10 Days in Dubai as a Tourist

I visited Dubai in December 2018. It was my first visit to Dubai and so every experience and place was new and exciting. I will share the photos and snippets about the places I visited and the food there. 

The places we visited and activities we did were Garden Glow, Burj Khalifa, Crab Hunting in Flamingo Resort, Creek Park Barbeque, Buggy Quad bike riding, Mamzar Beach, Global Village, Desert Safari, Dubai Frame, Dubai Underwater Aquarium, Dubai Canal, Burj Al Arab, and Dubai Miracle Garden.

The desert safari is done in a jeep that is driven by an Arab man in thobe or arab robes. The ride on the dunes is fun and the sideway drive on the slopes is more scary than the up and down drives in the dunes. In the same area they have camel riding and belly dancing. To watch the belly dance, people sit on the sand around the stage and there are short benches in front of them. Buffet is available and you can eat food and watch the belly dancers and fire show. In the same area you can also a click a photo with a Falcon. You can get glass sand art work done and also wear the abaya and take a photo.

Camel Ride

Belly Dancing

Seated around the stage

Sand Art in progress

Pose with Falcon

Garden Glow was an entire garden made with large structures of colourful lights that had large flowers, fountains, animals that glow, and insects. They also have a Dino park inside that has artificial dinosaurs both big and small. The dinosaurs move a little and make sounds. There are pedestals on which you can stand and touch the dinosaurs. There are also dinosaur eggs and children stand inside the egg for photos. The same venue also had an ice park where different animals made out of ice were found. They give a jacket with a hood to protect us from the chillness.

In Ice Park

Dino Park

Crab hunting in Flamingo resort is a must do activity that I recommend to do at Dubai. We have to wear special big boot shoes and float jackets before we get inside the water. In the night they take us on a boat to the interior areas of the lagoon where there are many crabs. The ride in the water under the moon is very pleasant. The flying fish jump about in the water. When we reach the area where there are many crabs the boatman gives us a spear. We can get inside the water, walk around with a torch, and catch crabs with the spear. Sometimes even one person catches around 14 crabs. But we were not that lucky as the three places we went around did not have enough crabs. Later, we have a buffet dinner inside the hotel and they cook the crabs we catch and serve us. It was a truly unique experience.

Hunting for Crabs

The buggy or quad bike riding was fun as you ride on a four wheeler bike on the sand dunes. Coming down the dunes after you climb up is a really thrilling experience.

Dubai Canal has a waterfall which falls from the bridge over the canal. The water glows with a pink or blue coloured light. When a boat is about to go under the bridge, the water parts away and gives place for the boat to go through. Once the boat goes away the waterfall again comes back to its original full version. Next we saw the Burj Al Arab from the outside. Dubai is a city of lights and the main feature of every building are the lights that keep changing colour.

Dubai Canal

Parts way for a boat to pass

Closes again

Burj Al Arab

The Creek Park near a beach has a widespread of mowed grass. Families come with folding chairs and party in the park. They have small pits to keep the barbeque equipment or the stand. You also need to take the coal for the barbecue. Once you set up the equipment you are ready to cook the meat. In the beach nearby there are lot of boats decorated with lights that pass by. Children can ride the bikes they have there around the park. 

View from the Park

The Dubai Underwater aquarium in the Dubai mall was exciting as you walk inside a tunnel and different fishes swim around you. There are other tubs with different variety of fishes and also a zoo with animals like otter, penguin etc.

Underwater Tunnel

Lemon Cichlid Fish

Global village is an exhibition area where there are stalls from countries all over the world. There you get the things, clothes, and food from all over the world. Global Village is a nice place for shopping. There was a floating market too.

Chairs

We visited the Burj Khalifa, the architectural wonder and world’s tallest building. We had to go to the At the Top observatory in the 124^th floor. I think the lift reached At the Top within few seconds. There is a display which shows the time taken for the lift to go to At the Top. At the top is a hall that has transparent glass walls. People take a view of the land below from there. Most of the places you see from top have a yellow and gray hue as there are predominantly buildings and sand beneath. There are big artificial butterfly wings. People stand in between the wings, take a photo, and then tweet it. As in other places they sell souvenirs and they also have a rest room at the top.

View from Burj Khalifa

Mamzar beach is a standstill beach with a thin strip of sand. There are no tides. There are cement benches to sit and lot of date trees in the vicinity. There is a restaurant near the beach. It is a nice place to go for a morning walk.

Mamzar Beach

Date Trees

We looked at the Dubai Frame from outside. It is a new structure which divides new Dubai from old Dubai. The lights change colour and it is a real challenge to take a photo with the full building in view.

Dubai Frame

We attended the Christmas prayer at Fellowship of Emirates service. The service was filled with music, video, and lights. The very large hall was filled with people from different parts of the world.

Talking about food, the first Dubai delicacy I tasted was the Dates Pickle. Then the Tabbouleh salad is very famous in all the eatouts. Then you have the Kappa Biryani which is a biryani made with tapioca and beef. Then you have the dates chocolates which have a date with an almond inside and there is a layer of chocolate on the date. Malls also sell fresh extra large date fruits which are very soft and tasty. Kunafeh is another Arabian sweet that tasted like a cheesecake with a layer of sugar/caramel on top. 

Tabbouleh

Veg pickles

Dates Chocolate

The souvenirs they sell in the shops include camels, Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, magnets, and hand mirrors with Dubai logo.

Souvenir

The main malls are the Dubai mall and Emirates mall were they house world brand shops such as Debenhams and Victoria’s secrets. The other malls have everything under a roof. They have fruits and vegetables from all around the world and all of them are extra large in size.

The year 2018 was the Year of Zayad the Sheikh. So there were large hoardings of the sheikh in many places in the city.

The Dubai Miracle garden is a visual treat. You can click here to read about the Miracle Garden post in my blog.

Returned to India by Emirates flight. I love Dubai :)

Emirate Flight Boarding

Yes, I do :)