Retro: United Arab Emirates

brownietravels (39)in #uae • 7 years ago (edited)

This was our first trip in the UAE and one we're unlikely to forget. Of all the places in the middle east, this one seemed like the safest for the time being and sort of the easiest to get to as well. And non-stop flights always help, especially when you have some Emirates Airlines credit luckily lying around from a previously canceled trip for south-central Asia.

The route there from the west coast of the US is quite interesting.

But the Dubai airport. is. baller.

I'm pretty sure I saw people selling gold by the ounce and block there. Rich af. But the first thing that was great before I caught a cab to my hotel in the city was the ATMs. They are not friendly with American cards. I can't wait until more stores start accepting Bitcoin and other crypto so we don't have to keep using this broken and painful global banking system. "Cash is king, except you have to exchange it, carry it and hope it doesn't deflate".. but I digress.

It happened to be the anniversary of the country, or some kind of national holiday there. So many murals and signs and art creations with their leaders all over the city.

Walking around the "old" part of town was nice.

Museum there was legit too, although hard to enjoy with massive number of elder Chinese lady tour groups vying with everyone else for resources (such as space to move around). But I didn't really have time to schedule around such things. I got there pretty early even and had to wait for them to open to get in. Stopped by a grocery store to pick up some local snacks, lots of products from Oman. I heard it's also a nice country to visit and very close to UAE.

Street signs were in Arabic which was refreshing. You can see the Burj floating around in the background.

Wandering around town gives you views into every day life in Dubai. For example, we can see what the ground is made of there at this construction site.

But there are also beaches on the Gulf.

And garden/art like things.

Of course architecture there was top notch (you ain't seen nothing yet).

Wendy's localization!

No better silver lining for jet lag than waking up in time to see sunrise.

Street corner by the pier. Took quite a few winding walks through these streets.

More national holiday murals.

Uh oh, time for lunch. What's for lunch, you ask?

One house camel burger, please.

Combine that with some Turkish coffee. Both were quite tasty, the camel being cooked well yet tender.

Golden buildings are a thing here.

The next day or so, we went to the Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world. But before you go inside, there are some rules...

Had our pick of various fast food places in the food court.

Can't really give you a good picture of just how big it was, but believe me, it was huge. From some "entrances" you'd walk 15-20 minutes and use moving sidewalks to make your way to the front.

It was a maze trying to get it from the outside if you were just walking. Definitely not "walk to the mall" friendly, cabs are king.

And then there was the Burj Khalifa. Tallest building in the world and possibly the coolest looking one as well. Like a rocket.

Alright, we'll come back to Dubai, but we took a couple day trip to Abu Dhabi. One day in the city, not a lot to see. But the other day and night in the desert, which was probably the highlight of the trip.

DUNE BUGGYS!

And that was just on the ATV thrill ride spectrum. Then, we got in an SUV (equipped with roll bars) and journed over to a camel farm in the middle of the desert.

DUNE BASHING!

And drank some fresh camel milk. Salty. Warm. No thanks to that second cup offer.

Bread was good though.

Camels were super fun.

Sun's going down at the desert retreat, let's go have dinner and enjoy the song and dance.

And again, sleep and wake up early for that unbeatable desert sunrise. Hazy and dew on the sandy ground. Lovely.

A lot of sand in the desert. A lot. Mostly sand.

Time to leave the desert and return back to civilization. Highly recommend the desert safari and retreat though, worth every penny.

No visit to Abu Dhabi is complete without spending some time at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. Jaw dropping in the sunshine.