Our Around the World Trip!: HOT, HOT, HOT Dubai

We had no idea what to expect or do as the only thing the two of us knew about Dubai, was that it was very expensive and I had seen the “Burj Al Arab” from an architectural magazine some time ago. With that information, we deplaned to a warm or should I say a “HOT, HOT” welcome by the 42 degrees sun shine. We reached the tourist information desk only to find it unoccupied. With no other lead we turned to a hotel booking office in the airport, where they only book 3 to 5 star hotels… Yeah this was going to be real cheap. Maybe one of the many men dressed in their traditional attire strolling around would adopt us for the week that we were to spend here. Unfortunately that did not happen.

We reluctantly asked the hotel reservation desk to see what type of accommodation they had and to our surprise they had some at a reasonable price of $50 CDN for a night. Now this was still way out of our budget, but we decided to book with them for the night and then see what else we could find. As it turned out, it was the best deal in town and we were lucky to have booked there, as the walk in rate was about two and half times as much. So we booked with the Panorama Hotel in Deira for the remainder of our trip which included a continental breakfast. The hotel was in a great location, within walking distance to the old city center where the spice and gold souq (markest) were found, along with some museums and old heritage homes which were open to the public.

We spent quite a bit of time wandering through these areas at night to escape the heat of the day. However on our second day there we decided to visit the Jumeirah Mosque to try and understand a little more about the people of Dubai. There we learnt quite a bit about the culture. We were surprised to find out that the Muslim community only makes up about 20% of population in the United Arab Emirates, and that this nation has only been in existence since 1971. While Islam is a dominate religion here, other religions such as Hinduism and Christianity (Anglican and Protestant) also flourishes here. Despite this fact, Dubai’s culture is shaped by the Islamic tradition of Arabia, which believes that there is only one God (Allah) and that Prophet Mohammed is the final messenger. They lead their lives in accordance with the Koran, with the five pillars being the main duties. These include: confirmation of faith, praying five times a day to Allah, fasting, charity and making the pilgrimage to Mecca (which is believed to be the location where god created Adam and Eve - current day Saudi Arabia). All mosques throughout the world are designed to face Mecca. The people are extremely devoted to their beliefs and throughout our visit to Dubai; we often heard the call to prayer 3 times a day. Speakers adorn on minarets resonate the city at dawn, noon and dusk. The time of these prayers varies throughout the year as dawn, noon and dusk changes with the location of the sun.

The food in Dubai was good but there is one restaurant very close to our restaurant that we would highly recommend to anyone who is planning a visit to Dubai. We ate here for dinner twice and both times all of the dishes we had were magnificent. Not only were the portions huge but the price was very reasonable. The restaurant is ‘Karachi Darbar Restaurant’ and is found on the corner of Omar Bin Al Khattab Road & Al Nakhal Street. Definitely a place we will visit again on our next trip to Dubai.

Mmm… lunch

Gold Souq

Spice Souq

On an abra (water taxi) to see some cool buildings

Where you going?

Deira… Old Dubai

Mosque and shops on the creek

Jumeirah Mosque

Grand mosque by the creek

Traditional home

Deira or Old Dubai is well established and has a great local life. Newer developments are taking place in other parts of the city whether it is on sand or sea. Much of the economic growth and infrastructure of Dubai has been created by the oil revenue and thus it is Dubia’s #1 industry. Some parts of the city look like a false creek on steroids, as plans for bigger, higher and grander skyscrapers are seen everywhere. They are proposing to create over 300 man made islands for commercial and residential towers, as well as the tallest building in the world, and the first ever underwater hotel, to top off the 7 star hotel (Burj Al Arab) that they currently have here along with the huge Mall of the Emirates which has a ski resort within it, yes, you read right, a ski resort where locals can ski and snowboard. Much of the city is under construction, so there was not much to see in terms of the number of magnificent buildings, but I can only image what Dubai will be like in 5 years time when all of the buildings are to be completed. Definitely worth a second visit. We depart Asia with so many wonderful memories and can not wait to see some of Europe! Anyone else want to join us?