DUBAI

A GLIMPSE OF THE EMPIRE CITY IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

From visiting the most spectacular 'prehistoric monument of the world' in the UK known as STONEHENGE to a birds eye view from the tallest building ever built on this planet in Dubai, I guess you could say my travels have begun in a full swing. Dubai is offically the busiest, bustling, and the most touristy city you could venture to in the whole of the United Arab Emirates. From the moment my plane landed at the main International Airport I could sense the intense levels of humidity and the air smelled very sweet like candy and gave me the feeling that I had just entered into an area full of wealth and opportunity. Its said that 6 million people either live in this urban cosmopolitan city or just outside of it and its doesn't take long to notice that there is more money fueling this city than one could have ever expected. From the extensive looking buildings to the crazy amounts of rich vehicles, it's easy to conclude that most people residing in this area must be pretty well off. I imagined that everybody would be dressed in their typical Arabic clothing which includes a thobe (long robe) worn by the men with a ghutra (head scarf) over there heads and an egal (rope band which is usually black) but I was a bit disappointed to see very little of this as most people seemed to be dressed in very western style clothing and it seems a lot of western influence must have sunk in here pretty deep since the boom.

I arrived late in the evening the night before and so today was my first opportunity to set off and explore dubai and get my first taste of this rich city. I began my adventure by walking endlessly around with no real direction or idea of where at all I was going. This reminded me of a wonderful quote I've heard that: "If there's no planned outcome or destination, then you can't really ever get lost!" My tenative plan was to make my way to the coastline and walk along the beach till my legs couldn't take anymore and end up where ever the wind would blow me. Along the way, I was a bit thrown off my usual laid back carefree wandering because most of the beach access areas were closed off and the security guards would allow no entrance through the gates and seemed to have no reliable options as to where to go next! I swear none of the so called 'locals' here have the slightest clue of how to get anywhere around this city. To give you an example, I was at the marina and walking towards Burj al Arab and this hotel security guard told me it was atleast 30 minutes to walk there. I didn't really believe it was that far away as the shrunken map of the city made the distance from where I was and where I intended to go, look like it was merely just a hop, skip, and a jump away. So I questioned him on it and he then went on to tell me that it was in fact about 10 km away.. my only response was to let out a loud laugh and I told him if I ran the whole way at a marathon pace 10km would take me atleast 50 minutes which is almost double of his initial estimate. I came to the conclusion that most the people living in Dubai, or atleast the dozens of ones I talked to asking for help must really have a poor understanding of either time or distance, or perhaps both! Along my wandering, I did manage to see some cool sights and got a few incredible photos of the iconic Brug al Arab with the sun setting in the background.

In the afternoon I was just chilling on the main beach area called Jumeriah when I met two Arab guys that I offered to take a picture for them. After a brief chat and me telling them I was just a foreigner on a short stopover in Dubai, they offered to drive me to see one of the famous buildings Atlantis which was super cool and this building and many other gigantic hotels are all built on one of the many man made islands all over the coastline of the city area. After taking in Atlantis, they took me out for a nice Kabob-ji dinner and we had some sheesha and so it turned out to be a wonderful day and made some new friends along the way!

With all my previous travels, I was surprised to come to the realization that it taken me a good week and a half to get comfortable with the idea of being a backpacker again and get used to this helter skelter way of life. One thing I've noticed right away is this nomadic style of backpacking all over the world is such a far away dream world that when your back at home I think your mind plays tricks on you and is incredible how quickly you seem to forgot just how really amazing it is to get away and be free again!

Before my time expires in Dubai, I'm planning to do a big bus tour which takes you all over the city and you can buy a day pass to get on or off anywhere you would like and also book an elevator ride up Burj khalifa tower as my one expensive tourist thing to do here! This tower stands tall at over 800m and earns its recognition as the World's tallest building.

**Stay tuned for my blog next month once I get to my next destination: South Africa!