Dubai
March 9-10, 2018
For the past few months, our big trip to the Middle East felt like a faraway dream. March arrived quickly and before long, Emirates Airlines called our names to board the flight to Dubai. We knew this would be a whirlwind trip with each night in a different city and a whirlwind 24 hours in Dubai and Muscat, Oman respectively. Are we crazy?! A little bit, but it was the trip of a lifetime :)
60-70 degree weather greeted us in Dubai. We stayed in the old part of Dubai at the same hotel I stayed at last year, the Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga. It's in a great location, just an Uber ride away from the souks and the Dubai Creek. Savoring memories from me coming here in 2017, we stopped by the same first restaurant I went to called Al Safadi for a taste of locally beloved Lebanese cuisine. Their hummus is spectacular. We arrived just in time for dinner before crashing for the night to wake up for a sunrise camel ride the next morning!
We booked a sunrise camel trek and breakfast with Oceanair Travels that we absolutely loved. The less wonderful part of a sunrise tour is the fact that you have to wake up way before sunrise (4:30am in our case) and drive the hour to the desert. Our tour guide came from India and encouraged us to mingle with the camels, even feeding them apples. There's a difference between farm camels (who are raised for their meat), riding camels (who are trained to be friendly with tourists like ourselves), and racing camels (who race for money like horses in the Kentucky Derby). Wild! We started with a dunes photoshoot before a 45 minute long ride on our dear camels. I expected it to be way less comfortable than it was and the desert was breathtaking in the morning sun.
The morning ended with a peaceful breakfast accompanied by our group's 2 Swedish ladies who enthralled us with talks of their travels all over the world. They've ridden camels before and said this was the best camel ride they've done so far I would vouch for this company and the awesome time we had!
When the camel experience finished, we got dropped off at our hotel at 9:30am and felt like we had the whole day ahead of us still! We commenced visiting all the souks (local markets) starting with fish, gold, spice, and textile. My personal favorite is the spice souk. The vendors are very aggressive and ask you where you're from (likely to gauge how much you'd be willing to pay for something) to try and persuade you to enter their shops. Steven tried on the male head covering and full length white gown, told that he could be a "sheikh in Chicago." We decided to pass ;) A vendor wanted us to pay >$100 for a "scarf made out of camel hair" originally that we ended up buying for $15-20. He told us it's a good idea for them to start haggling super high, because "rich people" don't even want to buy things that are "cheap" and then found out we were not those "rich people" who would want to pay so much for a scarf... :) Ingenious sales strategy really!
After our souk exploration, we made a quick stop at the Dubai Creek to ride the fabled abra. It's like a tiny fishing boat that they pack with people who pay 1 Dirham ($.27 USD) to cross the creek. It lasted only a few minutes and was a fun experience :)
At this point, our bodies needed a rest so we stopped by the trendy and art-filled XVA Café for amazing watermelon mint juices and sweet potato fries. It's a bit more expensive given it's catered towards foreigners, but was delicious and a well deserved break for the afternoon!
Rejuvenated and ready to go again, we visited the brand new Dubai Frame. It's super new to the city, but expected to be as popular as the Burj Khalifa in the future. There is a TON of new construction in Dubai in preparation for the Expo Dubai 2020. It is beautiful and way cooler than I anticipated! It's a massive frame in the middle of the city separating old and new Dubai. When you look through one side, you see the old side and when you turn around, the sprawling skyscrapers of new Dubai are there. You take a ride to the top and look down through clear glass. Stunning!
Old and new Dubai side by side. Can you guess which is which? :)
Last but not least, we headed to the Dubai Mall to get in line for our reservation to ride to the top of the Burj Khalifa. It's the tallest building in the world at 160 stories and the line to get in even with a ticket is LONG! If you want to see the Burj at sunset, you probably want to purchase a time for 1.5 hours before sunset just to get through the lines (unless you get a VIP ticket) and look outside at the right time. We saw the night time view and watched the city lights come alive as the sun disappeared over the horizon.
Fun fact: It actually took us longer waiting in line for the elevator to leave than it did for the entire experience waiting to get in and view the top!
Lastly, we headed to a well known Iranian restaurant called Al Usted Special Kebab for the best lamb, beef, and chicken kebabs of our life!! It's a traditional restaurant that separates out "family dining" from males dining after 8pm, presumably for religious reasons. Because we had a female (me), we were moved to the family side. The lamb kebabs were battered in yogurt before being barbecued, which sealed in amazingly rich flavors. We had a rice accompaniment, lots of fresh vegetables, and mint tea before heading out to our flight to Oman!
All in all, Dubai does not disappoint. Rather, it dazzles and is a rising mecca of the Middle East, with huge plans for innovation and leading the world in technology advancements. Not to mention it already does in terms of its amazing "7-star hotel," the Burj, Dubai Frame, and much more coming before their 2020 Expo.
Loved this leg of our trip and can't wait to share Muscat, Oman next!