Dazzling Dubai

En route to Bangalore from London I had originally planned to stop over in Mumbai, but a pretty low price from Emirates made me reschedule my itinerary to go through Dubai instead. We took advantage of Dubai stopover from Emirates and they helped me in getting out UAE visa which is valid for 72 hours. The Dubai airport looks amazing. It is almost like walking around in a huge nightclub. Clear glass elevators, 3 story waterfalls, lights everywhere. Emirates has got a tie up with Arabian Adventure tour agents and their office is just rite in the arrivals area of Dubai airport.

On arrival we booked Evening Desert safari tour and Dubai City sightseeing tour with Arabian Adventures. We were later transferred to Highland City hotel. The hotel was well located, good value and with pleasant staff. The room was all I expected. Clean, modern furniture, comfortable bed and a TV that worked. Dinner turned out as a costly affair as we ended up paying huge amount in the attached restaurant. Outside the hotel there were many Indian style restaurants including Udupi hotel and Kamat which served better food at cheaper prices.

Next day morning we hired a cab and went on our own to take a look of Dubai city. There are 1.5 million people living here and approximately 75% are foreign, mostly from India, Pakistan and Asia. Every kilometer or so there is a mosque, always beautifully built. There is so much building going on, it is literally growing 24 hours a day, although there is a rule that building contractors are not legally allowed to work between 12:30 and 3:30pm.

Everything is air-conditioned, even the bus stops.Taxi’s are everywhere, there is never a problem getting one, they all have meters and are quite cheap. We saw Madinat Jumeira shopping mall and walked along the Jumeira Public Beach. We then visited Palm Atlantis hotel. Atlantis is the majestic focal point of Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island that has captured the world's imagination with its magnificent scale and architecture.

We headed off in the afternoon for our Desert Safari. We are collected in a nice air-conditioned Toyota Land cruiser. We head off to a meeting point where all the vehicles from our company join up. There are a lot of companies all doing the same thing. Our company has all their vehicles set up the same. From there it’s a short drive to the desert meeting point, where all the drivers let their tires down and open bonnets to cool engines!

Then it’s off we go, it’s the most fun ride we've done to date. Once off road the tires were partially deflated and we began. It was great fun powering up the sand dunes and then tilting at the top before crashing back down again. We stopped off to take photos of the setting sun and found out how difficult it is to walk up these dunes. We go absolutely flat out through the enormous sand dunes in the desert. The sand is so powdery soft and the dunes are so steep.

Finally we get to the ‘Bedouin Camp’ that they have set up. There are camel rides and quad bikes out front and inside there is cushions and tables set up around a stage, a bar, henna painting and a bottle sand guy. There were also more shasha/hookah/hubba bubba pipes to try. When it gets dark enough a buffet dinner with huge variety of food is served. After dinner the belly dancer came on and was amazing how she could flex and dance.S o another funny trip back and then our day is suddenly over. We are tired, sandy but very happy. Definitely recommend anyone coming here to do this tour.

Next day after breakfast we are picked up for our tour of Dubai. Unsurprisingly it was a hot dry clear day about 40 degrees. At the start it is just the 2 of us but we are told there are 6 more people to pick up. We were shown just a handful of the palaces for the royal family. They are all beautiful, large and in the best of locations. We went to the air conditioned Dubai Mall. This is the biggest mall in the world.

The place has every shop and brand from around the world you can name. It was amazing to see so many shops. There was also the famous gold souk with rows of jewellers, watch manufacturers, a lot of the items cost a big fortune. The city skyline is a marvel of modern buildings, all of which were built since the year 2000. The Burj al Arab, shaped like a giant dhow approaching the city, is the world's largest hotel. We were awe struck by Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 808 meters or 2626 feet.

It dominates the skyline and resembles a glass needle.

In the afternoon we went to the Dubai museum. The Dubai Museum is located very near to Dubai Creek, the historic location of the heart of the emirate. The museum is exceptionally well done. It appears small from the outside, but has an extensive underground section that one to walk through examples of historic Bedouin camps, towns, etc.

In the evening we went through the packing drill and later picked up by the cab for airport.

Overall Dubai experience was amazing. If you have the option of having a stopover here, do it.