Skyscrapers, Souks and Sunsets: Dazzling Dubai (Winter '23)

 

Imagine you just finished your exams, and your birthday, and you hear some of the best news ever - you get to visit the most excessively glamourous city in the whole world - Dubai! (For the first time, I don't have to pack warm clothes as if I'm heading to Antarctica - I'm going to a hot desert!) Dubai has been depicted as a city of riches and a symbol of Arabia. So me and my family went there to experience the glam and find out whether the city is as real as it is described, or an artificial dystopia. We hopped on the midnight flight out of India, visas in hand. In the next few days, we discovered both modern and historical sides of Dubai, met the people and found out for sure the atmosphere of the city (Field note: Nights in deserts get really cold, do NOT neglect packing warm clothes!)

Dashing Departure, Dazzling Destination

We headed on to the airport at an ungodly hour of the morning but truth be told we all had been awake all night, in excitement. This trip was our first international trip and we all silently screamed internally in excitement as our plane landed in Dubai the afternoon that day. The airport was extremely big and long and had beautiful architectural patterns resemblant to the mosques of the region. I still remember my first foot on international soil, stepping out of the airplane and into the airport. We rested that day but it wasn't all to waste - that night, we wore our best dinner clothes for a cruise on a traditional Arabian dhow boat where we ate dinner as we passed the city along the Dubai Creek and we even got to witness some fireworks and drone shows that very day. Is it possible that the most magical day of the trip can be the very first day? (The answer is no, and yes, there are things better than this!)

A Whirlwind Tour Through the City

The next day we all woke up refreshed and set out in our best clothes for a city tour across Dubai aboard a seat-in-coach and the tour guide explained the history behind every monument and the effort taken to build each building as we drove past them in real life, and we stopped at each stop starting our morning at the Dubai Creek. This is the place where we sailed yesterday during dinner, if you remember (although it looked much more like a river, not a creek!) and we head over across the street to the entry of the 'Gold Souk' in Dubai. The guide told us how the word 'Souk' meant market in Arabic, and this was a famous place where gold buyers and investors came to get gold at lower rates than the rest of the world comparatively. We headed over there (not to buy gold, but something much realistic, spices!) and the guide led us to several souvenir and spice shops decorated heavily with colored mirrors and vibrant colors of the different spices. We bought some chocolates here made from camel milk (unexpectedly less disgusting as it sounds!) to give everyone at home and some souvenirs for ourselves, along with a lot of saffron, or kesari as it was lower than the Indian prices (ironic, considering it's grown in Kashmir, India) 

Then we hopped on the coach and we drove through the infamous Sheik Zayed road. I don't know, but based on my observations the only tall buildings are about 5 skyscrapers along this road and the rest of the city is comparable to other normal cities around the world. On this road at once we can see the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Frame, the Dubai Eye, the Dubai Mall, and famous 5-star hotels. 

We then drove to the Palm Jumeirah and saw the houses of several famous people, even the Dubai vacation homes of several Indian actors. At the end of the palm leaf, at the ring around the island, we spent some time at the Atlantis hotel, a 5-star resort with the famous river rafting and water park. 

In the evening, the coach dropped us off at the world's largest mall, the Dubai Mall, and we had the whole rest of the day to explore. Note to self: half a day is not enough! There was an ice rink, an aquarium, a million stores, a million restaurants and sports facilities! We visited the aquarium, one of the biggest, with 16000+ fish inside one building! Sharks, eels, smaller fish, it was a whole ecosystem!

After some exploring we went outside to end the day with a beautiful immersive fountain show, a feast for my eyes AND ears, with surround sound playing everywhere. (Although the song of choice was bad, it was "Baby Shark"! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry that the one day we see the show they play this!)

The Burj Life 

The next day we were pumped with excitement as we would be going INSIDE the world's tallest skyscraper and get to see the HIGHEST view from OUR EYES. The journey to the Burj Khalifa seemed to take forever and then by the time we waited in queue for our tickets and in queue for the elevator the excitement had died down (HOW was it afternoon already?) Anyways, the elevator shot up so fast and as I gazed at the AR interactive displays showing our journey to the top I could feel my ears pop at about floor 56 (107 floors to go?!) 

We enjoyed the view from up there. I swear I felt like I could see another country. We took some pictures and got the scare of our lives when the fire alarm was MISTAKENELY triggered. Why?

We were then rushed down early (because someone thought fiddling with fire alarms on a 163 floor tower is FUN) 

After that once-in-a-lifetime experience, we started to head back to the hotel for some lunch and afternoon rest as we would be going out again in the evening. However for lunch, we spotted a restaurant with Kannada written on it, a Southern Indian ethnicity which I'm from. Curious, my family and I walked towards it and we had a really nice conversation with the restaurant owner in Kannada, in the middle of Arabian Dubai! Turns out the coincidence didn't end here — he was our neighbor back in the hometown! He insisted we eat a fish meal for free and after refusing profusely, he continued and so we gave in and ate the meal, giving me nostalgia of my hometown, and my dad secretly left some money at the counter when the owner had gone to a table. I also left my sunglasses here, never to be seen again (RIP sunglass #5) 

We woke to a call - for a HDFC personal loan marketing scheme. They wouldn't leave us alone even in another country. This evening, a desert safari and barbeque was planned. We got ready and sat in the hotel lobby half an hour early (my family just does that). We got into the safari jeep and got the bad news - another family would be sharing with us as my parents booked the wrong plan in the travel site

(it turned out okay though). So we headed to their hotel and we had to wait half an hour as they took
their sweet time getting ready. Then this godforsaken family walked out and immediately the woman laid eyes on us three sitting in the middle row. They were a couple - two people can easily fit in the back. This Karen, however screamed at us all to move to the back row of the jeep and they both can enjoy in the middle row. First of all, the early bird gets the worm - they delayed us by half an hour already. Secondly, they were so rude about the whole ordeal, cursing my entire bloodline. Thirdly, there was no logic in her arguments. Two people can fit easier than three. The safari driver, realizing we were now a whole hour late, broke up the fight and sided with us. 

And that's how we got a private safari while paying less than half the money for a private tour. 

The safari was exhilarating, and all the cars joined together in a picturesque spot where we took photos in the desert with the Burj Khalifa and the setting sun in the background. My parents even let me ride on a quad bike, all on my own! This falconer also asked if I want to hold it. My mom however knew it was a scam, but I also got to look deep into its eyes and its patterned feathers. 

We all drove to the barbeque where we sat in seats around a stage where they performed Egyptian Tanura dances and fire breathing shows. We had to be extra careful not to eat BEEF as it was EVERYWHERE and I doubted that I accidentally consumed a little particles of it as they are cooked in the same kitchen, but we had no choice. 

Fresh Flowers and Global Flavors

Today was our last day in Dubai. We had a late morning for the first time in a week, (without the early morning cacophony of hair straightening, hair drying, my father gargling, teeth being brushed because we needed to be ready early) and I ate a full breakfast (those hotel breakfasts just disappear too soon!)

We headed out to Miracle Garden first, the world's largest garden. Did you know the flowers there are replanted every year as the summer wilts them all? It was super extensive and colorful, I kind of felt like I was watching a nursery cartoon — too many colors. The smells were also overwhelming. I swear it felt like the same smell wafted through the BATHROOMS there. There were also really good eateries along one street where I had a cream puff, Dubai style (with saffron)

Next was the Global Village. Allegedly, every country's culture was represented here and it would be like "Around the World in 80 Days" in 80 minutes! We got free food samples from every culture we were able to visit, (I ate Japanese Tayakki while looking at a Tango performance!) and we had interesting conversations with people around the world, and one African lady was extremely good at salesmanship, making my mother not wanting Shea butter at all to wanting two bottles! It was a really fun experience. 

And that was the bittersweet end. We flew back home, with memories to cherish forever. 

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Written By Tanay Raj Gowda
Photography sourced from Travel Wizard and Tanay Raj Gowda