Moroccan aftertaste: A Dubai sojourn

A little bit of background

Dubai is somewhere I have stopped over in several times, flying with Emirates on the way to and from Europe. This post is about the one time I left the airport in 2007, on my way back from Morocco.

If you've read my Morocco post, you might remember that the original plan was for my travelling companion (B) to meet her friend (D) in Dubai on D's way back to Perth from Manchester. This original idea morphed into B and me travelling to Morocco and meeting D in Dubai as our stopover on the way home. We spent four full days in Dubai and I'm happy to have seen the city beyond the ginormous airport.

I've posted my reflections on my Dubai experience and what it meant to me at the end of this post.

Leaning into the surreal world of Dubai

The first part of our stay (the three of us) was spent in the luxurious Sheraton Hotel at Jumeirah Beach. The benefits of being the travel companion of a travel industry person! The hotel seemed rather sterile after the often-basic accommodations in Morocco. It was lovely to stay in such a flash place, but I think I preferred the humble authenticity of Morocco.

Anyway, the room was nice and the buffet meals incredible. The hotel has a gorgeous pool and its own private beach where guests can enjoy the warm waters 24/7. The temperature was well into the 40s Celsius when we arrived early in the morning and the water in the ocean felt like a warm bath. Needless to say, venturing outside was an exercise in perseverance. We are used to hot weather living in Brisbane but this was off-the-charts heat!

We dared to go outside during our time in Dubai and just about died in the process. One of our forays into the Dubai heat was to marvel at the Burj Al Arab, at the time one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. You can't get too close without a reservation, but there are some good accessible vantage points for photos. The below two 'up close' shots are about as good as it gets.

I've included the view from a nearby hotel and shopping mall as well (top left shot).

Travel tip: Mere mortals cannot get up close to the Burj, at least not when I visited in 2007. There is no entry to the hotel lobby unless you have a reservation and you can't even get close to the entrance without one. Our taxi driver took us as far as non-guests are allowed, as shown in the two photos above. The only way to see inside without a reservation is to pay for the tour up to the viewing platform. We decided against it, as sadly it wasn't worth it at that time of year. Why? The sand that blows in off the desert in summer sits in the air and makes it seem as if the city is blanketed in smog. I'd recommend skipping the viewing platform tour in summer.

Next we stumbled into the Madinat Jumeirah, a another swish hotel, in search of much-needed air-conditioning. The Burj can be seen from the outdoor area of the hotel (see above). The hotel had a Las Vegas vibe going on. Inside there were a bunch of shops set up like traditional Arabic souks. I'm not usually a shopper but I did spend a bit of money in the Madinat. There's stuff you can buy that feels traditionally Middle Eastern without being tat, and there are shops selling the usual luxury goods.

Travel tip: I live in a hot part of Australia, but the heat in Dubai threw me, even in early June. It was still in the mid 40s Celsius when we arrived in the middle of the night and the sea and hotel pool water were quite warm. There's hardly anyone outside in the heat of the day. Be prepared for indescribable heat if you travel in late spring and all through summer.

We also went to the Mall of the Emirates, which I think at the time was the largest shopping mall in the world. It had only opened two years earlier. The mall has over 600 shops and 100 restaurants and cafes. It's an odd mix of luxury stores and kitsch, as evidenced by the photos below of us next to a giant stuffed toy. I admit to giving into the kitsch, purchasing a pink camel stuffed toy and some little 'magic lamp' trinkets.

Another thing we saw outside the mall was a line up of very expensive sports cars while waiting for our taxi back to the hotel. There is so much wealth in Dubai that provides a stark contrast to the plethora of foreign workers in service jobs and manual labour roles on construction projects.

The main feature of the Mall of the Emirates is Ski Dubai, a giant indoor skiing facility. We had originally booked and paid for the full experience but when we got there, we realised you had to be able to ski (which I can't!) to use that ticket. We downgraded to a general entry and donned the provided ski gear to jump from overwhelming heat to overwhelming cold. The ticket we had meant we could have stayed all day but (i) it's too bloody cold to stay too long in there, and (ii) there aren't any toilets and my bladder can only hold out for so long. It's a weird experience because you're in the snow INSIDE a building. There's a huge glass wall at one end, so everyone in the shopping centre can see inside. It feels as if you're in a giant snow globe.

Ski Dubai is kind of cool. (See what I did there?) There are ice sculptures and an ice café and you can do that thing where you slide down a slope on a big rubber tube.

Travel tip: Don't make our mistake and purchase a full ticket unless you can ski. A general ticket will allow you to wander around for as long as you like. As noted above, however, there were no toilets at the time of our visit and pass outs were not issued. My tip is to plan your visit!

The highlight of our stopover in Dubai was the sand dune trip. It's so bizarre to be in this hugely modern city yet within a short distance, there is a desert. The driver who took us on the trip didn't seem to speak much English, or at least he wasn't one for communicating. We basically just followed his lead. We were picked up from our hotel, then he collected another couple from a different hotel, then drove like a bat out of hell through the city into the desert. He stopped at a service station to let the air out of the tyres in preparation for the dune trip and randomly, we stopped on the edge of the desert to meet a falcon.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a pathological fear of birds. We didn't seem to have any choice in the matter so there I found myself with the darn bird on my arm. I think the expression on my face says it all.

Travel tip: Don't let yourself be talked into the falcon experience if you are not into birds. Remember, too, that the tour guide will try to get you to pay for a photo with the falcon, so be prepared for that.

The dune trip was all kinds of crazy, and not just for the unexpected falcon encounter. The driver hardly said a word to us, just drove like a maniac around the sand dunes. I was equal parts excited and terrified at the same time. At one point, we stopped to help another group whose vehicle had gotten stuck in the sand.

Then a compound appeared out of nowhere and we just got out of the vehicle and just...I don't know...did stuff. The driver was no more communicative when we arrived at the compound than he was on the dunes, so we just hung around and went with the flow until we were instructed to get back into the land rover.

We had kebabs for dinner, had a henna tattoo done on our hands, and were treated to a belly dancing show. It was all a bit surreal. And I still have no idea how they generated power out there. The food was good and it was kind of cool getting the tattoo done. I bought a belly dancing outfit for my daughter at one of the stalls.

We transferred to a Radisson hotel in the city after D went home. The city centre is the older part of Dubai and not as flashy as Jumeirah Beach. Here's the view from our hotel room:

We wandered around the older part of the city, visited the Dubai Museum, and went for a lovely ride along Dubai Creek on a traditional abra. I liked the river outing - partly because I love rivers but also because we saw a nice mix of traditional and modern buildings.

We also did a half day tour to the neighbouring emirate, Sharjah. The place was similar to Dubai - an Islamic vibe, but kind of plastic, like it was made out of lego. We were the only ones on the tour that day so a guy just drove us around in his taxi.

It was interesting to learn about life in Dubai from the taxi driver, who was originally from India. He said lots of people come to the Emirates to make money to send home to their families. It's so expensive in Dubai that they often have to live in the other emirates and spend hours on their commute.

My Dubai experience

As a travel destination, Dubai is pretty easy to get around. Taxis are the best option and they're everywhere and very cheap. There's not all that much to do in the city apart from shopping, other than see the desert. I think you only need a couple of days in the city. I've experienced the heat, the luxury and the kitsch, and the Al Qudra desert and that's enough for me.

Dubai is a strange, surreal place. I can't imagine living there! Stepping into the ocean (and the hotel pool) and feeling the bath-like warmth of the water was a unique experience, as was poking around Ski Dubai as if I was in a giant snow globe. There's so much luxury in your face yet the poverty of the immigrant workers makes for a jarring perspective on the city.

The madcap dune trip, the traditional Islamic architecture blending with the modern structures, and the river trip were the highlights for me. Dubai is not high on my list of places to which I feel a strong connection. I did, however, spend more time in the sparkly airport on the way to Europe on future trips...