Adventure
You must experience a “Desert Safari.” Imagine being collected from your hotel in a luxurious 4WD vehicle and whisked into the desert, where you will experience sand dune rides as exhilarating as any roller coaster. The adventure includes camels, falconers, Arabic singers, belly dancers, and henna artists at a Bedouin encampment under the stars complete with modern amenities. Dinner is prepared on an outdoor barbeque featuring mezzas and kabobs. I enjoyed sitting under the stars savoring my meal, enjoying the fruit-flavored shisha pipe and admiring my new henna tattoos, while being entertained by talented performers performing the cane dance.
Events
When scheduling your trip, you must keep in mind that Dubai has an influx of visitors for the month long “Dubai Shopping Festival” in the early spring. Shopping malls compete for visitors with special promotions, activities for children, and giveaways consisting of cars and kilos of gold. The cars vary from Lexus and Toyota to Rolls Royce and Mercedes. The hotels fill up very quickly during this time of year.
The Global Village, which is part of the Dubai Shopping Festival, is a fair-like atmosphere with pavilions devoted to different countries. Within the pavilions are food, dancers and other entertainment, and wares from that particular country. It is a chance to “visit” exotic places that you might never visit otherwise. I purchased jewelry from Yemen and a beautiful crocodile bag handcrafted from Africa at a fraction of what I would have paid at home.
Dubai is also host to world class sporting events including the Dubai Desert Golf Classic tournament that Tiger Woods has participated in, the Dubai Open Tennis Tournament and the Dubai World Cup horserace with the largest purse in the world. If you have the opportunity to attend the Dubai World Cup you should. Women dress to the nines in their best stylish hats and clothing, while men look dashing. Champagne is served liberally.
Only in Dubai
Dubai is competing to attract tourists to the Gulf Region so they are rapidly developing hotels, resorts, and other attractions. Each new hotel, resort, or real estate development has to be more innovative and over the top than anything that currently exists. This keeps things very lively and constantly raises consumer expectations.
By Karla Erovick
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