12 hours in Dubai ~
Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates, has been gaining popularity as one of the top listed travel destinations for some years now. It has everyone talking about the city. In fact, Dubai will have a world expo in 2020 to showcase what it has accomplished. I finally hopped on the bandwagon to see what all the fuss was about, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Now, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to experience this place in such a short period as I did, because there are so many things to do, but when you have a 12-hour layover, you take what you can get, and I have to say, my cousin, Tarni and I accomplished a lot. I’ve always heard you can do short day tours in Dubai, so I deliberately booked my layover there before our tour of Southeast Asia.
We both arrived around 7:30 am. We had a private tour guide named Ravi with a company called, Fun Tours. He was great, and I highly recommend him if you need a guide for your visit. Our itinerary was packed with fun-filled things to do and see. We went to many shopping areas: The Dubai Mall, which has a large fountain, an aquarium, and an ice skating rink amongst many other things inside. It is considered one of the largest malls in the world. The Souk Al Bahar and Souk Madinat Jumeirah, which are shopping malls with a more traditional Middle Eastern style, were really cool. All of these places had much to choose from, but if that is not enough for you, they have plenty more places to shop. I heard you can ski if you want to at the Mall of Emirates. Unbelievable, I know!
Take a look at the rest of what we did below!
Dubai Airport
The Dubai Mall
The Souk Al Bahar
Tarni and I
The Souk Madinat Jumeirah
We also saw the Burj Khalifa, and it’s certainly a site to see in person, but we didn’t get an opportunity to go inside because of time and having to book tickets. They are building another record-breaking skyscraper called “The Tower” that will be taller than the Khalifa. It will be completed before the expo. That is another thing I noticed while visiting Dubai; construction is going on everywhere preparing for that big event.
Burj Khalifa
Dubai Frame
All Gold Horse Statues
Some other places to visit that was on our itinerary is the Za’abeel Palace, where the ruler of Dubai stays. It looks like a lovely palace from what I saw, but you can’t see most of it because you are only allowed to go to a certain point to take pictures; however, I feel it’s still a place you should see. There’s also the Dubai Museum. I would recommend everyone to go. It gives you a brief history of Dubai that is very enlightening. If you are into gold, then there is tons of it at the Gold Souk! It would be a wise decision to buy some. You can bargain for low prices!
Za’ abeel Palace
Dubai Museum
Gold Souk (Market)
World’s Largest Gold Ring
We got to dip our feet into the Jumeirah Beach that was right next to the famous luxurious seven-star hotel, Burj Al Arab. A one night stay there can range from $1000 and up. We also visited the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island that has luxury apartments, restaurants, and glitzy hotels, such as Atlantis, The Palm.
Jumeirah Beach
Burj Al Arab (On Right Side)
Atlantis,The Palm
Last but not least, we did the Desert Safari with dune bashing! O.m.g!!!!!! It was adventurous, exciting, and scary all at the same time, but I must warn for anyone that is susceptible to motion sickness, take some medicine before doing this activity. I experienced it a little myself during the ride.
Just seeing the limitless hills of sand and watching the sunset was mesmerizing! I could sit there for days staring at all of its openness if it wasn’t for all the other factors that can lead to death when staying in the desert! Haha! It was amazing nonetheless. You know I had to do a mini photo shoot which gave me memorable photos for a lifetime! We ended our tour with night entertainment, which included performers dancing, food, and henna tattoos. Then, we were taken back to the airport for our flight to Thailand. Talk about a short, incredible tour! I loved it!
Desert Safari
Our Tour Guide, Ravi
Even though Dubai is a predominantly Muslim, conservative city, they are very relaxed with certain things compare to other cities of similar nature, but that doesn’t give you the green light to act a fool. It is highly imperative that you study the culture and rules of Dubai before going, so you don’t get yourself into trouble, especially women. This city is on the rise and is reinventing itself every day, so things change quickly. Just make sure to keep updated. I surely want to go back. You can count me in for the 2020 World Expo! See you then Dubai! Shukraan!!!! (Thank you)
It may be sooner than that with the gold prices you have over there! Haha!
