Dubai // United Arab Emirates

Your main goal in Dubai is to either be rich, or at least to look like a rich person! Everything is super-superficial and it’s all about appearance. People seem to care only about themselves and don’t really pay attention to one another. Especially in the metro, they don’t consider other people at all. Women are even worse than man … They should really take Singapore as an example!

As I’ve already been sensitized in Cambodia of how to dress properly, I was used to wearing long clothes to cover myself. Many tourist girls wore tank tops and hot pants without any second thoughts! Sure, it was darned hot in Dubai, but I feel like it’s disrespectful to simply ignore a country’s culture like that.

When I walked down the street, I noticed how many more men there are in Dubai than women. The ratio was about 50:1. Crazy! Only days after I realized why: There are many workers from India, Pakistan, etc. … They come to Dubai to earn money for their families at home. The driver from the Desert Safari told me that he has to work for eleven months continuously before he gets one months off, to see his family again. He couldn’t even be at home for his daughter’s birth, which made me very sad too.

Additionally there are loads of Russians living and working in Dubai. They couldn’t really tell me why it is so fascinating for them to move here, but they just loved Dubai and its madness.

AL-FAHIDI

I chose to stay in the Gateway Hotel, close to Al-Fahidi! The perfect place with reasonably priced rooms and a veeery delicious breakfast buffet! smile

The historical district Al-Fahidi is full of creative spots, like the Mahaweb from beautiful people, which is an art studio for adults with special needs, or The Majlis Gallery, which describes itself as a haven for artists and art lovers!

THE DUBAI MALL

One thing to do in Dubai is to go shopping. You can spend hours and hours and hours wandering about one shop to another in these crazily huge malls. The Dubai Mall is one of the biggest malls worldwide. The mall madness is being completed by an indoor aquarium, an indoor funfair, an ice rink, a star roof … and more jaw-dropping gimmickry like the carousel!

DESERT SAFARI

This has been like the craziest rollercoaster rides ever! Together with some Russian peeps I was screaming and laughing and enjoying every minute of this wild off-road experience along the Arabian Desert! Surely, being a driver for the Royal Adventure Desert Safari must be some kind of dream job to many car enthusiasts out there! bigsmile

And: Happy me again got to tick off something from My Bucket List! smile

After some hours of driving and walking in the golden sand dunes, we arrived at a campsite, where they offered a buffet and additional (far too touristy) attractions: The camels didn’t seem too pleased walking in circles and shared their discomfort through awkward grumpy noises … Furthermore, I quickly regretted getting a free henna tattoo, when I experienced the missing accuracy of the artist … Next, there was a belly dancer, again Russian – and somehow still lost in the 80s. Sigh. neutral

Nonetheless it was a wonderful experience and I had a very interesting conversation with the Pakistani driver, who told me about his life in Dubai. Hearing his story made me sad and grateful at once, and I realized once more how lucky I am to travel and live this freely!

BURJ KHALIFA

On my final day of my 85 days traveling experience I decided to visit the world’s tallest building! smile Famous Burj Khalifa domintas Dubai’s skyline as it’s 828 meters and 163 levels high! High-speed elevators take you up to the observation deck on level 124 in 452 meters! Woah! There are different price categories throughout the day and it’s also possible to visit level 148 for the stiff price of 500 AED (= about 117 EUR)! surprised