So I arrived in Dubai after a (delayed) overnight flight from Hong Kong at about 6:30am in the morning. First stop immigration, then duty free alcohol before heading out into the heat of the day.

My friend Emma pulled up in her convertible Peugeot and we were soon on the way back to her place. I was under the false impression she lived out in the suburbs, but was soon surprised to find myself on ‘The Palm Jumeriah’ – the artificial palm-shaped island. I was pretty exhausted and acclimatising to the heat again, so spent the day at her apartment sleeping before heading to the beach in the afternoon.

My first day in Dubai was actually my birthday, so we headed out that night for dinner, drinks and sheesha at Madinat Jumeirah.

Dubai is a huge city – and because it is relatively new and expanding at such a great rate all the tourist attractions are scattered over the city which makes it impossible to get around on foot and/or public transport. I caught a taxi up to the Atlantis Hotel and had a look around the public section. The hotel has it’s own waterpark, a monorail (which just takes you to the other end of the Palm and is more expensive than a taxi) and of course the huge fish tank in the centre of the hotel.

From the Atlantis I jumped aboard one of the infamous double decker tourist buses you see in practically every city these days. It was a good way to get around the city and see the sights without catching taxis everywhere.

First stop was the ‘Dubai Mall’ which is a huge shopping mall in the shadow of the ‘Burj Khalifa’ where you can find just about every luxury brand, as well as a quarter of the mall being dedicated to gold and jewellery stores.

I spent the rest of the day riding round the city on the bus, getting an appreciation of the layout and all the sights to see. I hopped off the bus at the docks in the old part of the town, by the river and walked past all the boats loading goods to ship to nearby countries. Everything was there – food products, white goods and about everything in between being loaded onto the family owned vessels to be shipped to neighbouring Arab countries.

That night I met Emma and we headed to the Burj Khalifa – the tallest tower in the world. Emma had made a booking for the observation deck and we headed up to the 124th floor which is a staggering 452 meters above the ground. To my surprise the observation deck has a terrace unlike most other tall buildings, and you can head outside to really appreciate the height.

There is a choreographed water fountain at the base of the tower and we went to watch one of the shows after our descent from the top.

The next day I finished my bus tour of Dubai – again getting on at Atlantis and heading to the other end of the city. I took a quick stop at the Dubai museum which talks about the (brief) history of the city and what it was like before all the development started. Afterwards, I walked up the side of the river and caught a tour boat up and down, watching the abra boats cross the river. In the afternoon I made my way back to the Palm, stopping to get some nice sunset photos along the way.

One of the things I really wanted to try in Dubai was indoor skiing. As tacky as it sounds, I wanted to see how realistic it was. Emma and I went to the mall, got our beaten up hire gear and hit the slopes. It was actually colder than I thought and it took me a while to realise why – no sun to warm you up. The slope was a consistent -3 degrees while it was more than 40 degrees outside. I was surprised at how decent the snow actually was – no icy patches on account of the fact there is no sun to melt it, but with only one and a half runs I got bored quickly. Still, I’m glad that I tried it.

In contrast to the skiing in the morning, the afternoon was a trip into the desert. 4wding thru the sand dunes followed by dinner in a desert camp. Another touristy trap, but it is impossible to avoid that in Dubai. The over confident driver we had got stuck on the crest of the first dune he drove over, but once out did a decent job at keeping us all entertained.

So the next day was my flight out. I said goodbye to Emma and her housemates before heading to the airport for my next Middle Eastern adventure. I enjoyed my time in ‘theme-park Dubai’. A crazy city full of people with way too much money and even crazier people willing to construct their crazy ideas – but definitely worth a visit.

This post is tagged Dubai, United Arab Emirates