Tuesday 30 July 2013

Life in Dubai | Should you Visit?


Dear Reader,

Today I delve yet again into the subject of Dubai. As a resident of seven years, I have had plenty of time to explore every nook and cranny of this ever-changing landscape. Unsurprisingly, this city never gets old and, as the number of tourists grow each year, so do the attractions - a plus for Dubai-dwellers. So, clearly, I am going to write this article from a perhaps-bias viewpoint by unleashing all the best attractions and treasures this metropolis has hidden under it's warm sands.

Weather

Tourists are so obvious around summer time. In fact, my friend and I enjoy 'tourist-spotting' when we go summer shopping. They always have wide-brimmed hats, huge sunglasses, shorts, tank-tops, and red skin because they come underestimating the intensity of the sun. Almost all of my relatives live in England, and from what I hear I can understand why cold-climate-country-citizens look upon Dubai with a sense of envy. However, with little to no cloud cover at all, and the dry desert heat, tourists flock to the beaches to soak up the sun, and end up scorched. My advice? If you're visiting in the summer, keep to the indoors and air-conned attractions and if you can't resist the beaches, take an early morning dip in the glistening sea and get back to the shade before midday.
 


 

Desert

Although Dubai advertises itself as the city of record-breaking skyscrapers, it's natural surroundings are just as awe-inspiring. Take a desert-safari if you really want to see the true beauty of the desert - another idea is to stay in a Bedouin-inspired camp where you can witness first-hand the culture and lifestyle that occupied these sands only 50 years back (furthermore, they might offer camel rides which, although bumpy, are great fun!). Although the water parks and tourist attractions can be thrilling with their high-speed slides and crazy heights, I find them a little too predictable and prefer something more dangerous and exhilarating such as being flung around in the passenger seat of a Jeep crashing through the mountains of sands - something we like to call Dune-Bashing.

Attractions

I'll start this section with the obvious tourist attractions - however I'm only writing about the ones I truly recommend. To start with, you haven't fully discovered Dubai until you stand more than 800m above the ground with only a sheet of glass separating you from a splat on the sidewalk. Ok, so it's not as scary as I'm making it sound but it truly is breath-taking. You get that on-top-of-the-world feeling as you stand on the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa - the worlds' tallest building. Another great attraction is the indoor ski-slope. You may be thinking, I've come to Dubai for the sun, not the snow, but trust me when I say it's quite an out-of-this-world experience to ski in a desert. It takes a brief five minutes to transfer from a sweltering sidewalk to a snowy ski-slope and it takes even longer for your brain to logically explain the situation to your sweaty yet shivering body. Finally, as I mentioned in my previous post, you should definitely take a walk around the Souks in Old Dubai. You can visit the Gold Souk, Fish Souk, Spice Souk, Textile Souk, or anything your heart desires! It's a colourful, and sense-filling experience, and quite different (and less pricey) from the colossal shopping malls that Dubai is so famous for.


So, dear reader, it's up to you whether you want to visit. But keep in mind that, if you do come, there's more to Dubai than shopping and sun-tans.

Izzy ♥ - Life, Love, Laughter

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