Dubai in 10 hours!

Making the most of 10 hours we had in this man-made marvel. We were basically travelling to Europe by Emirates which is a UAE based airline and we had a layover in Dubai for 10 hours. Just days before our departure after we had made all the bookings for Europe, we thought why not check out Dubai in these 10 hours rather than sitting at the airport. Thankfully, Indians can apply for E-visa for Dubai and you get their visas in a matter of 2 days. Link to the application is here:https://www.dubaivisa.net/india/

A new country, a new experience, the moment you land in a new place you can feel its vibe. We usually have preconceived notions about every place in the world which is mostly based on what we have heard, read or seen in the movies. But its only when you experience the place yourself, you get the clarity. Dubai was once such place for me.

One of the seven emirates, Dubai is actually a man-made marvel. Walking out of the airport I noticed the structural and architectural beauty it adorns. Just 2.5 hours on a flight from Mumbai, and you see a different world altogether.

We visited during the holy month of Ramadan Kareem, the entire city was lit and you could feel the sense of festivity there. We were handed over a pack of dates and water by a volunteer group during the iftaar time, such a humble gesture by the people here!

We were not carrying UAE Dirhams with us so we converted some cash at the airport and we got a fairly good rate.

So my Husband and I had already decided that we will first visit Burj Khalifa- the tallest structure in the world. The metro station was right outside the Airport and we bought 2 return tickets worth 20 AED. The metro connectivity from the airport was so good and the directions were pretty clear that we did not have to worry at all. It took us around 20 mins from Terminal 3 to reach the Burj Khalifa/ Dubai Mall stop.

Looking out of the metro, all you could see is huge sky scrapers, every other building was quite unique and extremely tall, the Emirates towers, Emaar properties its spread throughout.It looked very sophisticated and clean.

The Dubai mall is directly connected from the metro through a sky walk but we opted to get down and take the road. The road leads you to the back side of Burj Khalifa which is not at all crowded, you can enjoy the beautiful fountains dancing there in the evening.

Since the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa are interconnected, we got inside the mall from the back entry. Well you would have read before that Dubai mall is so huge that you can not finish checking out all the stores in a day and of course it is true...it is too big, you can only get lost there and you definitely need a map in hand and a clear idea of where you want to go first in order to go in the right direction.

We first went towards the exit which led to the promenade. This area has a beautiful fountain show for 5 mins every half an hour after 6 pm. These fountains are designed by the same person who did the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas. Around a huge artificial lake you have multiple places to hangout.

We spotted a place which was serving hookah and how could you miss that opportunity when we were there for such a short time. If you are sheesha lover you can feel the quality difference, it was the best we have had so far. The restaurant where we sat was Zahr-el laymoon where we also had dinner. The hummus with cauliflower and chili along with sheesha and open seating was a memorable experience for us.

After having a good time at the restaurant we went to see the fountain show. It is very relaxing to watch the dancing fountains and to see them sync with the music. My words will not do justice to how good this fountain show was. Probably have a look at video which also played one of our favorite songs. The link to my video on YouTube is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWjdY0nrgbU

After watching the splendid show we headed back to the mall. We had our connecting flight to Paris in 3 hours and before heading to the Airport we had to buy some souvenirs for us. We shopped and took the sky walk to the nearest metro station to get to the Airport.

These few hours in Dubai were exciting, interesting and a memorable experience for my Husband and I. We hope to visit here again probably during one of our layovers when we travel to the west.