United Arab Emirates - Dubai Part III

Our last day in Dubai arrived. We only spent a week here, but we were ready to go home. All of our days weren't terrible, but the extreme culture shock definitely left us longing for home. What's strange is that we could have found any type of food or store that we had back home (literally everything from IHOP to The Gap). We missed home because of the sheer environment. 

We are normally very early risers on vacation. I would sooner go to bed at 8PM and get up at 5AM and have a full day ahead of me than sleep in late. I've never been one for nightlife. But on our last day, we didn't have too much planned. So, instead of getting up at some ungodly hour, we slept in until about 9. We took our time getting ready in the morning and enjoyed our last blazing hot shower inside the Hyatt Regency room 624. Our flight home that evening wasn't until midnight, so we paid for an extra day in our room so we could leave our luggage secure and take our time packing. Also, we thought that we might want to come back and shower before heading for the airport. 

During the week, we saw most of the notable sites in Dubai save for one key place, the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world). We pre-bought tickets online for the observation tower for our last day at 3pm. Since we had no other real plans for the day other than exploring the area immediately around the Burj Khalifa, we gave ourselves a lazy morning. 

We could have taken the metro from our hotel to the Dubai Mall (right next to the Burj Khalifa) but our hotel offered a free shuttle, so we took advantage of that at 11AM. Ah yes! This is the Dubai that we were expecting when we got here. Much more city-like and more touristy. Too bad we didn’t see this side of Dubai until now. We thoroughly enjoyed our last day here, and I liked ending the trip on a high note. 

The Dubai mall is HUGE! And trust me when I tell you that I know what a big mall looks like. I grew up near the King of Prussia mall outside Philadelphia which is the second largest mall in the United States. To give you a global perspective, King of Prussia is the 27th largest mall in the world. The Dubai Mall is the 17th largest in the world. You can easily spend all day here. 

Fountains inside the Dubai Mall, UAE

Inside one of the wings of the mall, they have more touristy "souks" that are supposed to mirror the real thing but are within the confines of the mall. Across the way from the mall, they have more craft shops than they do in the mall itself which I enjoyed browsing through as well.

"Souks" inside the Dubai Mall

We ate lunch at a restaurant called "The Noodle Factory" and then caught the last 30 seconds of the Dubai fountain show. The complex around the Burj Khalifa is enormous. You have the mall on one side, the Burj Khalifa in the middle "towering" over the fountains below and then across the other side of the man made pond with the fountains are the other boutique-type shops.

Boutique shops across the "pond" from the Dubai Mall

After walking, shopping and indulging in some ridiculously expensive Italian gelato, we hurried to keep our 3:00 time to go up Burj Khalifa. Back in 2013 when we visited, they only had one observation deck opened to the public. Unfortunately, it only went about halfway up, but that’s still higher than the top of the Eiffel Tower. Luckily the view wasn’t too bad. (If you visit now, they've recently opened another observation deck that goes up much higher.) We had some pretty hazy days where the view would have been terrible, but our last day was the clearest day by far. We got some great views from the tower. What stunned us the most was the vast amount of nothingness beyond the city itself. We got incredible views of the city of Dubai, but beyond the city lay miles and miles of endless desert.

My picture of the Burj Khalifa - a little more than half of tower

After the tower, we shopped some more. I waited until the very last day to do any souvenir shopping, so after our elevator ride up and down the tower, I got to work buying up things to remember our week here. I got stuffed and pressed dates for my bosses and a silk scarf for a friend. For myself I wanted to get a Bedouin shield that I saw in a few different shops. This small, round shield came bejeweled and framed. We took a break from shopping to eat dinner at a sit-down Iranian restaurant in the food court. Then I finally made a decision on which shield I wanted. I ran back across the bridge to the Al Jaber silver shop negotiated a price I was happy about, and then we walked 15 mins across the walkway from the mall to the metro one last time to Palm Deira. One last time across the sand pit to the hotel. 

We packed up everything; my husband got a quick shower, and around 9:15PM we checked out and hopped in a taxi to the airport. At the airport, we had to go through 3 security check points. The first was even before we checked in to get our boarding passes. The second was when we were walking to our gate (the normal spot) and then again as we boarded the plane. It seemed strange and overly cautious to us but realizing we were in a small country smack in the middle east, we understood why they took extra precautions. We never had to remove our liquids, but at the check point before we boarded, security officers opened each of our bags and examined them by hand. Before too long we boarded the 14 hour flight from DBX to IAD. They fed us diner and breakfast for our 6AM arrival. To our delight we were 30 mins early. We made it through customs and immigration in no time and were home just after 7AM. (I must say that these days of quick customs arrivals have gone by the wayside. Since our trip to the UAE, it has taken us well over an hour to get through international customs once we arrived back home.) We suffered from pretty serious jet lag after this trip given that the time difference was exactly opposite of what we have on the East Coast. We struggled a lot the first day, seemed to do better the second day, but then for the next couple of mornings we found ourselves exhausted by 6-7pm and waking up around 3AM. Took us a good week to get out of that cycle. 

Thanks for reading about by exotic, Arabian adventures. If this type of trip went too far outside your comfort zone, don't give up. My next series will take us back to the more familiar tourist grounds of Western Europe. In a little over two weeks later this same year, I traveled to Denmark, Germany, and Austria. Look for those posts filled with fantastic cities, gorgeous castles, romantic countryside, and a few little surprises thrown in for good measure. Until next time, happy traveling! 

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi

After our less than stellar day in Fujairah, our moods changed as we came upon our last two days. What is this far off land all about? Were we unfairly comparing it to Japan? Japan: the land of efficiency, discipline and respect vs. the UAE: the land of disorder with dogmatic people and overwhelmingly obvious class differences (especially in Dubai). That's not to say we hated everything or didn't learn a great deal during this trip. It was certainly a journey into the unknown and we had some unforgettable experiences during our week here. I wouldn't exactly call it a relaxing vacation, but I learned more about the world and more about myself because of this trip.

I mentioned in my first post about the UAE that unlike our other trips where we hopped from city to city and changed hotels every few days, in the UAE, we parked ourselves in one hotel the entire week. While I don't regret the principle of that decision, it did make seeing other Emirates for an extended period of time difficult. In the case of Fujairah, I was glad to return to Dubai at the end of the day. In the case of Abu Dhabi, however, I wish we could have stayed longer.

Abu Dhabi was much more our pace. Away from the glitz and glamor of Dubai, Abu Dhabi seemed much more down to earth, more business oriented, and just more familiar of a city to a couple of American tourists. Since we only spent a few measly hours there, I can hardly call myself an expert on anything in Abu Dhabi. Though I will say that it was a refreshing change from our day in Fujairah and even from Dubai.

I mention above, the overwhelming class differences in Dubai. I suppose one could make this argument about any American city. The Upper East Side in New York is home to some of America's wealthiest while just a handful of blocks over you have government housing projects and crime-ridden neighborhoods. Los Angeles has both hollywood's elite in Beverly Hills combined with parts where violent gangs rule the streets. But it's very difficult to compare the USA to the UAE. The UAE is only about the size of Kentucky but is almost as wealthy as the USA. That is insane! From the palm islands (completely manmade islands in the shape of a palm tree that house the posh resort hotel The Atlantis) to the Burj Al Arab (the worlds only 7-star hotel) and the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), Dubai is a city positively dripping with money. (Get it? Dripping with money? Because their money comes from oil...dripping oil? Sometimes I crack myself up...) The UAE is not only an incredibly wealthy country as a whole, but Dubai is where that money is very flashy. It's almost like a cross between the Las Vegas and Disney World of the Middle East. At the same time, the old section of the city (Deira, where our hotel was located) showed us that not everyone in Dubai lived in the lap of luxury. Dubai has a large foreign presence. Approx 80% of people living in Dubai are foreign. Unlike the United States or European countries that allow foreigners to immigrate and become citizens, the UAE does not. Foreigners can come there, live there, do business there, but they can never become citizens and reap the benefits of full Emirate citizens. That's why the UAE-native born people are given huge incentives by the government to procreate. It's also interesting to think about a government with an over abundance of money that only needs to worry about the livelihood of 20% of the population. Once we understood this, it became obvious that it was all foreigners in the poorer sections of the city.

Abu Dhabi, much less flashy and as a result it made us feel less out of place. Being comfortable middle-class Americans, we could not resonate the the Dubai upper-class in the mega malls toting around giant Louis Vuitton and Prada shopping bags, nor did we feel comfortable walking along the poorer streets of Deira. Having said that, the first thing we visited in Abu Dhabi is one of the most opulent things we saw on the entire trip...but I'll get to that.

The day got off to an early start. We decided not to rent a car and drive to Abu Dhabi ourselves, but instead, try out the inter-city public transportation. We were only spending one day in Abu Dhabi and didn't want to worry about navigating through a new city in a car and trying to find parking everywhere we wanted to stop. We got up at the wee hour of 4:15AM and took the metro just 2 stops on the green line to the Dubai bus depot. We easily got bus tickets, found our bus and were on our way to Abu Dhabi by 6:40AM. Being 2 of the last people aboard (we weren't late getting to the bus, but there was already a long line of people ahead of us), we weren’t able to sit together.  There were 2 aisle seats across from each other, so we each took one and mostly dozed for the 2 hour drive. We arrived in Abu Dhabi without any traffic delays and took a taxi to the Seihk Zayed Grand Mosque. 

We got there around 9:30 and walked through the mosque and the grounds before a guided tour at 10. This place is absolutely magnificent. It's the largest mosque in the UAE and clearly no expense was spared in this stunning complex. It only opened in 2007 which surprised us and didn't all at the same time. Given how new everything seemed in the UAE, it only made sense that this gigantic, palatial house of worship also be a symbol of the country's recent oil wealth. From the outside, one can appreciate the sheer size and white brilliance of the building against the blue sky day that we had. It was the inside, however, that truly blew us away.

Seihk Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

Seihk Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

The inside left us stunned. My picture below hardly shows the true beauty of this place, but I'll do my best to describe just how extravagant some of the things are that you're seeing in this picture. First, the chandelier in the center is made entirely of Murano glass imported from Italy. If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, then perhaps you remember my post from our visit to Northern Italy? The small island of Murano off the coast of Venice was made famous for its hand-blown glass. A single vase of Murano glass cost several hundred Euros. Can you even imagine the cost of the glass to make this light piece? Don't forget about the millions (yes millions) of Swarovski crystals that were also used. Oh, and I didn't mention, that there were seven of these hanging throughout the main prayer hall? According to wikipedia, the chandelier hanging in the center, is the third largest chandelier in the world. Crazy, right? 

In the background of the picture along the white wall is an arch of what looks like flowers. We saw these mosaic arches throughout the entire building and learned on the tour that they were inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones. In short, this place was ridiculous and beautiful! And absolute must see if you're ever in Abu Dhabi. 

It's worth noting that you need to be completely covered from head to toe to enter (women, of course). And it's not enough to simply be covered. You must be covered with loose fitting clothes. There is a sign at the entrance showing the types of "looks" that are acceptable and unacceptable. One thing that surprised me was that even women in long sleeves and jeans had to be more covered if the jeans were too tight. I was fine in my attire, I just had to cover my head before going in. The rules for men are much different. My husband wore jeans and a t-shirt and he was fine. As with all other public mosques that we visited, if you didn't come wearing the right clothing, you could borrow or rent some before entering. 

Seihk Zayed Grand Mosque - interior

After the tour, we took another taxi to the Marina Mall on the other side of town. We got some lunch and ice cream in the mall food court and walked around the mall for a little while. I have to say that I was disappointed with the shopping in the UAE. Whenever I travel, I love to buy local souvenirs that remind me of our travels when I get home. Sadly, the malls consisted of mostly chain stores that can be found in any US mall. 

Up until this point, the weather had been pretty mild. Most days were hazy but not overall unpleasant. I was comfortable in long sleeves and long skirts and my husband (whom I call a polar bear because he's never too cold) didn't even complain about wearing jeans. Our day in Abu Dhabi, however, was one of the hottest day by far so we decided not to walk along the Corniche. The Corniche is right across from the Marina Mall and has walking paths and fountains along the water. For us, it was just too hot. 

Instead, we caught a local bus (#34) and took the scenic route back to the bus terminal. I thoroughly enjoyed the bus ride. It made several stops downtown and we got to see a quick snapshot of local city life in Abu Dhabi in a very whirlwind way. Both my husband and I remarked on how much more "normal" Abu Dhabi seemed. During our tour at the mosque, the guide took a quick poll of people in our group to see who was from Dubai and who was from Abu Dhabi. Since the majority of the people in our group were from Abu Dhabi, she took the liberty of asking them if they liked Abu Dhabi better than Dubai, and they all resoundingly said yes. Interesting, I thought. 

Abu Dhabi Skyline

Once back in Dubai, we still had a few more hours left to the day, so we took the metro to the Deira City Center (another big mall) for a falafel dinner, some shopping, and a cinnabon for dessert with dunkin donuts for tomorrow's breakfast (did you miss my comment where I said that we could only find chain stores?). Only one more day to go. It was on our last day that we realized that we did our entire trip backwards. Our last day should have been our first, and if ever given the opportunity to go back, we would do so many things differently. 

That's why I'm writing this blog. If any of you loyal readers have an interest in visiting the UAE or any of the places I've gone, learn from my mistakes, and you'll have such a better time than we did. 

Our last day in Dubai features one of the coolest things...the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building). Click HERE to check it out. 

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

United Arab Emirates - Fujairah

After our Emirates Heritage Day (AKA Dubai Day II), we were feeling pretty good about our trip. We learned about Emirate culture and met some truly friendly people. The next day, however, would prove to be the single worst day of our entire trip. The saying, "you get what you pay for" couldn't have proved truer for us on this day. Our experience the night before with the Platinum Heritage Safari was beyond stellar but came with a hefty price tag. For the two of us for the afternoon/evening, we paid almost $260.00. That included transportation to and from the desert from our hotel, dune bashing in 1950s range rovers, the falcon demonstration, and all of the activities at the Bedouin camp including a fabulous dinner, henna tattoos, camel rides, and a dancing show. Worth every penny!

Our entire trip was only a week long, and if you've read my previous blogs, you know by now that I only like to spend 2-3 days in a city. To me, that's enough time to see the sites inside of a city before exploring outside the city. Outside of Dubai, however, is mostly desert. Still wanting to see other parts of the country, I looked at various tour companies for day trips that would pick us up and drop us off at our Dubai hotel. One Emirate that we really wanted to see was Fujairah. The same coworker of mine who originally recommended Dubai to us, simply raved about Fujairah. Fujairah is on the opposite coast from Dubai. For us, the best way to see it in a single day was to find a company that provided us with a full day tour. After researching the most popular sites along the route to Fujairah, I found a seemingly great tour offered by Rayna Tours. The tour would last most of the day and take us to the popular Friday Market, the Al Badiyah Mosque, the historic Fujairah Fort, a cultural museum and still have us back in Dubai by dinnertime. So, I mention above that our desert safari cost $260. But, I knew that I was paying for a nicer experience than others. We could have done a desert safari for cheaper with a similar experience, but the reviews for Platinum Heritage Safaris were unparalleled, so I went with them. The Fujairah tour with Rayna only cost us $140 but it didn't include any food or entertainment. It was simply transportation, admission fees, and our tour guide/driver. I just didn't expect the experience to be quite as awful as it was. And it's hard to say who is to blame.

Like the desert safari, our tour to Fujairah also included 4 other people besides ourselves. Three others were from Korea (2 girls in their 20s and their father) and one 40-50 year old gentleman from the UK (who I shall henceforth refer to as Mr. Grumpy because he was simply miserable the entire day). The British fella sat in the front seat with the driver; my husband and I sat in the first row behind the driver, and the Korean group sat in the back row. The first problem that we encountered was the fact that our driver was from Pakistan and spoke with a heavy accent. This didn't prove a problem for us or for Mr. Grumpy because he could understand us, and we could understand him. It did, however, prove to be a huge problem for our Korean friends in the back seat. They spoke very broken English at best, so my husband ended up being the translator between them and the driver for the entire day.

Our driver, either by his nature or realizing that half of the car couldn't understand him, decided not to say too much to us...about anything...at all. The previous night during the safari, our driver chatted us up the whole time. He told us about himself, about the desert conservation, about anything we asked. Our Rayna tour guide...nothing. Sure, he answered questions politely but vaguely, and he always made sure we were comfortable. He asked us often if we wanted to stop for pictures or if we needed water, but other than that, he literally told us nothing about the area or what we were going to see. After each stop, I waited a few minutes and then asked him where we were going next so that I could make sure we were at least keeping to the itinerary. It made for a very awkward day. From Dubai, it took us two hours until we arrived at our first stop. A good tour guide would be cheerful and friendly and ask everyone where they're from, how they're enjoying Dubai, etc. etc. etc. Instead, my husband and I ended up chatting with Mr. Grumpy and hearing about how he refused to honor other culture's traditions when he visited them. He told us a funny story about a waitress that chased after him when he left a restaurant in Las Vegas without leaving a tip. "Tipping is an American thing," he said, and that since he is not American, he refused to tip even when dining in American restaurants. Now, I fully understand and agree that restaurant tipping in America has gotten ridiculously out of control, but at the same time, I wouldn't dream of not tipping anything just because I was from another country. Whenever we visit other countries, one thing we make a point of researching is whether or not tipping is expected. The last thing we want to do is be offensive or "rude Americans." This guy, didn't agree. He didn't earn the nickname Mr. Grumpy for nothing.

So, not the greatest start to the day. Our tour guide decides to be nothing more than a driver, and our traveling companions have made us horribly uncomfortable. But the first two hours go by at last, and pretty soon we have arrived at the Friday Market. (We were there on a Wednesday. It's just called the Friday Market.) The Friday Market had all sorts of vendor stalls along the this particular stretch of road between Dubai and Fujairah and has earned quite a bit of fame among tourists for being an authentic Emirate market. What they failed to mention is that the stalls are no longer run by Emirate people, but they are instead run by foreigners didn't seem exactly happy to see us.

Did you read my post from Dubai Day 1? I mentioned that we went to the Gold Souks and had a most unpleasant experience as the Indian and Pakistani merchants shouted at us. Friday Market? Same thing. Only instead of selling gold, they sold beautiful Persian rugs (that we had no way of transporting) junky trinkets (and only a few of them) and tropical fruit. The merchants were so forceful in their attempt to get us to buy their wares that they would literally slice a piece of fruit (think apple or peach) with a knife and shove the knife in your face. I was more than a little uncomfortable with people constantly sticking knives in my face, so my husband and I sought out a restroom while the others in our little group walked around. After about 45 minutes, we were back on our way.

Friday Market en route from Dubai to Fujairah

Next we stopped at the oldest mosque in the UAE, the Al Badiyah Mosque. As soon as we got there, our driver informed us that we missed the public visiting hours for tourists. After public visiting hours are over, only muslim men are permitted inside for praying. Not wanting to make a fuss, my husband and I contented ourselves with walking around the grounds. Mr. Grumpy, however, felt like making a fuss. He complained about driving all the way out here only to view the mosque from the outside, and insisted that he be allowed inside. Our driver went inside the mosque ahead of him to clear it with someone else, and surprisingly, Mr. Grumpy was escorted inside the mosque for a brief visit. We were barely within earshot when this happened, though the driver still managed to communicate to us that I (as a woman) still would not be permitted entry. It was fine. Like I said, we weren't making a fuss and didn't need to go and see the inside. Afterwards Mr. Grumpy even told us that it wasn't that impressive. (Though I'm curious as to what exactly would have impressed this cold, stubborn gentleman.)

Al Badiyah Mosque - United Arab Emirates

After the mosque, we drove past the heavily armed Omani border and then stopped for lunch. Our driver, at one point, asked us if we were hungry and wanted to stop for lunch. The Korean trio in the back said that they packed their lunch. Mr. Grumpy from the UK in the front seat said that he didn't eat between breakfast and dinner (this could be why he was always grumpy). But not wanting to go several more hours without eating, I asked if he would find a place for us to grab something quickly. He stopped at a place that had a small Lebanese restaurant for us that was within view of the ocean. The Korean folks who packed their lunch found picnic tables and enjoyed the beautiful day while Mr. Grumpy was able to go for a walk on the beach. 

We enjoyed kabobs and biryani chicken/rice at the restaurant. After we ordered, the waitress soon returned with a salad, lentil soup, and hummus, all compliments of the chef. Delicious! Best part of the day by far!

Lunch in Fujairah

Biryani chicken in Fujairah

Lunch in Fujairah

After lunch, we continued into Fujairah to see the old fort and the Fujairah museum. The fort itself was closed (or maybe it's never open...that was unclear), but we were able to walk around the grounds of the outside which we enjoyed though there wasn't much to see. 

Old Fujairah Fort

The fort was only a short distance from the museum and we spent very little time at both. The museum didn't exactly impress us though we appreciated the effort they took to present some artifacts. If you haven't read my blog about Japan, one of my favorite things to photograph were the poorly translated signs. Since English is the most widely spoke language in Dubai, we seldom came across anything poorly translated. The exception to this was the Fujairah museum. Here is just an example of an artifact description that left us scratching our heads and chuckling a little bit. 

Poorly translated sign - Fujairah Museum 

After the museum we made our way back to Dubai. We took a new, recently opened route between Fujairah and Dubai that differed from the way we took to get there, and we made it back to Dubai in no time at all. Once back at the hotel we thought we’d brave the Gold Souks again, but the presence of the same scary men en route to the souks made us turn right around. It's very difficult to explain how I felt. I've had male friends tell me that they saw and enjoyed the souks without the type of experience that we encountered twice. The only thing I can figure is that being a woman, I was either more aware of the other people staring at me, or that they only stared/glared at me because I was a woman without the proper head coverings.

I will say that I noticed that all over the UAE, they made special accommodations for women in order to keep them separate from men. (I also found this to be true several years later when we visited other Muslim countries like Malaysia.) Dubai had separate metro cars that were designated as women-only; they explained at the mosque that the main area was reserved for men, and that women had a private room in the back. Even on the public busses, there were rows of seats in the front reserved for women only. It's not to say that there weren't women in the other cars, but I did take special notice that the women who did travel in the coed metro cars were usually traveling with other men. At one point on the trip, I even took comfort in riding in the women-only metro car even separating from my husband. I simply felt more at ease riding with other women and avoiding stares from strange men. (I feel the need to note again, that I maintained complete dignity with my wardrobe the entire trip. I always wore skirts down to my ankles, tops that came up to my neck, and a jacket that came down to my wrists. Walking through the malls, there were many other westerners dressed in "normal" attire, so I was most definitely not outwardly offensive with my clothing.)

We wrapped up the day by eating dinner at the hotel restaurant called “The Kitchen.” WAY overpriced and a complete rip off for the amount and quality of food. Feel free to check out my Trip Advisor review of this restaurant that I wrote when we got home.

Overall, the day just made us question why we bother ever leaving our homes. What did we learn about the world this day? It was mostly just scary, awkward, uncomfortable and relatively boring for a lot of it. It was easily one of the worst vacation days we've ever had. That and that awful day in Paris from a few years earlier. If nothing else, this day made us very grateful for the things that we have and our life at home. 

Only two more days left of this whirlwind trip to the other side of the world. One day in Abu Dhabi and one more day in the heart of Dubai. The last two days were much better, I promise! Keep reading by clicking HERE.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

United Arab Emirates - Dubai Part II

On our first day in Dubai, we spent most of our time indulging in some of the amazing luxuries available in this cosmopolitan city like an indoor snow dome and high tea at the world's only 7-star hotel. Our second day in Dubai should be called the Emirate Heritage Day. We kicked off the day by taking the metro just a few stops to the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. I've said this before, and I'll keep saying it until any potential Dubai travelers heed my words. Dubai is not a walkable city! They have 2 metro lines, and they're building more, but the stops are essentially useless except for a few things (mostly malls). By day 2, the reality of this still hadn't sunk in yet. So, we took the metro across the sand pit from our hotel only two stops, but then still had about a 15-20 mins walk after that. (FYI - be very careful what kind of metro card you buy. I don't remember exactly what happened, but for some reason we bought the wrong cards and both had to pay an exit fee. This just goes to show you just how different countries and cultures can be. When this same thing happened in Thailand, they just smiled at me and waved me through. But that's another blog for another time. And I know what you're thinking. I need to pay better attention to what metro cards I buy! Yeah yeah...I know.)

We pre-booked a tour of the historical quarter and also a cultural lunch, but since we arrived too early for the tour, we went to the Dubai Museum first. For a country with very little history, they had a really nice display. 

Dubai Museum

After that we went back to the Sheik Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. Because we arrived a little early, we waited in the waiting area and read a rather disturbing article about Bush, Blair and the war in Iraq back in the beginning of the 21st century. It always saddens me to read articles like this that are published in foreign newspapers. I wish other countries didn't pass judgement on the American people based on the decisions of a few politicians. Yes, we elect our officials, but in a country with 200 million people, surely they have to understand that we all have differing opinions on things and shouldn't be judged the same. At any rate, we seldom suffer ill treatment when traveling abroad which always restores my faith in humanity.

Anyway, before too long we gathered together as a group, and took a very nice walking tour of the Bastakia Quarter. The guide explained their old architecture and wind tunnel system that they used before they had electricity. Given how hot it can get in the UAE, it fascinated me to see how the people coped with the weather extremes before modern conveniences like air conditioning.

Bastakia Quarter - Historical District - Dubai

After the tour, we walked around a bit until our cultural lunch at 1:00 inside the center where our tour began. We could only stay for the first half of the lunch, but the whole experience was very interesting and enlightening. We all sat around the food on the floor with our shoes off. When they uncovered the food, they said something on the order of, "now, don't expect us to select one side of the group to go first in an attempt to be organized and efficient about this. In our culture, its every man for himself." And with that, everyone looked at each other uncomfortably, and then slowly, we all started getting food. We enjoyed many authentic dishes. We ate chicken and fish with saffron rice, white rice, a chicken and vegetable stew, and sesame/honey donut holes for dessert. 

Just before lunch - Dubai Center for Cultural Understanding

Culture Lunch - Dubai Center for Cultural Understanding

After we all had plates of food, our tour guide rejoined us along with another lady and gentleman from the center. All of them were dressed in full covered Muslim attire, and they opened the floor for us to ask any sort of questions we wanted about their country and religion. They did a really good job explaining things from their perspective and took no offense to the questions we asked. They addressed all manner of things from having multiple wives to their opinion of the more radical Islamic terrorist groups. They insisted that they, along with their government, believed that Islam is a very peaceful religion and that groups and governments who try to use it to spread fear are doing so with political agendas. Having had little contact with the Muslim community and knowing next to nothing about Islam, I really appreciated how open they were to clear up many stereotypes and misconceptions of their religion and people.

Around 1:45, we excused ourselves from the lunch and hustled back to the hotel to change. One of the top rates activities in Dubai is going on a desert safari. Platinum Heritage Safaris were a little pricier than some of the other companies, but they were well worth the expense. What an amazing experience! (You can read my trip advisor review of them as well.) You may be asking yourself, just what is a desert safari? Well, my friends, I will tell you. 

A driver Fahad (or Jaquel - his nickname) picked us up at our hotel around 2:45. We stopped at 2 other hotels to pick up 4 more people; a couple from Germany (Marius and Francine) and a couple from New Zealand and South Africa (Paul and Angela). From there we drove about 45 mins to the Dubai Desert Conservation which is privately owned by the Prince of Dubai. Once we arrived, Fahad gave us all special head dressings to wear to help keep the sand out.  We loaded into old 1950s land rovers and began our trek across the desert. 

Fahad and our Land Rover - Dubai Desert Conservation

I'm not sure if I can accurately explain the concept of dune bashing, but take a look at my picture above. Imagine driving through the desert at a pretty fast (though still safe) speed and bumpity bumping all over the place. Because these vehicles are refashioned from the 1950s, they had some trouble restarting every time we loaded back into them, but that let us know they were authentic.

Fahad stopped often and made sure we saw lots of wildlife including orcs, camels, and antelope. He generously took pictures for us even though the company arranged for a special photographer to follow our car and other cars around and take photos that we could later buy. 

Wildlife in the Dubai Desert

Some more wildlife in the Dubai Desert :)

After dune bashing for about an hour and stopping often, we came upon a small campsite where a gentleman from South Africa performed a falcon demonstration. One of the falcons only had one eye, and the guy explained that this falcon required special training or else he wouldn't see the prey and fly off. Unfortunately, about 2/3 of the way through our demonstration, the one-eyed falcon got confused and flew off anyway. That cut our demonstration short because the guy had to go "track down his bird" as he said. Fortunately, the birds all had GPS trackers on them. I contacted the company when we got home and they confirmed from that he did, in fact, get the falcon back. That made me happy! 

Falcon Demonstration - Dubai Desert Conservation

From the falcon demonstration, we continued on to a Bedouin camp. The sun was setting, and we enjoyed traditional Bedouin dancing, camel rides, henna tattoos, and a delicious dinner. One thing we were all happy to see when we got there were bathrooms. Until that point, the guys had been able to find a private spot in the desert as necessary, but us ladies were stuck waiting until we got somewhere with accommodations. And being a desert camp in the middle of nowhere, we had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, the company was first class all the way, and the bathroom accommodations were amazing. 

Bedouin Camp - Dubai Desert Conservation

Camel rides - Dubai Desert Conservation

When we first arrived at the camp, we went for a short camel ride and then sat down to eat. They served us a variety of food on small trays. We ate everything they served us commenting among ourselves that while quite tasty, it wasn't exactly a terribly filling meal. Then to our surprise and delight, they called us over to the open flame kitchen and served us each a plate full of lamb and chicken kabobs with rice. Now after eating every morsel of the appetizers, we were beyond stuffed after eating the rest of our dinner. 

After dinner, we enjoyed some dancing, henna tattoos, and they passed around a pipe that contained some sort of cherry tobacco for communal smoking (which we didn't partake, but looking back on it, we probably should have at least tried it. Alas...I was too timid). 

Henna Tattoo - Dubai Desert Conservation

Like I mentioned above, they had a guy following us the whole time taking pictures. While we sat listening to the music and watching the dance, he came over to us and showed us the digital prints that he took throughout the day. We were very pleased with the shots he took, and since he offered them at a decent price (not like the penguin encounter from the day before), we bought them and got the CD. 

The whole desert safari experience lasted over 8 hours. We didn't get back to our hotel until after 10pm. From our morning at the cultural center, an afternoon of dune bashing, and an evening of amazing food and smells and getting to know the folks who were with us, we had a pretty terrific day. If only the next day would be just as good. Unfortunately, it wasn't. What happened? You'll have to read my next blog HERE.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

United Arab Emirates - Dubai Part I

Welcome to the start of my trip to the UAE. In my introductory blog, I told you a big about why we picked Dubai and the UAE for our next adventure. This blog starts with our actual adventure.

Thanks to a 13 hour flight and a 9 hour time difference our first day was awfully short. Our flight landed safety at Terminal 1 of the Dubai international airport around 4:40PM local time. We weren’t even slightly hungry because they fed us 3 times on the flight (not to mention dinner at Wendy’s before we left).  We cleared customs without waiting too long, got cash out of the ATM and searched unsuccessfully for the Hyatt Regency counter to request a shuttle (which we later found out didn't exist despite what their website said at the time. You can read my full Trip Advisor Review on this hotel to give you more specifics). Instead we took the metro. Brand new and very clean but we were still scrunched in like sardines given the busy hour. When we got off the metro at our station and came out, we were right in the middle of a sandy field (absolutely no grass). It's almost as if they meant to build an entire station but didn't. That worked well for us, because when we hit the street level, the hotel was literally right in front of us (well, in front of us but across the sand pit that was about the length of a football field and smelled really bad). We checked in with no problems, and our room on the sixth floor was very large even though I bought the absolute cheapest rate I could find on hotels.com.

After checking in and getting settled we explored the hotel complex and took a walk around the surrounding area. The hotel had several on-site restaurants, an ice skating rink (yes, that's right), and a minimart. Then we wandered through some local streets. The hotel is in Deira which is considered the "old" part of Dubai mostly due to its proximity to the gold and spice souks (old markets). Normally, I would gobble up this sort of thing (which is one of the reasons the location appealed to me at first), but instead we felt out of place and very uncomfortable. This area of Dubai while it might be the old section, was completely taken over with foreigners and very rundown. There were lots of men everywhere and very few women. I made a point of packing only clothing that would help me to fit in better in this predominantly Muslim country (or at least not be offensive). I wore long skirts everyday and almost always wore long sleeves. But even dressed as I was and walking with my husband, we got all manner of angry stares. We kept walking for about 20 mins and found the Gold Souks. Wow! You’ve never seen so many jewelry stores here in your life! And these weren't like American jewelry stores where there is a mix of cheap and expensive. You only had expensive and more expensive. Gold and diamonds everywhere! Unfortunately, we felt most unwelcome. The shop owners would stand outside their stores and bark at pedestrians walking past trying to get them to come inside. If you didn't acknowledge them and go in, as you walked past them, the tone of their voice got angry and instead of getting you to buy their gold, they started yelling curses at you and spat. We were terribly uncomfortable and started questioning what we got ourselves into.  After some distant window shopping we walked back to the hotel, got some snacks from the grocery store and called it a day. Perhaps our first full day in Dubai would be better.

Monday, February 18

Oh no! Our first day in Dubai is plagued with lots of haze! Since we went there in February the temperatures were decent the whole time but the haze was something we didn't expect. This will make seeing the skyline difficult throughout the day, but what can you do? That morning we hopped right on the metro and took the green line and the red line to the station closest to the Jumeirah Mosque which is one of the only mosques in Dubai that opens its doors to non-Muslim tourists. Unfortunately, the closest metro station still left us with over an hour walk. (Have I mentioned yet that Dubai is NOT a walkable city?) But being the early birds we are, we still arrived 45 mins before necessary. We killed some time by enjoying a skinny blueberry muffin in a starbucks. Because what does this timid traveler do when she's on the other side of the world? Find something that reminds her of home. 

Jumeirah Mosque - Dubai, UAE

At 9:45 we joined the other tourists and prepared for our entry into the mosque. For the ladies, this meant hair, arms, and legs covered. If you didn’t dress for the occasion, you could borrow local clothes and scarves. The mosque tour took about an hour. Inside the building was absolutely beautiful and not at all what I expected in terms of color and decoration. The tour included an introduction to the 7 pillars of Islam and a demonstration of the call to prayer. I found the whole experience fascinating and the people very welcoming and friendly. 

Inside the Jumeirah Mosque

After the mosque visit, we took a taxi to the Mall of the Emirates (not wanting to walk all the way back to the metro). At the mall (which was nothing spectacular after seeing the Japanese mega-malls just a year earlier) we got lunch at the food court. 

The biggest problem we had up to this point was currency. At the airport we withdrew 600 Dirs (about $300-$350). The ATM gave us 2 bills; AED 100 & AED 500. We had problems all day finding someone willing to change the AED 500. We even gave the taxi driver an American $20 because he couldn’t change the AED 500. (Very kind of him, by the way.) But a little sandwich shop in the mall graciously changed it so we ordered meat kabobs on flat bread sandwiches from him. 

After lunch we continued exploring the mall. We located Ski Dubai (an indoor ski slope and the only place to ski in all of the UAE considering the hot, desert climate) and had planned on doing the Penguin Encounter. 

Inside the Mall of the Emirates looking into Ski Dubai

Ski Dubai Penguin Encounter

When we arrived, we debated a bit whether or not to do it, but since we figured that this might be our only time in Dubai, we should make the most of every experience. First up, we had to acclimate ourselves to the subzero temperatures inside Ski Dubai. They helped us transition from the Arabian desert climate to the North Pole by giving us rental gear. Growing up in Pennsylvania, we are no strangers to cold winters. Our winter wardrobe is complete with hats, gloves, scarves, and all manner of snow pants, heavy coats, etc. In Dubai, however, no one in their right mind would ever buy apparel for cold weather, so at Ski Dubai, they had everything available for rent. And part of our admission fee included free souvenir gloves (because who wants to use after someone else has used them? Eww!). They even gave us booties that fit right over our own shoes. 

Ready for the snow dome at Ski Dubai

We didn't actually ski while we were there, mostly because the indoor ski facility consisted of 5 "slopes" none of which were terribly exciting. For people with no other outlet for skiing, it's great. But we didn't travel half way around the world to ski inside. The facility itself, however, amazed us, so we looked for something else to do while we were there. Hence the penguin encounter. 

For $50/pp we spent about 25 mins learning about Gentle penguins and King penguins. They let us touch the King penguins who were calm enough and incredibly soft. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring our cameras with us, and it cost AED 400 (about $150) to buy any photos. I even went back a few minutes later and asked someone else if that price was accurate because it cost us $100 for 2 people to do the encounter. Surely I misheard how much the pictures cost. But alas, they assured me that it was more expensive for the pictures of the experience than the experience itself. I’ll have to settle for the pics of us in our snow gear because I refused to pay that much money for a picture even in Dubai. 

After our picture-less penguin encounter we walked around the mall some more before standing in a very long taxi line to head up to the Burj Al Arab. No metro stop got us close enough, and since the taxi from the mosque to the mall was relatively cheap, we thought that was our best option. 

Burj Al Arab at night; Dubai

The Burj Al Arab, the self proclaimed world's most luxurious hotel and the world's only 7 star hotel. We decided not to pay the outrageous rates of $1,500+ per night for their basic room, but we still wanted to see this grand hotel. You can only physically get onto the grounds of the hotel if you are a guest or if you have a reservation at one of the restaurants. Now since the hotel rooms are just a little on the pricey side, you can imagine how expensive it would be to dine there as well. But you're only in Dubai once, right? Surely there had to be somewhere we could eat without spending a fortune.  

After doing a lot of research, I booked a reservation for high tea on the 27^th floor at the Skyview Bar. The idea was that you could see a view of the famous palm islands. And the reviews that I read about high tea assured me that it was worth the $275 for 2 people. (Ok, so I don't know that it was worth it, but it was pretty awesome!)

When you first walk into the Burj Al Arab, there are amazing fountains. The picture below shows a few stories of the hotel. The pillars that you see are gold leaf. What else would you expect from the world's most luxurious hotel?

Burj Al Arab interior

I know what you're thinking. For $275, the tea itself better have had gold in it. Fear not, my friends. The tea..most certainly did have gold in it. Don't believe me?

Cappuccino with gold flecks; Skyview Bar

Ok, so this isn't exactly tea, it's a cappuccino, but that shimmery stuff on the side of the cup, was gold flecks/dust. The hazy day made the view pretty terrible, and we could barely see the palm islands, but that didn't really matter. The tea experience itself was so fun! We had 7 courses, almost all of them being bottomless except for chef carving of the day. The first course started off with champagne and the traditional stuffed dates which they served all over the country. 

High Tea at the Skyview Bar; Dubai

The fact that most of the food was bottomless, made us eat our fill and help ease the blow of the price. Like any afternoon tea, one would expect finger sandwiches, yes? Well, that's exactly what we got, but not in the way we expected. They still had the little cucumber sandwiches on white bread, but then they also had bread with squid ink, salmon with caviar, sliced beef with some sort of delicious jellied sauce, etc. The waiter must have thought we were crazy, but we just couldn't get enough of the squid ink sandwiches, the beef wraps on a stick, or the salmon and caviar. But they let us eat as much as we wanted. 

High Tea at the Skyview Bar; Dubai

Unfortunately, we ate so much, that when they brought around the tower of scones, pastries, truffles, creme brûlée, and other tasty desserts, we were already stuffed. Did that stop us? (Chub chub chub!)

After tea, we walked down the street to the Madinat souk near the Madinat Jumeirah hotel. Now I see why some refer to Dubai as an Arabian Disney. This area very much caters to tourists and everything seemed very superficial and commercialized. Diera (where our hotel is)…not so much but then it also scared us, so pick your battles. We then took a taxi back to the Mall of the Emirates, got donuts for breakfast and then took the metro back to the Hyatt. 

What a wild first day in Dubai. Despite the first night, we were beginning to feel better about our overall experience here. Day 2 in Dubai features the historical Bedouin aspects of the small desert country. Lots more exciting adventures ahead! Click HERE to keep reading.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler