As I sat down to write this blog post, I had a feeling that it would be a short one for two reasons. Firstly, it’s been a while since I’ve had the urge to write anything (not an ideal trait for the designated scribe!) but secondly, I found it challenging to find the right words to describe our short, but not-so-sweet, trip to Dubai. An extended break from work had been a long-term plan, and during this time, Rob and I were contemplating various destinations. Due to Covid and the associated travel restrictions, it had been over three years since we had seen our families, so it was a must for our itinerary to include a stop in South Africa. From there, we made a call to spend the rest of our break kicking back in Thailand, but breaking the journey in Dubai, considering Emirates was the cheapest flight option. We both only have ever transited through Dubai, so this time round we decided to spend a few days exploring and seeing for ourselves what the fuss was about.
With mixed emotions, we boarded our Emirates flight in Cape Town, destination Dubai. Already feeling a bit down, as it is never easy saying goodbye to our loved ones, the trip didn’t get off to a good start. We weren’t impressed with Emirates, disappointed with the state of the plane’s interior, which was very run down, in addition to the quality of the service from the crew. We found it pretty surprising that Emirates is rated a top airline, but for us, they don’t compare to Singapore Airlines or Air New Zealand (are we sounding like spoiled jetsetters?). We also had the experience of being seated near an autistic child who had a full-blown meltdown about an hour into the flight. As a result, we were treated to blood curdling screams in the cabin for a good few hours until he eventually exhausted himself and fell asleep. As much as I felt for the parents, it is hard to be empathetic in that situation, where you yourself were not in the best of moods. The result was no sleep on the 9-hour flight, so we were drained and lacking in energy when we landed in Dubai at 6am local time the following morning.
Moving efficiently through customs, our bags already waiting on the side of the carousel when we picked them up, we hoisted our packs, and clicked into backpacker mode, meaning, public transport into town. Luckily Dubai has an efficient metro system, at least from the airport, so the Red Line took us direct from Terminal 3 to the Financial District where our hotel was located. A quick bus ride and 10 minute walk later, we found our hotel. As it was too early to check in, we dropped our bags, and walked to Dubai Mall where we grabbed a bite to eat and did a bit of window-shopping waiting for everything to open. Dubai Mall is one of the largest malls in the United Arab Emirates, so it wasn’t a quick stroll around. One could spend hours in this behemoth mall, which is spread over multiple levels and contains over 1,200 retail outlets, from global chain stores to chic boutiques, never mind the Aquarium and Underwater Zoo located within the complex.
As we were housed very close to the Mall, it was our natural stop between our destination for the day when we went sightseeing and our hotel, so it was a great spot for people watching. I’ve always known Dubai to be one of the more westernized of the Emirates, but the juxtaposition of the traditional east and outlandish west, did take me by surprise. For us, it is important to respect the culture of the country we are visiting, so we found it quite confronting to be in a place where no matter which way you turn, it was either seeing traditional conservatism or extreme tackiness. It was the local men and women dressed in the traditional, ankle-length, loose fitting robes (notwithstanding the fact that they were probably wearing an outfit from a high-street label underneath) versus the expat or tourist who felt the need to be dressed to the nines, in tight (and I mean tight!) shorts or jeans, flowery shirts for the men, or short skirts and revealing dresses (and more often than not, G-strings on the beach) for the women. We found the Dubai culture to be very self-centred, with people going out “to be seen” and more interested in perfecting their selfie pout than soaking up their surroundings. To be honest, I’ve never seen so many botoxed lips in my life! I’m all for a selfie (as you can see from the pic!), but ours are more of a toothy grinned “we were here” variety for our own memories more so than for social media (does a blog classify as social media?).
The Insta influencers were out in force when we managed to get up the Burj Khalifa, the iconic skyscraper making up every Dubai picture, standing at a record breaking 828+ meters high and towering over every other building in the vicinity. We went up to the 125th floor to the viewing platform, to get an almost birds-eye, 360-degree view of the city we came to explore. It was very busy though, and very gimmicky, with artificial reality spots, “cracking” floors and selfie-spots. Despite the overload of people, it was still an amazing experience to be so high up and seeing the city from a different perspective. My own misconception was that Dubai was this huge metropolis of buildings, but in actual fact it is very flat, with pockets of high buildings surrounded by what I supposed you would call suburbia, where the buildings are mostly two, or three storeys high at most. And of course, if you can’t beat them, join them, so we got our fair share of selfies in too! The afternoon of Day 1 was a time for rest, whereafter we spent the early evening strolling along the river in search of some dinner. With both of us being outdoor people, it was also unnerving to us that there were hardly any people about when we went for a walk. More often that not, it felt like a ghost town, but given the heat, it is no surprise that Dubai is very much an “inside” place, with people choosing the relative comfort of an air-conditioned mall, restaurant, or car. However, we did come to realize the next day is that one of the reasons people choose to remain indoors is not only due to the heat, but also the fact that parts of the city stink. If you ever wondered how the landscaped greenbelts of Dubai retain their verdant colour, its because the local council uses recycled grey water to irrigate the gardens. It was only plebs like us who choose to walk everywhere who had the pleasure of observing (and smelling) this eco-friendly initiative!
After a good night’s sleep, we woke early and headed off to the Old Town. We struggled a bit to navigate the city and found the public transport system lacking from a tourist perspective, with no maps or information available, as well as a limited network in general. Even the local staff at the bus and train stations gave us strange looks when we made enquiries on how best to get to a specific place, asking why we want to use a bus and recommending we take a taxi instead. We did eventually find the souk, which looks like what old Dubai used to look like. Although a quaint façade, the interiors were ultra-modern shops filled with expensive restaurants and touristy nick-nacks and souvenirs. Scarf anyone? It was great though because we got there early, so only a handful of people were around and we could get some good, people-free shots. We caught the metro and jumped off to see the Dubai Frame and get a few photos. It was scorching hot outside and after a morning of sight-seeing and becoming thoroughly dehydrated despite gulping down water, we called quits on the sight-seeing and headed back to the hotel for lunch. The metro was now packed with midday commuters, mostly male migrant workers, so it was an interesting, slightly uncomfortable, experience getting back to the Mall which was our jumping off point. I’d highly recommend any female travellers use the women-only carriage wherever possible if you are not travelling with a male, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Having found a Virgin Megastore in the Mall, we treated ourselves to long-overdue Kindles. We spent the afternoon at the pool, setting up our new reading devices, and are now finally able to read the thousands of e-books we got our hands on while crossing the Pacific.
At sunset, we headed back to the Mall, with a stop at the food court to get some dinner of roast duck, noodles and veggies prior to making our way to the Dubai Fountain. Every night, the crowds get treated to a spectacular light and sound show, with the fountains and lights choreographed to a popular piece of music. We found a front row spot against the railing, directly opposite the Burj Khalifa, to watch the spectacle and it was so good, we stayed afterwards to watch another performance 30 minutes later. It was great being out in the evening, not only with it being cooler, but seeing the city lit up re-emphasized how glitzy and glamourous it is, with people dressed to the nines enjoying a dinner out and fancy cars and the odd limousine cruising the streets. Dubai must be the luxury-car epicenter – Ferrari, Porche, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Maserati, Lotus brands are commonplace.
With our last full day in Dubai upon us, we decided to take the metro down to Dubai marina, a precinct filled with luxury yachts and high-end apartment buildings. Dubai is well worth the visit if you are an aficionado of unusual architecture. There are some impressive structures in and around the area, showcasing unique and eye-catching designs, so the Burj Khalifa is not the only fancy building in town! After walking along the promenade admiring the skyline, we caught the tram to Jumeirah Palm gateway and found the monorail station to take us to Atlantis. The monorail took us smack down the middle of the so-called trunk of the palm and gave us good views of the prime residential lots on the “fronds”. We saw the original Atlantis, as well as the new Atlantis Royal hotel, another example of an architect’s dream becoming reality. We did take a walk along the seafront but there was nothing to see. Atlantis Aquapark is a waterpark on steroids, a great place for kids to expend their energy. We investigated going up in a tethered hot air balloon to get an aerial view of the palm however the wind was too strong, so no flights were available. After getting back to the “mainland” we contemplated going to the Burj al Arab, another iconic landmark, but there was no easy way to get there. We had by this time walked a fair few kilometres so decided to head back for an afternoon to be spent poolside. This was after all also meant to be a holiday!
On our checkout day, we had the full day to kill before our flight to Phuket later that night, so we made the call to take one last bus trip, this time to the beach. We thought we had the right stop, but when we checked with the bus driver, he said no way, he’ll tell us when to get off. We were travelling further and further away from where we thought the best beach was (according to Google) but after about another 10 stops or so the driver motioned to us that this was the place to alight. He had taken us to Jumeirah beach, a lovely seafront location, and one of the few public beaches. This is another thing that adds to the glamour and exclusivity that Dubai exudes – the Beach Club! The best beaches are all paid-for, private access establishments, with sun loungers, pools, spas and restaurants which is not our scene at all! Regardless, Jumeirah beach was humming with activity, with runners and cyclists sweating their way along the promenade, and plenty of people enjoying the warm water, including a big group of surfers taking advantage of the waves further up the beach. We bought some takeaway coffee, plonked our bums on the sand and just watched the goings on. It was a great way to calm my nerves prior to the flight later that evening, although we did have a slight hiccup trying to get back to the hotel, what with not having enough credit on our travel cards to board the bus! Thinking it was an easy recharge, we walked to the nearest petrol station only to find they don’t recharge cards, but only issue new ones! So now we have four souvenir travel cards from Dubai as a result! We whiled away the rest of the day next to the pool before making our way back to the airport that evening, a challenge trying to wedge ourselves, and our fully laden backpacks, into a metro carriage filled to the brim with people.
I think you either love Dubai or you hate it. We found it too glitzy and superficial for two people who crave a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle. Perhaps we would have enjoyed it more if we fully embraced the full tourist experience. Googling the Top 10 things to do in Dubai, most sites list the Burj Khalifa (tick), the Dubai Mall (tick), the Dubai Fountain (tick), the Palm Jumeirah (tick) but go on to list things like indoor skiing in the Mall of the Emirates (we left New Zealand to get away from the cold, why would we choose to go skiing?) and the desert experiences, like 4×4 safaris, sandboarding, skydiving, hot air ballooning, and camel rides. As our destination post-holiday is Australia, our thinking is we’d rather enjoy a hot air balloon ride over the Red Centre. And considering I’m not the biggest fan of being in a plane in the first instance, why would I ever choose to jump out of one?! We are very happy that we’ve added Dubai to our list of “been there”, but it is not a destination we would choose to go back to.