Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai’s warm climate, beautiful beaches, lively souks, and upscale modern luxury is what makes it so popular. It’s the financial hub of the Middle East and Asia and its location on the Persian Gulf is what attracts so much wealth and trade. Dubai’s modern skyline is home to the world’s tallest building, the stunning Burj Khalifa. Emirati cuisine is a fusion of Middle Eastern and Asian flavors. Fresh caught seafood is the staple of the Dubai diet, but lamb stews spiced with saffron, turmeric, and thyme are also popular. We are arrived by ship at about five in the morning, so when we woke up we ran to the window to look out. Rowan was amazed at how tall the Burj Khalifa was. We were so excited to get up, eat a quick breakfast and head off the ship. Wow what a difference from Oman, a traditional old city full of history to a glitzy and flashy new city. It’s exactly how people describe it. We started in Old Dubai at the Creek, a river that runs through the middle of the city. This is what Dubai was like when it was a small time trading and fishing port up until the 1950’s. We started at the Gold Souk, it was gold rather than oil that powered the economy of old Dubai and even today it generates enormous sums of cash. The Souk has quaint shops that are clustered around a main alley and then spill out into the surrounding streets. There is an ornately carved ceiling with gorgeous hanging lamps. The amount of gold in this place is staggering, it seems to be crammed into every single space and window! From here we easily made it to the spice Souk. Well we actually smelled it before we saw it. Just like the gold Souk, you navigate through narrow alleyways and all of them overflowing with herbs and spices beautifully arranged. Besides the spices there also other things like frankincense which you smell burning all over the place. The shops here are run by Iranian traders. They were very nice and spent a lot of time to explain all of the different mysterious spices. Coming out of the spice Souk, we were right at the edge of the creek and it was bustling with energy. Abra’s, old-fashioned wooden passenger ferries, goes back-and-forth across the creek. You see all types of people from Emirati’s in their flowing white robes to Pakistani day workers to tourists with cameras. Many Dhows still sail the Arabian Sea and go to neighboring Emirates, and over to Iran, Pakistan and India. So you see loading and unloading of so much cargo like strange things like washing machines to the more common contraband cigarettes. We took the elevated metro line down Sheik Zayed Road because it has a spectacular view of the massive skyscrapers, a real contrast to the Souk and the old part of the city we were just in. The Burj Khalifa is our next stop and you can’t miss that! It is the worlds tallest man-made structure and we are going up to have a high tea with a view of the whole city. Dubai is considered the tallest city on the planet with 20 of the world’s 100 highest buildings, and 4 more in Abu Dhabi. Other high-rise cities like New York and Hong Kong have 7 and 6 top 100 buildings each. When the Dubai World Trade Center opened in 1979 it was the tallest building in the Middle East, now it’s only at number 92 of Dubai’s top 100. The worlds fastest elevator whisked us up to the 124th floor in 45 seconds! You can see all of Dubai and the huge Skyscrapers we passed on Sheik Zayed Road, they actually look tiny from up here! Looking down you can see the beautiful Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa Lake. The fountains are similar to the show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas with colored lights and dancing water and music. We had a very nice High Tea at At.mosphere, the world’s highest restaurant. We spent a leisurely two hours over tasty finger sandwiches, scones, pastries, different teas and cocktails. All while gazing at the beautiful view. Just that kept the boys occupied the whole time. Of course we had to stop at the Dubai Mall, the largest mall on the planet. So many tax free high end designer stores, a full-size aquarium, a waterfall, Olympic size ice rink and a lot of other fun kids activities. It’s a tourist attraction in it’s own right!
