I spy Dubai

Dubai, a whole new world for the Caits. A world of beautiful extravagance, but a stark contrast to the surrounding desert.

We left late on a Thursday afternoon, and headed to Dubai, arriving around 9pm. As soon as we stepped into the airport in Dubai, we were in culture shock. It was a whole new world compared to where we had been for the past 6ish months. Cookies cost 5$!!!! After we finally figured out the conversion rate, 10 minutes after buying the cookies, we couldn’t believe ourselves….5$ for each cookies, absolutely outrageous, but that was soon to be a theme of Dubai and it had been a while since we’d had real cookies. 
From the airport we easily found the attached metro station and found our way through Dubai and to our apartment with some simple instructions from the apartment host. Dubai was hands down, no doubt the easiest city to travel with the access of their metro, tram, ubers and taxis, you can easily go anywhere! What a nice break from the overcrammed matatus and disorganized, sometimes clueless uber drivers that we had experienced throughout Africa.

As we traveled through Dubai on the metro we couldn’t help but be absolutely shocked all over again by the sky scrapers, the lights of the buildings, and the Lamborghini, Porsche, McLaren (and countless others that I can’t pronounce let alone spell) dealerships along the way. We arrived at our stop and in a rushed, somewhat clueless manner got on a connecting tram only to discover we were going the wrong direction. Well we rode it out, waited for the tram to turn around and finally arrived at the stop we had been instructed to take for our apartment. We were tired but stopped at a grocery store to get water and some snacks to tie us over until breakfast the next day. We got to our “hostel/apartment” and crawled into a much needed bed.

The next morning, we woke up early. We only had 3 days in Dubai and wanted to make the most of it, so after meeting with the host and seeing the pools and other amenities in the building we set off to get breakfast, walk along the beach, explore the city, window shop in the massive Dubai mall and visit the Burj Khalifa. We were in awe of the riches and the luxury of the city with everywhere we went; the food options available, the traffic organization and the infrastructure were all astounding. A large portion of our time spent in Dubai was spent eating…there was McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Subway, and various other restaurants that carried a variety of other foods that were impossible to find in Kenya. It was glorious, and we took full advantage! Almost felt like home again. 

The Dubai Mall was massive and after not having been in a proper mall in months, we forgot how to act…ahah but seriously, there’s an aquarium in the mall (an aquarium that you can dive in, or do glass boat tours etc..not a small aquarium), plus hundreds of clothing, accessories, shoes and food stores! We got lost countless times and were in a constant overwhelmed state of amazement at the stores and wealth contained in one building. 

After retracing our steps and taking at least 20 wrong turns following wrong directions, we finally found the entrance to the Burj Khalifa, and off we went, shooting into the sky. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest structure in the world at 828m since it was topped in 2008. It stands as the centre piece of Dubai and can be seen from anywhere, on a clear day. It took us about 1.5mins to get to the “At the Top” observation deck where we spent about 40 mins walking around and marvelling at the scenes below us. You can see all of Dubai from the beaches and Palm Jumeriah, to the central business district and the deserts.  The Burj Khalifa was a fantastic experience and although overrun by tourists, it was mesmerizing being on the “top of Dubai”. 
We spent that evening eating more (gelato), and watching the famous water fountain and lights show in front of the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall. The water is timed to various songs and occurs every half an hour, so we sat and watched for a few cycles, enjoying the view and watching the people. People were almost more exciting than watching the colourful water dance in rhythm. 

The next day we headed to the beaches and the famous hotel, the Burj al Arab. This hotel is self- deemed (if that’s actually legitimate) the only 7-star hotel in the world but voted the world’s most luxurious hotel. We didn’t visit as a one-night stay costs about the same price as a month’s rent in Toronto. Yikes, but we did hear and see pictures of it,“optional chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, private beach access, a breathtaking terrace with pools and cabanas as well as some of the world’s best dining venues” …9 restaurants, 5 swimming pools, butler service, complimentary access to a waterpark, a spa, gym and apparently the best hospitality service you will experience. I mean I guess that’s all nice but spending a lucrative amount of money on a hotel? There’s better things, in my opinion. 
We arrived at the beach early to eat breakfast where we experienced the best bacon ever, nice, crispy, well done bacon soaked in REAL maple syrup. This was a dream, and I don’t even care much for meat! We enjoyed the beach for a couple hours, Cait B enjoying a nap in the shade while I soaked up all the sun I could. We spent most of our time people watching and laughing at the hordes of people that came off of tour buses, stood at the edge of the water, fully clothed, and took pictures in front of the Burj al Arab. Then 5 minutes later they would leave without ever touching the water complaining all the while that it was too hot. I’m sorry, it’s a beach, how do you complain about the heat when you are fully clothed?! I don’t understand. And then there was an Asian wedding photo shoot happening with a girl in a wedding dress and everything. I actually began taking photos of the people on the beach it was that comical. 

From the beach we went back to our apartment to change and head for the Mall of Emirates and our Dubai Desert Safari. We started this tour on a bus with 20ish others, and after an hour and 20 minutes of driving into the middle of nowhere we arrived at our desert camp and went with family for a 10ish minute desert sand dune driving as the sun set. It was a pretty cool experience, but we were a little disappointed for what we had anticipated. We got back at the camp where we were let out and directed to an area where you could ride camels or horses, take pictures on the camels etc, but after watching this happen for about 30 seconds we both decided that these animals were mistreated, and the least bit happy about the 100 times it had to stand up and sit down so people could get that instaphoto…so didn’t participate. We stood there watching with a little bit of disgust, which may have been a little too noticeable. Our dune driver came up and asked us what we were doing, and then offered another drive through the dunes so we took him up on the offer with the promise that we could stop for photos on the dunes. We stopped on the top of a dune in the middle of the desert and took it all in, got our photos and then he asked if we wanted to drive, of course we obliged. You learn to say yes to crazy things when traveling.  

Cait climbed in first and took to the dunes like a pro, then we switched, and I got the experience. It’s an eerie feeling driving through sand like that, drifting and topping a dune that you can’t see the bottom on the other side.  I was a little cautious, not wanting to flip us or end up on top a hill way beyond my capabilities. Our driver instructed us not to tell anyone but then continued on to direct me through the gate where the guard was a little confused, and back to the camp to park for the night.  At this point it was time for dinner so we all headed inside the camp to find our pillows on the ground. As we entered and went to part ways with our driver, thinking wow that was such a nice gesture and no ulterior motive…he turned and asked for my number. However, what surprised me the most was his response to me declining to provide. He replied ok, no stress and easily accepted defeat. What a change from our experiences in Kenya!!  We sat in the Bedouin style camp for dinner, watching a fire show, belly dancing and traditional dancing, got free henna and took pictures with a woman who couldn’t get over my height before heading back to Dubai city. Back in the city we walked around the Mall of Emirates, visited (but did not ski) the indoor ski hill, had McDonalds soft serve ice cream and walked around the Dubai Marina before heading back to soak in our hot tub and to a much-anticipated bed. Did I mention before how hard the beds were? Like I’m pretttty sure the ground was just as soft as the mattress. Luckily most days we had walked and done so much that we were too tired to care by the time we made it to bed, but they were hard!

The next day was our last day. I got up for the sunrise before we took the metro to the Palm Jumeriah (Palm island) and to Atlantis hotel and waterpark. We walked around the hotel and took some pictures, saw a Gordon Ramsey restaurant and then headed back to the mainland to collect our bags and check out. On our walk on the palm island we encountered one last real piece of luxury….the sidewalk was padded like some sort of soft walkway that they used to have in children’s playgrounds etc. I felt like I could have run for miles with that sort of bounce! It was amazing! Haha  

We checked out of our apartment, grabbed our back packs and headed out to spend the rest of the day in Old Dubai before heading to the airport in the evening. We had decided to stop at a restaurant for lunch near our apartment that had been recommended to us by several people, and advertised food that looked absolutely delicious, before heading to the other end of the city. NOPE, good try.. we were turned away because we had snacks and water bottles which weren’t allowed in the restaurant or even left outside with security, UGH. Annoyed, we caught the metro and stopped at a Radisson hotel where we enjoyed the best, most extravagant lunch buffet. We ate until we were almost sick, and then headed to the markets and shops of the old Dubai.
Old Dubai was a very different experience than the rest of the city that we had experienced. It was still heavily influenced and modelled after the traditional Arabic style, with countless gold, spices, teas, and frozen shrimp???
Two interesting food item stories:
1. I am still a little bit confused after being offered a shrimp out of a bag on the street.. There were bags of frozen(ish) shrimp sitting on the street side, (there is a picture below) with a man was casually eating out of it. At first glance I thought it was cheese popcorn, then as I pass by and smile, he casually hands me a piece and says “shrimp?”…Doesnt shrimp go bad like that?! huh
2. I walk into a little tea and spice shop, and a man dressed in the traditional clothing greets me. First thing I see on the shelf directly across from the entranceway, canisters of viagra tea. Yes, viagra tea. So I turned to Cait and said hey viagra tea, to which the shop owner replies, straight faced “yes, 5 times 1 night. Great stuff”. I couldn’t help it, I was laughing till I cried, then I bought tea..no, not viagra tea.
We took a ride from a boat ferry, a traditional dhow boat back to the metro station as it began to rain. This light rain quickly turned into a wind storm that was so strong I was sure I would blow away. It was a struggle to walk! We made it, very wind-blown, into the metro and back to Dubai Airport to fly to Cairo.