People perceive UAE as one of many Middle Eastern countries with conservative ideologies and stringent ways of life, but in reality its way more than that. It is true that one can see richness in everything that they have which could be due to economic stability of the region, especially with oil and tourism money. Although UAE consists of 7 emirates, most prominent ones are Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Abu Dhabi for obvious reasons as it is the capital of the country with few but eminent attractions under its name. One of many is Ferrari world-only Ferrari sponsored theme park in the world with the fastest roller coaster. Abu Dhabi is also known for opulent buildings like Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Emirates Palace and Emirates towers. The mosque has 7 imported chandeliers from Germany, world’s largest carpet from Iran and its architecture is inspired from Persian and Mughal culture. Emirates Palace is a luxury 5 star hotel which is famous for its signature emirates gold flake cappuccino and Emirates towers which one can recognize them from the latest fast and furious movie. When it comes to tourism, Dubai takes the cake. Dubai is worlds apart as one can indulge in countless attractions with the wide range of luxury hotels, exotic cars, world cuisines, the tallest building in the world, most renowned 7 star hotel, humongous mall to name a few. I believe if I have to list out things to do in Dubai it would be:
- Desert Safari
- Burj Khalifa
- Burj Al Arab
- Dubai Mall, mall of emirates, ibn battuta mall etc
- Dubai fountains
- Palm Islands
- Gold Souk
- Hot air balloon ride
- Ski Dubai
- Sky Dive Dubai
- Swimming with Dolphins
- Dinner cruise
- Dubai Creek
- World map islands
- Jumeirah Hotel and beach
- Wild Wadi water park
- Flyboard water jet
I am sure I have missed lots of things that Dubai can offer.
Dubai was my first international trip so it will always be special. Actually I have been to Dubai twice – once in 2013 and second time just recently in 2015. One fine day me and my friend decided to go for our first international holiday and after doing some research, we decided on Dubai and Abu Dhabi as these cities have so much to offer plus it was affordable for us. As soon as we landed in Dubai, we were just awestruck simply by looking at magnificent emirates airport. Till date I have not seen such a beautiful and royal airport, the closest I have ever been to a similar one was when I visited Changi airport in Singapore. After settling into the aura we found our composure and headed towards our hotel in bur Dubai, which is supposed to be the old part of the city. It is really easy to maneuver in the city as most of the parts are connected by metro and all metros are self-driven … Yes, there are no drivers in any of the Dubai metros. Each hour of our trip was planned and second half of day 1 was reserved for desert safari, which usually consumes 6 hours in total. Desert Safari is typically consists of riding on sand dunes with any 4*4 vehicle, sand boarding, camel riding etc following by scrumptious Persian meals with tradition belly dancing and seesha if interested. After calling it a night we rested for a while to get ready for the next day which included city hour in first half during which we visited Dubai museum, Gold Souk, Palm islands, public beach etc. In the afternoon after the tour we went for Burj Khalifa observatory deck with Dubai mall and Dubai fountains (which are better than Bellagio fountains in Vegas). Burj Khalifa observatory deck is one of the kinds as it is on 124th floor and elevator usually takes around 75-80 seconds. We didn’t expect Dubai mall to be that huge in terms of area as it took us 7 hours to cover 80% of the mall. FYI … if you are loaded or don’t care about money much then shoe level/fashion level is for you, I mean LV, Chanel, Tom Ford, Versace, Prada, Gucci etc … you name it and you’ll find that store in those levels. Next day was reserved for Ferrari world, Sheikh Zayed mosque, Emirates Palace and mall of Emirates. Major attraction in Ferrari world is the world’s fastest roller coaster by Ferrari, which is close to 1 minute and it goes from 0 to 250 km/hr in just 6 seconds. For our last day in Dubai we decided to chill in another mall … Ibn battuta (its architecture is divided into four countries i.e. China, India, Persia and Egypt) for first half and public beach with local market post lunch.
Well that was that for 2013, but this time I went to Dubai alone just for 2 nights to do some things that were left to be visited. Initially I was planning this trip for sky diving but it was closed due to some air show that they host in Dubai, so I went for hot air balloon ride with some shopping … yup at shoe level and high tea at Burj Al Arab. Hot air balloon ride was fun as it feels like flying on magic carpet over sand dunes with sun just at the horizon in the morning and apparently they have the biggest hot air balloons in Dubai … as expected. After my balloon adventure I went to try some international cuisine at a French cafe but ended up having eggs benedict. One ridiculously amazing thing which I observed this time was chopper service provided by Uber … I mean yea most of the buildings are sky scrapers with helipads but having chopper service at disposal was beyond me but I guess if you have this much of wealth then why not. By the evening my table for one was reserved in the only 7 star hotel in the world (by some) for high-tea. If you want to see exclusivity of Dubai then you have to come to Burj Al Arab as you can’t enter the hotel without reservation and minimum reservation is for $110 USD. After being greeted in a panache way, my waiter introduced the menu for my 3 course high-tea. First course was sparkling South African wine with finger sandwiches, second was muffins with a cocktail and lastly it was tea with French pastries. After that high tea I was not at all hungry for dinner. Well Dubai is one of the very few cities in the world which is expanding at a very fast pace and if you have money then it is the place to be. You’ll be fine with their stringent rules as they over shadow that with worlds apart infrastructure and facilities. Looking forward for 2020 Dubai Expo and inauguration of Dubailand. I’ll be back definitely as sky-diving is still pending, which is also unique in its way as it gives you majestic view of palm islands.
