Today, we decided to soak up some sun and enjoy the beach at our sister hotel ‘ ‘Five Jumeirah’ on the Palm.
And whilst enjoying the Dubai sun on our skin, we were discussing the hotel and the craziness of Dubai. All of us had different feelings about our experiences, but we all agreed that it was a nice way to spend the holidays together as a family. So for next year, we have to plan another nice X-mas adventure.
This place polarizes for sure. I agree – artificial islands, ice rinks and ski slopes in the desert do not help to reduce global warming. You can also argue about a tower of 822 m height. And now there is a project to build a tower even higher than the Burj Khalifa, one of 1 km high. Everything needs to be bigger, better faster and…higher! This is also the first time that I stayed in a hotel room of 235 square metres, see the Burj Khalifa from the shower and have my very own swimming pool…nice to have a morning swim and a yummy breakfast on the terrace.
My mum loved being spoiled by the attention and the helpfulness of all of the genuinely nice and helpful staff. She wants to take one of them home now 😁. And Max well…he loves Dubai…loves the modern vibe and the vision, the cleanliness and the safe feeling. You also easily make friends, so he went out with some expats and had a taste of lively Dubai at night. He had fun, without drinking alcohol, since drinking age here is 21. He could easily live here, he says. If he would get to keep our hotel room, he might never leave 🤣😂.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about Dubai but I also admit that I really like this place. Why? First of all because it is a melting pot. You find people from all over the world here, living more or less peacefully together. A cab driver from Bangladesh tells me that „they are doing a great job to attract the most talented people from all places“. And many workers who often don’t have the best working conditions but yet make more money than in their home countries. When asking a nice waitress from Kenia how she likes the city the answer was „we are here for money“. Got it! –
Secondly, I love architecture and the buildings that you see here are just phenomenal! Architects can go totally crazy here with their projects.
And Dubai is pretty safe and so clean. No chewing gums or graffitis in the stations (wish we could say the same about Belgian train stations!). No drunk people in the streets. You can walk around at your ease (even at night). Travel within the city is also easy. The transport system is great – and clean! Train stations look like UFOs to me (although the idea was rather a shell, reminding of Dubai`s origin as a base for pearl divers) – or something like that.
In Dubai it’s all about modern architecture, luxury hotels and shopping malls – almost. But you will find a glimpse of traditional life in the neighbourhoods close to the Creek. As a cab driver said – the modern part of the city is mostly run by Americans and Europeans and is well organized. The old part is authentic but also chaotic. Anyway, wishing all my readers a healthy, happy, prosperous and adventurous 2020!
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