, this is all from me guys. The trip is sadly over and I'm back in the place where it matters which day of the week it is, people live from a weekend to a weekend, wishing their lives away and where waiters have chips on their shoulders. A bit depressing but actually, positive at the same time, as all this world tramping just made me realise how bloody happy I am and what wonderful friends I've got! It's also made me want to travel even more (surprise surprise) but I reckon that's a good thing. We just have to enjoy ourselves whilst we can, right?
Looking forward to seeing you guys (if I haven't already) and any time you want to see the photos, let me know as I won't be uploading all of them online.
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mon1
monique
hey, there's another good write - up on Dubai at http://www.worldwideholiday-tours.co.uk/?cat=3 pretty helpful for anyone going on holiday there!