Check out a very few photos of Dubai here.
overall impression: What can you say about a place where the number one ranked attraction on TripAdvisor is a mall? Dubai is a sprawling city of tall skyscrapers, expats from everywhere imaginable, and yes, shopping malls. It’s a place where you can see women in full burqa holding ostentatious designer handbags as they browse through a lingerie store. The general cleanliness and orderliness of everything was a soothing contrast to our time in India, but it bordered on sterile. While we don’t regret checking the place out, we sure weren’t impressed either. We sum it up as, “a shrine to consumerism.” Move along folks, nothing to see here.
A day in Dubai: Morning on the Beach
what we did: We spent three days in Dubai on a stopover between India and Turkey. In that time, we took in the top attractions: we swam at the beach, gaped at the world’s tallest building, wandered around the two largest malls, went indoor snowboarding, and swam at our hotel pool.
And afternoon on the slopes
exchange rate: 1 USD = 3.6 UAE Dirham
the people: Incredibly diverse. Arab women in burqas; white women in tank tops; Indians everywhere; a gregarious Cambodian waiter who grew up in Thailand.
the food: We ate delicious Thai food twice (at our hotel) and Lebanese food once (at a mall). We have no idea what real Dubai-ites, if there is such a thing, eat.
Manuela // Jun 16, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Man, as someone who abhors shopping malls and casinos, Vegas, etc., I have no interest in visiting Dubai.