Visiting Dubai

Dubai has fascinated me for many years, and it turned out to be quite different from what I had imagined. I had thought of it as quaint back streets, full of souks, with camels everywhere, and baking hot. In other words that Dubai would be quite old fashioned, and so I got a major surprise when I got there.

Firstly how westernised the airport was, so that although I knew I was in the Middle East, because of the few people dressed in traditional garb, apart from that all international airports are much like each other. It took the lack of bacon at my first breakfast to make me realise I was in an Islamic country.

There are mosques all over the place in Dubai, and the calls to prayer all sound different, but I discovered they all in fact are saying the same things. Praying need not be in a mosque but the first prayer must be carried out before sunrise.

In so far as shopping, visiting banks etc you need to get used to a different way of life. There seems to be quite early opening, then a four hour closure in the middle of the day, followed by opening until quite late in the evening. Local shops in fact open quite late.

I found it quite strange to see a man in traditional arab dress climb into a Mercedes, and ladies covered from head to foot, suddenly uncovering a mobile phone, and speaking on it.

We were visiting the gold souk in the evening, and it got quite late, but we never in any way ever felt threatened, the only problem my wife had were the toilets. She had to use a squatting toilet, the hole in the ground variety, and the smell almost made her vomit. If caught short, find a western hotel seems to be the answer!!

Beware of the heat of the sun, because it is a dry heat it can be a lot hotter than you think, especially around a hotel pool, or walking around, so you must use a high factor sun cream or you will get burned.

You must go on one of the small boats that cross the creek, I think they are called Abra, it is very cheap, and an essential part of any visit to Dubai, or you can rent a boat for half an hour and go up and down the creek. It is one of the ‘must do' things in Dubai, as is a visit to The Gold Souk.
If you have never seen literally dozens and dozens of gold shops lining both sides of a street, all apparently selling identical wares, rings, necklaces and bracelets with no prices shown, it all comes as a bit of a shock!!

Prices are utterly dependent on weight, the current price of gold, and your ability to bargain!! Just don't accept the first price whatever you do, and for the European the gold being so pure, at least 18 carat, the color is a bit garish.

You will probably choose a beach hotel, if you are wise, but beware of the amount of building that is going on, both on shore and off shore, and the noise and dust. Some of the hotels aren't as isolated as they appear in the brochures!! The hotel beaches are immaculate, and the water amazingly clean and clear, but you do have to go a bit out of town to the likes of the Jumeirah Beach.

Other things to do include The Wild Wadi Water Park, and trips into the desert, and of course the shopping, because prices here are very reasonable compared to home.

In conclusion Dubai is the ideal place to combine a city holiday with a beach holiday, and has pretty guaranteed sunshine. I wouldn't come for two weeks but 8-10 days would be ideal.