Dubai for everyone. Review on Dubai

No much history to boast. All man made places are great to visit. It is the place for shopping. When some one says shopping it is said to be for the rich only. Here you can find cheap stuff also. Food you can get the best from all the parts of the world. Again most expensive at 400 Dh. Per breakfast to 10 Dh. for lunch & that too of your taste.If you want to visit Dubai, visit during Dubai Shopping Festival(DSF) which is for a month. Best time to visit is from November to March.

The worst time to visit Dubai is May-August when the temperature touches 50C.Dubai & sharjah airport are best connected with most of the cities of India. Air India, Indian Airlines, Air Arabia, Emirates, Qatar Airlines, Jet airways etc. they all fly to India. Usually flights come to Dubai in the early morning so you can utilise the day.But the whole night at the Indian airport makes you tired & so for the first day you just try to enjoy the nearby places. Flying time is for maximum 3-4 hours from India. Both the airports are good but make sure that you have airport pickup is facilitated by either tour operator or hotel. The visa is to be taken & is easily available. The visa paper is given which is to be shown at the Visa counter on arrival & they will check with their records. Usually your host needs to apply for visa on our behalf. On arrival at the hotel they take the passport for registration at the nearest police station. Dubai you get lot of choices in hotels, depending upon your requirements. During DSF it is better to book well in advance if you have preferred choice. Deira is considered to be the old city but now a days it has also changed. While Bur Dubai is new area & very fast developing. Jumeirah, Marina, Palm Beach are the fastest developing & most expensive areas. Burj Al Arab is in Jumeirah is the costliest place to stay in Dubai.In & around this hotel there are another 5-6 very high end hotels of the king of Emirates. Worlds almost all hotel chains have hotels here in different parts of the city. Meena Bazar or Khalid Bin Waheed Road is mini India. Many hotels are in this area which can be according to your budget. Atleast 20-30 Indian restaurants are there in this area to get best Indian cuisines. Veg World, Kamat, Sukh Sagar, Bombay Chowpathy, Woodlands, Vaibha, Sheeba, India House etc are the few of them.It is the same cost what you pay in India for food costs here. Desert Safari, Dhow Cruise of Dubai Creek, Global Village, Dubai Museum etc are few places to visit.Apart from these the malls are just like museums & in particular Mall of the Emirates & IBN Buttata mall are great. The Dubai Mall, which is coming up by 2010 is going to be the biggest mall of the world.Desert Safari is a half day trip. Tour operator picks you from the hotel in 4x4 Land Cruiser & it takes around 1-1.30 hr. to reach the dunes.First they take you to the base camp for freshen up & than in the deep dunes.Around about one hour trip is just a roller coaster ride.It is amazing.You feel scarry but the vehicle is so safe that you do not even get a jerk. Powerful  engine car’s RPM goes up to 8000 but still no noise, no jerks & the air conditioner is on.30-40 ft. rise & fall is fun.  It is advisable to have empty or light stomach before the trip & just don’t eat or drink during the ride. After the ride they take you to the base camp. The camp is the tourist place with small titbit stalls, photo shops typically taking photos of everyone & selling at the exorbitant price. They welcome you with typical Arabian tea(Difficult to drink) & dates(excellent, no one can eat just one.). Another one hour or so is free time till all the cars come back, till than you can have drinks(aerated drinks are free, you can have hard drinks here only.) & shisha(hukkah). Few other activities like henna painter, eagle photography, scooter rides, camel ride etc are available.Indian/Arabian dinner is served on low seating area.In the middle they keep space for the activities & all around are the tables.

Than comes the belle dancer, more of a juggling show & disco dance.People join the dancer at the end. And the show is over & time to go back, again an hour ride to the hotel.The next best visit is Dhow cruise. From the creek they take you to two hours of Dubai creek ride with dinner. We had beautiful weather and so was more fun but in summer you can not seat outside & they have lower floor which is air-conditioned but you have to compromise on view. Dubai does not have building lighted as it is in Hong Kong, but still the ambience created is excellent. The food is good & caters to all, serving variety of cuisines.Apart from these two places I suggest visit to Ibn Battuta & Mall of the Emirates mall. These two are architectural delight buildings. In particularly Buttata mall they have created themes in the mall. China, India, Egypt, Persia etc. The detailed work is excellent. The stores in these malls have all boutique stores, beautifully designed & decorated. It is far from the city & for us to come back from the mall it took 2 hours in the evening. Apart from these two Deira City Centre Mall, Burjuman, Wafi centre, Lamcy are the popular malls. To mention one more mall is Dragon Mart Mall. Dubai’s Dragon mart, the largest trading hub products from China outside the Chinese main land is a 1.2 km long Dragon-shaped structure that includes showrooms, shopping areas and warehouses that house no less than 4000 enterprises dealing in Chinese products. It’s divided up into various sections such as clothing, hardware and furniture, often these are quite mixed up and you never know when you may stumble across a ridiculously cheap pair of comfy shoes or a slinky silk embroidery. If you want to buy Gold go Gold souk. This must be the only place in the world where tons of gold you can see from the window panes of shops. Nor you will find any security guards in the stores neither police or police station in the area. With the changing time they have added diamonds with gold. Solitaires & plenty of stones are available.

From 22karat to 18karat of 100% genuine gold is available. Rate wise it is marginally cheap but be sure about the quality. If you are buyer or just a visitor visit is a must. The Spice Souk is directly next to the Gold Souk in Deira. The scent of the spices is exotic and seductive and by its own an impressive experience.At the Spice Souk merchants sell cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, nuts and henna from open sacks. Several types of incense can be bought in packages. The spices seem sheer endless. The Spice Market is an exotic experience you shouldn’t miss. Now to sum up few dos & don’ts ;Try not to travel during summer & Ramzan time Take new GSM phone card from the airport, using Indian Sim phones are very expensive. Wear proper clothes (Muslims are bit conservative) Be ready to walk a lot. Taxis are very few & they do not come on shorter routes or congested/busy routes. Study the bus routes & plan accordingly. Keep 1-2 hour time buffer if you have to reach on time. Go empty stomach to the Sand Dunes. Joy Ride is very bumpy. Negotiate on the rates. Even few mall stores negotiate. Preferable to keep US currency or International Debit card. Now a days Travellers Cheques are not accepted at all the exchange points.