Dubai - Evening Desert Safari

Taking an evening off, enjoying the Desert Safari is a must do thing for those who visiting UAE. We, Malaysian do not have desert back home, hence, a memory to share from this place is worth every penny that we spent. 

From the hotel, we were transported to a meeting point where the 4x4 wheel drive was already waiting. We have to be there before 4pm. The most adventurous drive through the desert along Al Awir Road - Dune Bashing begun. It was about 20-30 minutes dune driving and we were all so stiff inside. The expert Pakistani driver played a loud Hindi song to makes it more exciting and relaxing.  

The tour includes several photo stops during an exciting dune drive especially for sun set photography. There were 6 of us in the 4 wheel drive and by the time we stopped at the most suitable place to catch a beautiful sunset photography, other wheel drive also stop. I helped a beautiful Japanese girl who came along to snap 1 of hers and she helped me.    

The drive continued across the desert till we reached a campsite where we have an opportunity to go for a camel ride. There is also other things to do, i.e. sand boarding and try out a henna design on hand or feet. The dinner was about to set, while waiting 1 can opt to enjoy shisha, the famous Arabic water pipe smoke. 

We had to change the 4 wheel drive as ours was stuck in the sand when we were about 2 minutes more to reach the campsite. Immediate rescue came in and we arrived a little bit too early for BBQ dinner. Important to note that as the dune driving is a bit too bumpy, pregnant women and the elderly is not advised to do so.

At the campsite

Arabian foods, such as biryani rice, kebabs etc are available. As for the dessert, the man in below photo was making 1 for all of us. It was a nice sweet flour ball. 

I peeked outside to see groups of people que for camel ride. It was a long que, while waiting in line, I saw tears in camel eyes and decided not to proceed. Thought that I should not burden the animal, no matter what size they are. I was told that camel's mouth had to tie up as they will bite. 

Rather, I went to explore other things that I could without hurting the animals and my feeling. Photo shooting around the campsite is worth more. 

Mushroom lamp shade - closer view

Another mushroom shape lamp needed as it was already dark

Kebabs, ready to eat

Waiting for the show

While having dinner, the belly dancer started to entertain us. She danced magically but I kept on wondering whether what was it she or he??? bhahahaha... sorry! Put that aside, she's having a good skill as a belly dancer but the 1 that I watched in Istanbul in 2004 had so much more skill than her.

The night was ended with the entertaining Tanoura dance, an Egyptian folk dance usually performed in Egyptian Sufi festivals. The dance was performed by Sufi men, called as Darawish. Tanoura dance is similar to Sufi whirling dance famous in Levant and Turkey. In this version, the men wear long colorful skirts (whirling mostly in all white), where each color on the skirt represents one Sufi order. 

After the vehicle took me back to the hotel, I was too exhausted from the bumpy ride and had to rest for a while before getting ready to take early morning flight back to Hyderabad. It was not so bad in Emirates lounge as years goes by. Latest edition in Dubai International Airport, their new train routes helps the passenger a lot to transfer from 1 terminal to another.

Dubai - Gold Market & Spice Bazaar

Dubai Gold Market is locally known as Dubai Gold Souk, a traditionally market located in the heart of Dubai's commercial business district in Deira, near the locality of Al Dhagaya. The souk consists of over 300 retailers that trade almost exclusively in jewellery.  

It is bordered to the north by the Dubai Fish and Vegetable Market and the Deira Corniche near Baniyas Square at Sikkat al-Khali Street which is walking distance from Deira Bus Stand. Dubai Gold Souk can also be reached by taking the Dubai Metro to Al Ghubaiba and a regular boat from nearby Bur Dubai across the creek. The Dubai Gold Souk is 5 minutes walk from the Old Souk marine station. The entrance to the market can be seen in below photo. There's an ample parking space just across the street and thereafter 1 can get lost in search for his/her destined piece of jewellery. I crave and crave over branded handbags but not the yellow gold. Hence, the market is not the place that I yearn for.

Retailers in the souk include both well established stores like Damas, ARY Jewellery, Shyam Jewellery and Joy Alukkas as well as smaller stores that operate mainly in the gold souk. Approximately, 10 tons of gold is present at any given time in the souk. 

Not bad design to my liking

Trade in the gold grew during the 1940's due to Dubai's free trade policies that encouraged entrepreneurs from India and Iran to set up stores in the souk. Despite a general slump in the global gold market, Dubai's share of value of trade in gold and diamonds to its total non-oil direct trade increased from 18% in 2003, to 24% in 2004. In 2003, the value of trade in gold in Dubai was approximately US$5.8 billion, while trade in diamonds was approximately US$7 billion in 2005. India (not surprising) is Dubai's largest buyer of gold whilst Switzerland was Dubai's largest supplier of gold ingots, wastes and scrap. Similarly, India accounted for approximately 68% of all diamond-related trade in Dubai; Belgium's share in Dubai's diamond trade was about 13%, a statistic in 2005.

The ladies inside must be feeling high with the gold ambiance, but not the lady outside :)

I had more fun while taking a stroll inside the old market, specially dealing with the spices or best known as Dubai Spice Souk. Colors of the spices and nuts are beautiful to my eyes than the golds and diamonds in Dubai Gold Souk. A pity that I do not cook much since 2007 till present, if not, I would have explore the spices ingredients and ventures into cooking a Central Asian food. Perhaps 1 day I should start doing it seriously and may start blogging about it. 

Dubai Spice Souk is a traditional market in eastern Dubai, in Deira and is adjacent to the Dubai Gold Souk. The Spice Souk, situated on Sikkat Al Khail Road, is in the locality of Al Ras. The market comprises several narrow lanes which are lined with open and closed-roof stores.

Stores in the Spice Souk sell a variety of fragrances and spices from frankincense and shisha to the many herbs used in Arabic and South Asian food. In addition, several textiles, incense, rugs and artefact's are also available in the Spice Souk. A majority of the trading occurs through haggling. The quantity of trade as well as the number of stores trading spices in the Spice Souk have been significantly reduced in recent years due to the growth larger stores and supermarkets. Nevertheless this area are a famous tourist attraction.

I entered a cool shaded shop just to take 5 minutes break from the hot weather. Inside, I met 2 wealthy looking locals who merely sat there discussing business. Both of them are friendly enough to chat with me by asking so many question. Likewise, I throw them few unimportant question and asked if they don't mind having photos with me.  

Tadaaa, a picture of me with the 2 of them whom I guessed must be filthy rich. Hahaha....

Dubai - City Tour

Date: 18th October 2011

Dubai is 1 of the emirate seated within a unification of UAE (United Arab Emirates). There are 6 others emirate in UAE beside Dubai; i.e. Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. We had a branch office in Dubai during a boom period and still being maintained the small office till present though we have slow down operation in Dubai substantially. 

UAE flag

My first official visit to Dubai was in 2008, before the Dubai Metro line was even open. During the first short trip, I hardly had time for shopping as when I finished with the meetings, the mall was about to close and I merely stand outside Burberry shop drooling after reaching the Mall during that 1st trip. The next day before my flight was scheduled to take off to Karachi, our office colleague was kind enough to take me around for Dubai city tour. I made a photo stop at Dubai Al-Burj, once was very famous tourist attraction. We also stop at the Atlantis, the Palm, which was newly opened.

During 1 of my trip to Pakistan in October 2011, I made an effort to stay overnight to explore the city and safari nights by booking the tour arrangement with the hotel. From the hotel, the luxury van stopped to pick up few other tourist at a different hotel and off we went to the Gold Market @ Gold Souk. The second stop was at the Dubai Creek located in the old part of Dubai City. Before taking a boat ride, we stopped at the Spice Market. I will made a separate story of this 2 places, Gold Souk and Spice Market.

The seawater Dubai Creek is the trading port on the Gulf to other parts of the emirate. The old fashioned boats called dhows criss cross the water from Bur Dubai on the left bank to Deira on the right bank. We took a cruise on a water taxi dhow travelling further upstream of which reveals the high rise buildings lining the creek, passing under several bridges.

The 3rd stop was at Wafi Shopping Mall which is part of the Egyptian Style Wafi City. The mall,represent the main feature of the Wafi city. The mall is opened in 2001 includes over 200 stores and has a small theme park inside. Raffles Dubai, a pyramidal shape 5 star hotels begin it's operation in November 2007.  

Raffles Dubai adjacent to Wafi shopping mall

Wafi City is a mixed-use development. The complex includes a mall, hotel, restaurants, residences, and a nightclub. The city is designed and styled after the Ancient Egypt, themed environment includes columns reminiscent of Karnak, small pyramids and images of pharaohs. All the walls are the color of the light brown stone that can be found on all structures in Ancient Egypt.

Entrance to Wafi Mall with a couple from America

There's a pyramid in Wafi city which is a complex that contains several restaurants, cafes and spas, including Cleopatra's Spa and Pharaoh's Club. I did not explored up to the pyramid area but chose to explore the external compound which were landscaped perfectly suited to a taste of the Pharaoh. The Spa and the Club are given free membership for the Wafi residents who occupied the adjacent Wafi Residential complex nearby.

Imitation of Egyptian Pharaoh

Our next stop was to the World tallest building, Burj Khalifa who stand aloof, visible from far distance. Burj Khalifa known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration is the tallest man-made structure in the world at 829.8m. The construction began in September 2004 and the exterior structure was completed in October 2009. The building was officially opened on 4th January 2010. 

Important to note that the South Korea, Samsung C&T is the primary contractor responsible for the construction, an proud to the Asian construction company.

So unfortunate that the project's completion coincided with the global financial crisis of 2007-2012 affecting Dubai's vast overbuilding property greatly. Dubai government forced to seek out multi billion dollar bailouts from its oil-rich neighbor, Abu Dhabi. The tower was renamed Burj Khalifa (from original intended Burj Dubai), said to honour the UAE President, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his crucial support. The rents in Burj Khalifa plummeted 40%, 10 months after its opening and out of 900 apartments in the tower, 825 were left empty. Overseas investors steadily began to purchase the available apartments and office space in Burj Khalifa over the next 2 and a half years. By October 2012, Emaar reported that 80% of the apartments were occupied. 

Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world, adjacent to Burj Khalifa

Our vehicle was parked next to rear entrance of the Dubai Mall, the world largest shopping mall based on total area but 6th largest by gross leaseable area. It is part of the 20 billion dollar Downtown Dubai Complex and includes 1,200 shops. It was opened in November 2008 attracted over 52 million tourist in 2012. It has Dubai aquarium and water under water zoo beside Dubai Ice Rinks and indoor Theme Park.

We took a turn into the Jumeirah Beach thereafter. The beaches in below photo look so quite and empty, almost deserted.

We took opportunity to explore Miraj, Dubai Islamic Art centre. There are many displayed items including souvenirs and arts of decoration for sales.  

When we took another turn to admire the Dubai Al-Burj. I just snapped few photos from inside the car as the weather was unbearable for me to step down outside.

Thereafter, we were heading towards the artificial built land of Atlantis and the new reclamation development within the areas. Atlantis, The Palm is a resort located on Dubai's reclaimed artificial island, The Palm. It was the first resort to be built on the island and is based on the myth of Atlantis includes distinct Arabian element. The resort was opened in September 2008. 

The resort has 2 accommodation wings, referred to as the Royal Towers consisting of the East and West Tower, both linked by the Royal Bridge suite. It has 1,500 guestrooms and suites with private balconies and views over the Palm and the Persian Gulf. There are 2 underwater suites, each 3 storeys high with views directly into the Ambassador Lagoon. It cost a fortune to stay in this this suites. 

We were on the artificial island a little bit longer to see other developments comprised of all high rise on Jumeirah Beach. By 4pm, we were back to the hotel to be ready for the next Safari desert adventures.

View of Dubai Jumeirah Beach

Old town where the original Dubai city was once originated

To be continued....