Experiencing The Near And Far: October 2015

Day Zero: Airplanes & Customs

One day of travel and three days of tourism later arrives my first blog post of this adventure! After a roller coaster of emotions ranging from exploding excitement to nervousness to disbelief, my aunt dropped me off at SFO and after a short layover in Atlanta, I was high in the sky over the Atlantic seated between two super interesting guys who were my buddies for the following 14 hours. I had prayed that I'd find myself next to someone who would want to share their life stories - and I lucked out! On on side, a man from the East Coast who did contract work in Afghanistan, and on the other a guy who works for Skydive Dubai. The latter and I chatted for practically the first two hours straight, which always makes a long flight shorter. Delta has free beer and wine on international flights, which also helped the minutes pass a little quicker. Side note: I haven't been on a flight that provides meals in a long time - theirs were pretty good! And they gave us three, so good job Delta.

Four movies and small naps later, we landed in Dubai...95 degrees Fahrenheit at 9pm. Getting off the plane was slightly confusing - and surprisingly it had nothing to do with language (English is alongside Arabic everywhere). Multiple arrows pointed different directions for baggage claim, so I used the old 'follow the crowd' technique to find customs. No need to go to baggage claim, after all, since I packed so little. At customs, it immediately became clear that I was no longer in the US. Men wearing long sleeved white gowns falling down to their ankles, called a Thobe, with white head dressings, called a Ghutra, guided travelers into lines and silence filled the room. I have never been to such a silent customs before. Temptation to take pictures was overpowered by unfamiliarity with what is acceptable, which turned out to be a good choice, as you are not to take pictures of the locals in their traditional dress. It is considered disrespectful.

I found my friend who is kindly hosting me and we headed to her home for and evening of catching up and several beverages on the porch. The nearest place to buy alcohol is over an hour drive away, so they stocked up for my arrival....

Day 1: Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, Dubai Aquarium

The next morning, we rose and geared up for our first busy day. My friend and I headed to the Dubai mall - the largest mall in the world. After walking around, you notice how grand and luxurious everything from the stores to the bathrooms to the fast food restaurants look. Next, you see that any chain store or restaurant you can think of from the US can be found inside this mall. My midwest friends might know Caribou Coffee - even this can be found at least three times. More than the traditional stores you'd find in an American malls, this one contains fountains, an aquarium, every luxury you can imagine, and an Olympic sized ice skating rink. We walked 6 miles and still didn't see everything.

After the best almond croissant I've ever had (thank you Caribou coffee), we made our way through the mall to the tallest building in the world: Burj Khalifa. Planned in 2003, breaking ground in 2004, and completed in 2010 (using 12,000 workers)- it definitely catches your eye from anywhere in Dubai. Burj means tower, and Khalifa is the name of the ruler in Abu Dhabi and president of UAE, in respect for the large amount of money borrowed. We learned more about the building's construction and meaning, while gazing at the city from 124 floors above.

Dubai is enormous - patches of buildings seem to pop out at random places in every direction forming "mini" cities within the city. Skyscrapers are not just skyscrapers - they are mega skyscrapers; so when I say "mini," there is nothing small about them. Forty years ago, apparently next to nothing was here, and it really feels that way. It feels very eclectic and random compared to the familiar big cities in the US where the tallest buildings are clustered together and get shorter as you get further away from the city center. The architecture is unbelievable as though each building attempts to stand out more than the others, be taller than the others, be shinier than the others. Each has a story to tell. It is bizarre and beautiful at the same time.

Back in the mall, we headed towards the aquarium and aquatic zoo. You walk through a tunnel below the 10,000 gallon tank and can see massive sea life all around you from sharks to giant sting rays. It is the 2nd largest tank in the world. Next we headed upstairs to a back-of-the-house tour of the aquarium - where they treat the water and sick animals, grow coral, and breed endangered sharks. You can feed the sharks, scuba dive in the top of the tank in a cage, or take a little boat ride on top of the tank, before exploring the Aquatic Zoo.

I wanted a traditional taste for lunch, so we made our way to the food court. My friend wanted me to try Biryani, so we sat down at a place called Hatam. We ordered a Chicken Biryani which is an Indian influenced dish with rice, capers, carrots or other assorted vegetables with and either chicken or lamb. Phyllo bread and a dish of pickled vegetables, walnuts, goat cheese, mint & basil leaves, and pitted olives arrived to the table shortly after ordering. We stopped at the right place because shortly after we ordered, the place was packed with locals, which you know is a good sign.

After a long day, jet lag set in. As much as I fought to stay awake to get acclimated to the time change, I lost the battle.

Day 2: Hop on Hop off BigBus

Today we boarded a hop on hop off bus, BigBus, a company you might recognize from tourist cities in the US. We had a 24 hour pass for the two of us and my friend's two kids. If you find yourself in Dubai and really want to see every stop that the BigBus offers, 24 hours is nowhere near enough. We knew this going into it that we'd have to prioritize our stops, so we mapped it out. We didn't quite make it there. The bus does not go very fast through traffic. Here's the break down of what we saw today:

Dubai Museum: old fort that was converted to a museum in the 80's. Displays show people used to live in the dessert and follows culture through the decades from weapons, to musical instruments, to schools. Tickets were free from the bus driver and definitely worth it!

Old Souk/Water Taxi/Gold Souk: a Souk is an open air market. To be honest, we walked right by the Old Souk, unknowingly. It had a large wooden entrance and looked fairly similar to the Gold Souk. We figured out that instead of getting back on the bus, take a water taxi across to the other side of the canal. The bus would take a long time to go around to the nearest crossover, whereas the taxi is cheap, quick, and a beautiful ride on a small wooden motorboat with a colored shade and takes you to the Gold Souk. This is a newer outdoor market with dozens of jewelry shops of gold and diamonds. Guys constantly approach you trying to lure you into your shop of purses/cashmere/watches/etc. Even after declining they will walk with you in attempt to change your mind.

Marina: Our last stop of the day took us to Pier 7 & the Marina Mall for a sunset cruise on the water. The BigBus tour includes a water cruise in two locations, so we caught this one per my friend's recommendations. It took us through the mega skyscrapers we looked upon the day before from Burj Khalifa. Then we went out into the Persian Gulf as the Sky Divers fell from the sky and the sun sank below the horizon. We arrived back at shore and walked along the Pier and found an Italian place to have dinner before heading home.

I'm glad we did the bus tour, but I would want to look into and read reviews on other bus tours if doing it again. The bus took a long time to get through traffic, which is beyond its control, but when you get off the bus to transfer to a new line, you have to wait up to 30 minutes for the next bus. Time seems to slip away pretty quickly. Also, even though they have a 5pm cruise in the marina, the last bus leaves at 5:45pm, so you have to take a taxi back to your car. So I guess my tip to you would be if you did take this bus tour, bring snacks to eat while waiting for the next bus and start as early as possible to hit as many stops as possible!

Overall, we had a great day and saw a ton. The bus provides headphones to hear a plethora of information while on the tour in 12 different language options. Every driver and attendant offered to help with the stroller for the kids or to give us any help we needed.

Ok - that is all for tonight. Such an exciting start to this chapter of my life!!