Travel Diary: DUBAI - The Full Experience
Dear my lovely Steemians,
I am back with content, finally! This month has been not only extremely busy, but full of new experiences, interesting adventures, fun and exciting news I cannot wait to share with you as soon as I'm allowed to. I am challenging myself to be more active again, sometimes in form of a photo-gallery. I will do my best to share a lot with you, but I truly believe in:
Quality over everything! So when I don't have the time, I rather do it later than rushed. Also, please let me know what content you enjoyed reading the most, or feel free to share content suggestions.
In my last post I already shared that I love doing recaps of my travel experiences and I shared with you my first trip to London. Now from London, I flew directly toooooo....
DUBAI!
And I have to say it was definitely one of my favorite trips. Even though it was mainly a business trip, I had a lot of fun, got to meet some very amazingly inspiring people, learned a lot about the city Dubai and made new friends.
In this post I want to share with you some impressions, experiences, the food, the people, places and all the fun!
The Hotel: During the trip I stayed at two Hotels 1. Sheraton and 2. H-hotel and for anybody who's planning on going to Dubai and is just as obsessed with interior and especially marble design, I definitely recommend the Sheraton (also slightly less expensive). Not only is the interior design to die for...
but it was an overall amazing experience. The view, every morning at breakfast in the club lounge was just amazing. The staff was also very friendly and even the guests were mainly very "easy going" and I had a conversation with somebody new every day.
The Club Lounge - Breakfast View:
Also there was the most relaxing spa I've ever been to, where I could for the first time in months just shut off and rejuvenate!
Shortly after I arrived I was joined by my good friend, business partner and your favorite Steemian, besides me (am I joking though?) @sirwinchester !
We explored Dubai for a whole day. The city is magical, everything is brand new and you can witness the development, because it is so rapid (overnight) which is an incredible experience!
One of the best parts, was meeting new friends, business partner and getting to know the "local side" of Dubai instead of just doing the tourist plan. Thanks to our friend on the picture below, our trip turned out very enriched in every aspect! But more about that later on...
As you can assume we also went to the famous Dubai Mall! where I experienced a "culture clash situation". I would love to hear your opinion on this topic, as it is a highly subjective matter. Even though I am a feminist (believe in equal rights for men and women) and I am a tourist from Germany visiting Dubai, I am also aware of and educated about the cultural differences, concerning women and women rights. I may not agree with rules, views and parts of the culture of a country, but certainly respect it. So in my mind I am thinking "I am going to wear something that I feel comfortable in, that covers what I want to cover and no colors, because I don't want to draw attention to me, but at the same time this is a tourist place, so it will be ok to wear what I was wearing..." apparently not.. (also I covered my neckline)
I don't want to get deep into the topic and share my entire opinion, but here is what happened: I am walking around the mall like in the picture and I can say that from what I saw, all local women were fully covered, women from Saudia Arabia heavier than local women, however it was ok for tourists (blonde hair and light eyes) to wear shoulder-less tops and hot pants. Now there is me, dark hair, brown eyes and wearing a romper at 20+ degrees. I am not sure if the following happened, because the officer at the mall assumed I was muslim or because the romper in combination with heels was too much. But anyway I got handed this ticket:
Hmmm.. at first I have to admit it made me angry and sad, but it was a great learning experience (and might be fun to make copies off and hand it to girls at clubs in Germany).. jk..
Let me know what you think in the comment section! Anyway, moving on....
Outside of the mall is the stunning BURJ KHALIFA! The world's tallest building (doesn't even fit fully on the picture)
The next time I went I respected their policy and dressed "appropriate"
We had a lovely dinner dinner at the harbor:
Oh and the food in general is seriously SO good I can't even put it into words.. just take a look:
If you are planning on visiting Dubai, you CANNOT and I repeat CANNOT LEAVE, without having stopped at a place called "Karamna" where I had the most delicious dessert ever! It was so good, we had to re-order it. The place is just outside of the Dubai Mall and is a hookah lounge / restaurant
Another "must visit" spot in Dubai is: ATLANTIS, THE PALM - a fascinating underground Aquarium!
And finally, my personal highlight of the entire trip:
THE DESERT!
We got invited by our new friend (the one in the picture before) to get the full local experience, so he organized a day in the desert for us: Sand duning - Quad biking - Overcoming the fear of holding a bird - Dinner in the desert with a fire pit - Laying on the top of a dune in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert under the brightest sky full of stars, living in the moment, loving life!
Overall it was a very successful trip in every way, as I mentioned earlier and I highly recommend to put Dubai on your travel-bucket-list!
That's it for now about my Dubai experience. More posts about Dubai, also their regulations on cryptocurrency and involvement in fintech will follow soon.. I hope you enjoyed the diary entry!
Much love,
- Mrs.Steemit
Though not a fan of cities whatsoever, this place has been attracting my attention for many years now and I must admit, the food out there looked decadently good! Yummmm! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, I especially loved seeing you holding what i am assuming to be a hawk, when you went to the desert? It was a magnificent picture! Thanks for that too.
Safe travels, keep your smile and taking good care, namaste :)
Yes Dubai is more than just a city. The desert is incredible and if I had stayed a view more days would have also gone to the mountains (tip from locals). Thanks for your support, it is much appreciated!
Great article with food for thought.
I personally believe that the freedom of the individual is a precious good. So in general I have problems with strict dressing codes and similar restrictions. I respect it if a woman really want to dress traditionally, maybe with headscarf or even more mantling but she should never be forced to do that. Of course that is valid also in the reversed situation: I think Muslim women should have the right to dress traditionally also in western countries (that is part of the individual freedom as well to decide for oneself).
Another aspect which can be discussed controversial is the "respect" for the "culture" or "rules" of a country. Of course I understand the idea that as a guest one should not go anywhere and behave like a "bull in a china shop" ... But lets talk for example about a country like Iran: I know that many Iranian women really hate the strict dress code in their own country. Am I really doing them a favor if I "respect" the "rules" and the "culture" of their government which are not really the rules and the culture of the people? (At least not of the more modern part of the population which is really numerous in big cities like Tehran?)
Interesting point of view. Thanks for sharing!
I agree on the "freedom of the individual" and also that we don't actually know what/who we are supporting when "respecting" those kind of rules.
You got very lucky simply receiving a warning in the mall. Usually, they will simply throw to jail and it's very hard to fight there. As much as I love dressing shorts, I suppose i will have to bend to their rules and dress a blanket as a dress LOl
OMG, jail!? really?
I don't know how far they would really go, especially because it is a tourist place and like mentioned I saw other girls not "fully covered". I would love to know the facts, what is allowed and what is tolerated and what isn't at all. But you are definitely on the safe side with a blanket as a dress :D
lol re the 'respectful ticket'... do men get this too if they wear disrespectfully? I guess not.
thank you for sharing! It's really useful for me as I might go to dubai for flight transfer and a short stop next month!
by the way, recently I just learn that Dubai is very ambitious in exploring the blockchain technology and seeks to use it widely. I am just curious if your business there has anything to do with this. and if it does, hopefully we can see you sharing experiences in this regard. :)
I assume there is no ticket for men, which is what bothered me.. maybe they should give out a handbook with "rules" so that tourists aren't confused and know the facts.
Interesting point and since you asked, yes the business trip had to do with a blockchain project. I will share this here on Steemit as soon as I can :)
na endlich wieder @mrs.steemit - Deine Beiträge sind wichtig hier auch um die Platform zu promoten - #Dubai ist auf meiner 2017 Liste.
Arbeite zur Zeit sehr viel, werde mir aber Mühe geben wieder regelmäßiger zu posten :)
Bin gespannt deinen Bericht zu lesen und über deinen Eindruck von Dubai zu erfahren.
Ich brauche Dich für mein DanceWeekend :-) - Tanz bisserl mit uns :-) Sorry für den Link Drop https://steemit.com/steemfest/@uwelang/dance-to-next-steemfest-location
Amazing pictures, Dubai is definitely on my list to visit next. Great post.
Thanks! Looking forward to reading your experience
A great travel report.
Seems like a lot of fun.
Thanks for sharing :-)
so good to see you back again
Glad to hear that :)
Dubai looks amazing, your hotel looks really fancy too.
You were tantalizing. You look like a member of Arab royalty that's why the mall officer assumed you were a Muslim girl and gave you a ticket.
Shouldn't also Muslim girls have the right to decide themselves what to wear? If they want to dress traditionally, yes, why not, but in my opinion there shouldn't be a rule that they have to ...
I'm sorry but That's their culture dictated by their holy book, religious authorities and patriarchal society talking to you. Fighting it is equivalent to declaring war on them.
No: I am talking about Muslim girls who doesn't want to wear traditional clothes. Why should anybody force them? I know many Muslim women who actually prefer to dress in a more western style (do you know, how many Iranian women dress if they are outside of their country? How many Indonesian women dress?) - if I agree to that I am not declaring a war to them but support them and their wish to decide themselves about their lives. :)
At the same time I also respect these Muslim women who want to dress traditionally: if they want it is alright, but if they are forced because of the rules of their governments or because of their husbands I don't accept it.