Dubai : An Oasis of Superlatives

Tripoto
15th Sep 2018
Photo of Dubai : An Oasis of Superlatives by Amin Ud Din Shroff
Day 1

Dubai is located on the Eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, in the south west corner of the Arabian Gulf. It is extremely well known for its warm hospitality and rich cultural heritage, and the Emirati people are welcoming and generous in their approach to visitors. With year-round sunshine, intriguing deserts, beautiful beaches, luxurious hotels and shopping malls, fascinating heritage attractions and a thriving business community, Dubai receives millions of leisure and business visitors each year from around the world.

The local currency is the dirham, which is pegged at AED 1 to 18 Indian National Rupee. Dubai is tolerant and cosmopolitan and all visitors are welcome. However, Islam is a way of life in the city, and therefore tourists should adopt a certain level of cultural and religious sensitivity for the duration of their stay.

Our shoestring budget flight was Indigo which dropped us at Sharjah as a point of entry. Ensure you have a visa prior flying to Dubai since all the Indian Nationals require a valid tourist visa along with a passport to enter the Emirates region.

We took an internal shuttle which dropped us at DXB airport. The roads were smooth as butter but damn Dubai is hot throughout the year. There is a lot of construction work anytime of the year everywhere. The uniqueness of Dubai was no two buildings have used a same architectural form. This is an oasis for all the architects and civil engineers.

We enjoyed our early afternoon walk to Palm strip & covered the Grand Jumeirah Mosque. It was breath taking experience interacting with the locals and exploring the history of the Dubai.

The metro here is beautiful and well connected through out the city. Taxis do play a major role to commute compared to the buses. They are priced fairly at 10 AED as a starting reading and calculated as per your travel time and km. We also walked through Palm Atlantis and had a costliest shawarma ever in my life priced at INR 2500.

Day 2

After a tiring and exhausting Day 1, we packed plenty of water in our backpacks and hit the roads straight to Dubai Creek. Dubai Creek (Arabic: خور دبي‎, translit. Khor Dubai) is a saltwater creek located in DubaiUnited Arab Emirates(UAE). Previously it extended to Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary but as part of the new Dubai canal it extends through to the Persian Gulf. Some sources say that the creek extended as far inland as Al Ain, and that the Ancient Greeks called it River Zara.

It was a beautiful experience getting a boat ride across the river. This is more of a market place with lot of sellers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Do not buy from them unless you are a good negotiator because everything is priced high. The markets here are called Souks. My wife bought a London Topaz which burnt my pockets and it blew my mind away with it's radiance.

Gold is comparatively cheap since there are no taxes applicable at the stores. We headed our way to Burj Khalifa. What a beauty you see. It just took my breath away with it's massive infrastructure. While we headed through our way to the top, the lift took 3 minutes to reach at 120th floor. We stopped by to see Dubai Fountain in the evening. Loved the people gathering with families. No doubt Dubai is called the City of Superlatives.