Destination Dubai: Trip Highlights from the Middle East

   So familiar, yet so incredibly different. That's how I describe my journey to the Middle East. Highways that replicate our American road systems with traffic signs I cannot even begin to interpret. Malls with stores like Sephora and Zara, Tiffany's and Gucci. A metropolitan paradise with luxury cars, a seven star hotel, and a desert oasis ushering in thousands of people from around the world.
My time in the UAE barely scraped the surface of the oil rich country, but I do have some highlights from my journey to the east.

5. Good Eatin'

    I'm a total foodie. Just follow my Instagram and it will become very apparent. When the perfect expression of love on Valentines Day is a food processor and a paleo cookbook there's really no room to question that fact.

    Food is a cultural expression. It tells so much about a place or person. What type of texture do they like, what takes the majority of the plate--meat, veggies, starches? Is quantity important or is the focus on three bites of a sensory explosion.

    Dubai, like any major city, offers a wide variety of experiences. The cuisine was a mix of Asian fusion, mediterranean, and western influence.

    I tried many eateries in several of the elaborate malls across the city and found, what I consider, the best eating experience in Dubai. The TWG tearoom. A friend recommended it to me and it surely did not disappoint. Every food item is infused with a different tea, and my smoked salmon eggs benedict is the type of breakfast you dream of. Combine insane food with a picturesque waterfall and gracious servers with a wealth of stories to share--worth ever durum.

   Every once in a while you also need to just pick a random metro stop, walk into a local Philippine restaurant, and tell the server you'll have what the man next to you is eating. I still have no idea what I ate, but it sure tasted good. 

  However, my favorite was no doubt the Lebanese food. Truly, I'm converted. The pita, the tabouli, the hummus...the goat. I'll never be able to eat chicken and rice happily again. It combined all my favorite mediterranean flavors and couldn't have been more authentic unless I had journeyed to Lebanon myself. 

                               

4. The Malls

    The word "mall" is not an accurate term for these arenas of cultural expression. With over 60 currently standing and several others in construction you could spend days walking through just one climate controlled complex. The Dubai mall with it's extravagance, 1 mile circumference, and fountains; the Mall of the Emirates with the famous ski center; Ibn Battuta being my favorite mall ever. Dubai knows how to turn shopping into an experience.

   And truly, anything with an aquarium wins points in my book.

3. Desert Safari

    There is nothing more freeing than running through a sand dune.   

   There is also no better tourist experience than a desert safari. I saw my life flash before my eyes on the jeep ride across the desert dunes. I also realized that a two minute camel ride was all I really needed to get the iconic desert picture. Any longer and I'm pretty sure the camel would have turned on me. Between henna, tanoura and belly dancers, and a buffet of amazing middle eastern barbeque, this tourist trap is one worth falling into.

 2. The Burj Khalifa

   I'm sure within my lifetime another colossus skyscraper will be erected, it's peak scraping the ozone layer, but I'm still staggered at having stepped out onto the viewing area of the Burj Khalifa and seen what a city looks like from the 124th floor. They say the best time to go is at sunset. I say any time is worth it. You don't want to regret checking off this bucket list item.

   

1. Sunsets

   I can't help it--I'm a sucker for that explosion of color across the horizon. You may always notice a sunset wherever you go, but there are some sunsets you just don't forget. 

   Truly, my favorite experience in Dubai was standing in the dunes, on the beach, in the mountains, or just in the city and watching the orange, desert sun melt into the ground.

 

That caps off my top five Dubai moments.

Don't forget to adventure today!

-Ray

    

Why Everyone Should Visit the Middle East

Mosque on the road to the Mall of the Emirates 

No, I'm not trying to guilt you to hop on a plane and parachute into war-torn Syria to experience what life is like for the less fortunate. However, I would tell anyone before planning their next trip to London or Paris to consider visiting an area that will probably impact your life beyond your 4-5 day stay.

I have been fortunate to have travelled to friends up north (eh?), down south (thanks for ruining Taco Bell forever), the motherland (our humor is still not up to British par), that French country we love to hate (but secretly envy with every fiber of our being), and even a brief jaunt to the Swiss Alps (okay one Alp...and I'm not even sure if it was an Alp. Someone Google Mt. Pilatus for me.)

Nothing, absolutely nothing impacted my life more than venturing beyond the familiar green into the desert sands.

Desert Safari stop on the sand dunes

Why? Because as Americans we have prejudices we don't realize we have. What's even worse, as someone who professes to be a Christian, I had additional prejudices I didn't realize until walking outside into the blinding Dubai sun.

I'm not prejudice. I accept all cultures, religions, behaviors, etc 

You may say that but here in the loving embrace of the red, white, and blue it's easy to disassociate the culture from the person. We think everyone here, if not American already, wants to be a U.S. citizen, which means they are seeking something of the same values we are.

Stepping out my first day in Dubai was quite a shock to my western mindset. I mean, why would you force women to wear long black veils, let alone pants, when the heat index is 115? I found myself looking for my culture, being drawn to people who looked like me, and allowing everything else to fade into the background. It's pretty easy to do in Dubai. The western culture has pretty well saturated the coast and you can find anything from a Starbucks to an IHOP in the city.

Waterfall in the Dubai mall

But as my jet lagged body dragged through the Carrefour in the Mall of the Emirates and up to the register to check out groceries I stopped to smile at the red headed, freckled man with the name tag that read, "Mohamed."
We struggled through our language barrier (most of the barrier I claim since everyone there seems to know at least 4 languages, and I'm just chilling with my English), but he ended up telling myself and the friends I was with that he was a refuge from Syria, fleeing the destruction and constant bombings ripping up his nation. His family is still there, but he is working to send money back to them.

My heart breaks...and it's just the start.

I began opening my eyes, engaging, looking through the veils, past the culture and the religion to see the person. I heard stories. One worker from Egypt, another from Pakistan, this Indian man left home 17 years ago to provide for his family, the phone he carried his only connection back home. This Philippine woman stuck in a job, unable to leave the abusive working environment cultivated by her superior, an Emirate woman studying for her masters, her background on her computer showing her warmly embraced by the Sheik.

Egyptian musicians at the desert safari

I wouldn't tell you to go to the Middle East simply to go sight seeing. There are incredible structures, which destroy our concept of skyscrapers--but there are the men who clamored from around the world to be employed for the behemoths' construction.

Metro view of the Burj Khalifa

I wouldn't tell you to try all the delicacies of the Middle East without talking to the person behind the counter and hearing their life story.
And my final piece of advice would be to forgo the tourist traps and find a local that will unlock your explorer within by taking you up path less travelled so you can experience a world you've never seen before.

Desert mountains in Oman

I was told by one of the women I met to consider Dubai my second home.

I think I'll be back.

More stories to come.

-Ray