Day 1 – Dubai – January 29
After a rough night of sleep, we woke up flying over a vast expanse of sand dunes. This is one part of the trip Ryan will always relish, just how easy it is to travel from one climatic zone to another. We landed in Dubai around 7 am and began our unexpectedly long walk towards immigration. Once we got to the immigration counters, it was a breeze to get through, the clerk didn’t ask us a single question; and now we are in the system, so if we ever come back, we don’t even have to see an agent. After collecting our bags, we grabbed an Uber and headed to our Airbnb. We were able to check in so early because we were stuck paying for the night before.
On our drive we went through the city and saw the Burj Khalifa for the first time, the tallest building in the world. We also felt like we were back in America. We passed so many of our fast food chains, P.F. Chang’s, Red Lobster, etc., and of course a million Starbucks. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a nice Kenyan woman named Beatrice who was almost too helpful. We immediately started some laundry and took naps. Finally, around 1 pm we got up and walked towards the nearby beach area called Le Mar.
The beach is only about a five-minute walk from our house. Our first stop was obviously Five Guys for a little taste of home. Again, we passed several American restaurants on the boardwalk and it was quite fancy and modern. You can just tell this country has plenty of money and the facilities are pristine. We ate our burgers, fries and shakes enjoying every bite.
Next, we walked up towards the Jumeriah Mosque, the grand mosque of Dubai. We only walked around the outside of the complex, but it was beautiful to see. The grand spirals were strongly reminiscent of the mosques we’d seen in Morocco and Istanbul.
We continued walking along the beach back towards the house, and tried to stop at a bar for a drink. As soon as we sat down, we realized they cost about $15 USD a pop, so we hightailed it out of there; the United Arab Emirates is a bit more expensive than Africa. On the way home we had a great view of the skyline and could see all the gorgeous buildings in downtown and their varying architectures. We were lazy that night and ate our last bag of microwave popcorn as we watched Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Tom Cruise climb the Burj Khalifa.
Day 2 – Dubai – January 30
We woke up the next morning and Elizabeth went for a jog along the beach. They have a designated track covered in rubber and was wonderful on the joints. She saw there were a bunch of people out and that you’re allowed to wear western beachwear (bikinis, etc.) on the beach, but only the beach. After we showered and did our best to be healthy, we hopped in an Uber to the Dubai Mall.
We were dropped off at the high-end shopping area of the mall and were greeted with free coffee and a grand entrance. After passing the Coach, Prada, Fendi, etc. shops we headed for the main attraction: the food court. The mall is huge with at least 4 floors. It took us a while to find the food court, but when we finally arrived, it did not disappoint. They had a ton of American fast food chains and ice cream parlors. Ryan was excited to see a Church’s Chicken, called Texas Chicken here (you can’t hide that logo), but his jaw dropped when he laid eyes on Raising Cane’s. We split the Caniac, just like old days, and sat along the balcony looking over the ice rink.
After lunch, we wandered through the mall checking out the showtimes at the movie theater and the large aquarium wall. We went into a ton of shops. Eventually Ryan found a shirt from Banana Republic and Elizabeth a new dress. We washed down our efforts with a bubble tea – incredible. The mall has so many cool sculptures and art, one of our favorite’s being a large indoor waterfall with metal statues of men diving down.
Several hours later we found ourselves hungry and back at the food court. Ryan got Texas Chicken, spicy fried chicken with a biscuit, fries and coleslaw. It was also pretty good and just the taste of home we’d been looking for. We decided to see the new Star Wars movie and Elizabeth had been saving herself for the concession stands. They had regular popcorn, caramel, cheddar, popcorn with spicy Cheetos, you name it! We settled for cheddar and crispy M&Ms. We nestled into our seats, and enjoyed watching Star Wars with Arabic subtitles. They didn’t edit any of the movie for violence or language like we thought they would. Overall the movie was quite disappointing, but it was still nice to be in a cold theater eating popcorn.
When it was over, we walked around to the other side of the mall where they have a virtual reality arcade, haunted house, and several other attractions. It took us a while to figure out how to exit the mall, but eventually we found ourselves outside on the “lake” overlooking the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa was lit up and showing a video of an animation of a man breakdancing on the outside. We got lucky with our timing and walked out right in time for the fountain show. It felt like we were in Vegas watching the lights and water move with the music. As we walked along the boardwalk of the lake near the Burj Khalifa we passed, in a row, a Texas Road House, Red Lobster, California Pizza Kitchen, and a P.F. Chang’s – this place really is a mini-America. We Ubered home and slept well after a whole day of walking around the mall.
Day 3 – Dubai – January 31
Early the next morning Elizabeth got up to jog along the beach path again. There were even more people on this Friday morning. Similar to Israel, the UAE follows a Sunday to Thursday work week since the Muslim holy day is on Friday, so it was essentially Saturday morning. After collecting Ryan, we walked to breakfast called The Coffee Club. Things were a little expensive, but we got a bizarre brunch of chai pudding, Japanese curry, and spicy French fries. Everything tasted delicious.
Next, we went to Sharjah, the emirate to the north of Dubai, about 40 minutes away. We were meeting Elizabeth’s extended cousin from Ireland, Sara, who was playing in an all-day Camogie tournament. Sara is a teacher in Qatar and her team travels around the area to play other Irish expatriates. We found the field and felt like we were at a children’s all-day soccer tournament. Like all good parents, we sat in the hot sun, cheered them on, and drank beer. Apparently, Sharjah is a completely dry emirate, except for the Irish competitions. We drank our beers and sat on the sidelines chatting with her and her teammates and learning about hurling and camogie. Sara’s team won the tournament and we got food and more drinks at the club lounge after.
We Ubered back to our Airbnb to change and planned to meet up with her team again for brunch that evening. This caused a lot of confusion in the discussion because we all correctly know that brunch means a meal between breakfast and lunch. In Dubai, it means all you can eat and drink and lasts all afternoon into the evening. We met them at Mr. Miyagi’s a restaurant and bar in a hotel in the marina area right by the large manmade palm tree islands. Mr. Miyagi’s was an eclectic place full of little people, karaoke, poor Asian food, and sugary drinks. We got there late and had only an hour left for the all you can eat and drink, so we immediately started putting them away.
Unfortunately, their staff service wasn’t ideal and it took forever to get anything we ordered. We chatted with management and they gave us a couple extra drinks, but it didn’t make it worth the cost at the end. Ryan and I were sober still, but the Irish people were doing what they do best. We moved into the bar area next to dance and finish our drinks. The other Irish men loved Ryan and everyone is obsessed with his giant beard. Around midnight we finished our drinks and went to the bar for more. A small beer cost $10, luckily Sara was ready for bed, so we made the decision to leave the other Irish partiers and head home. It was only a quick meetup, but we were glad to see each other again and had fun, as we always do, partying with the Irish.
Day 4 – Dubai – February 1
The next morning, we slept in; all those sugary drinks made us feel slightly hungover. Finally, we were hungry and had no choice but to go back to the mall and the giant food court. We Ubered over and made the long walk to the food. Ryan, again, ate Raising Cane’s and Elizabeth got a döner kebab from a German fast food restaurant. The food almost brought us back to life, but we had to get some Cold Stone afterwards to finish the job. Ryan always wants mini marshmallows in his chocolate ice cream and was delighted they had them.
We took our ice cream outside to walk around the lake and see the Burj Khalifa during the daylight. Again, our timing was perfect for the water show. We walked around the souk shops, another mall area next door, then Ubered home. We spent the afternoon watching Netflix and relaxing. For dinner that night, we walked to a Japanese street food restaurant which actually tasted pretty authentic. Then we stumbled into a grocery store to buy more hand sanitizer and accidently left with milk and Oreos.
Day 5 – Abu Dhabi – February 2
Today is our last day in Dubai. We packed our bags at the Airbnb and took an uber over to the metro station so we could get bus and metro cards to take us Abu Dhabi. The public transportation system in Dubai is pretty good and we should have gotten our cards at the beginning of the trip to save on Uber costs. We hopped on the red line towards St. Mary’s Church. St. Mary’s is known as the largest parish in the world and has mass every hour on Sundays from like 7 am to 7 pm. Mass is offered in at least 5 different languages and we were able to find an English one. The church was packed and probably held a couple thousand people. It was a very diverse group with Indian women in traditional saris sitting by men from Africa and white westerners.
After mass we hopped back on the metro and headed in the direction of the Gold Souks and old Dubai. We were very hungry and decided to try some traditional Emirati food at a restaurant called Al Bait Al Qadeem Emirati Heritage Restaurant. We ordered chicken and rice, tea, and lamb stew. The food was pretty good, but not super unique compared to other Middle Eastern food. We were able to sit outside and, of course, were kept company by a cat.
After lunch we headed into the souk. Ryan had a theory that since the UAE is well-off and people had been very welcoming but not pushy, it was going to be very relaxed and not full of hawkers. He couldn’t have been more wrong. These were the most aggressive salesmen we’ve ever seen. They went as far as trying to wrap scarves around Ryan and he had to fight them off. Needless to say, we didn’t wander around for very long, but if you need a wristwatch there are plenty of men trying to sell them to you.
The rest of the evening we would classify as riding public transportation around Dubai. We had a few more hours until our bus so Elizabeth had us try to get off at the famous large picture frame statue, but they wanted money to go into the park. We do not pay for parks in this family. So next we rode the bus back towards the beach and she directed us off at the wrong stop. By the time we got towards the house, we had to run to grab our bags and make it back to the main bus station.
The train to Abu Dhabi was 2 hours long and on a large charter bus, so we could store our bags underneath. When we arrived, it was dark and our friend Nick picked us up from the bus station. Nick works for another oil and gas company and was moved to Abu Dhabi in September. His wife, Ashley, works for Exxon and they found her a position over here so she could join him. Their house is huge, though still the smallest they could find, and on a western compound. They don’t have a lot of their belonging yet, in fact Ashley just officially moved on February 1. They made us a spaghetti dinner and we lounged around catching up.
Day 6 – Abu Dhabi – February 3
Unfortunately, both Nick and Ashely had to work all week, so we were on our own during the day and could hang out in the evenings. Their compound is great. It’s a gated community full of expatriates and has a pool gym and a little mall facility and outdoor shopping restaurant center not five minutes away by foot. We spent the morning at their gym complex, trying to regain a little muscle, then went to the Lebanese restaurant for lunch called Zaytinya Restaurant. The food wasn’t too expensive and we ate delicious humus, a lamb wrap, and something called monoushe which is like cheesy bread – it was in the pizza section.
After lunch we Ubered over to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. This mosque is the largest in the country and can hold up to 41,000 worshippers. It’s a stunning structure of white marble and gilded domes. We got dropped off and walked towards a giant glass egg. The visit is free, but they take you via an underground tunnel to get to the mosque. On the way you pass through a small mall center with food and shops, then into the museum of Islamic coins, finally you fill out a questionnaire about where you’re from and are given a ticket with a QR code, then finally you’re checked to see if you’re appropriately dressed to enter the mosque.
We both wore pants, and Elizabeth a long shirt and scarf on her head so she didn’t have to rent a robe with a hood, but it’s nice that have that option for tourists. The mosque was grand with gorgeous flower tiles along the pillars, considered the largest marble mosaic in the world. It wasn’t too crowded but all these Instagram people were getting annoying to try to look around. A few couples tried to take pictures with their arms around each other and were told to stop by the guards. The mosque is fairly new, was constructed between 1996 and 2007 and the architect was Syrian.
We walked all along the outside of the complex then were able to see the inside area of worship. They had beautiful chandeliers made by Faustig, the famous German chandelier company. The chandeliers were massive with at least three in the large prayer room and several others hung in the chambers on the outside. The mosque was designed to bring together all the different cultures of Islam and had architecture and materials from countries like Morocco, Egypt, India, etc. We also loved the large clocks that showed the 5 prayer times a day.
After walking around for about an hour enjoying the beautiful grounds, we walked back through the tunnel and caught an Uber towards home. We wanted to surprise Nick and Ashley and say thanks by buying them some beer. It can be complicated to buy alcohol in Muslim countries. They were telling us how they had to apply for a liquor purchase permit and they are only allowed to buy a certain amount per month, and so on. We found a liquor store and got a 24 pack of Indian beer called Kingfisher Strong for around $22. Not a bad deal; apparently you are free to buy alcohol if you’re a tourist. We’re not really sure because they didn’t ask us a single question as we checked out. Also, our Uber drive took the initiative to stay in the parking lot to then accept our next request to drive home.
That night we drank our cheap Indian beers and walked to the restaurant area near their house. We ate at a restaurant that is both Italian and Japanese. Everyone ended up ordering Italian, but what a strange combination. After dinner, we drank more beers and caught up more on life before Nick and Ashley had to get ready for work the next day.
Day 7 – Abu Dhabi – February 4
Again, we were lazy waking up, but headed to their gym to continue the search for our muscles. We decided about halfway through to head to the rock-climbing gym called Clymb Abu Dhabi. The gym was about 30 minutes away so we grabbed an Uber and headed over. Like all things, it was located in a giant mall. It’s on Yas Island, which is home to water parks, Ferrari World Amusement Park, the climbing gym, indoor skydiving center, and so much more.
We checked in and got our gear. We had to go through a pretty extensive skill check to prove we could top rope and lead climb. They even made us climb up 20 feet and fall, so the other person could practice catching – always slightly scary. After passing our tests, we climbed for a while then went to the café for lunch. We ate pretty delicious over-priced sandwiches. After a short break, it was time to head back to climbing. After a few more routes we decided to attempt the big wall. They have the largest indoor climbing wall in the world, called The Summyt at 138 feet. Its lead climbing, so you have to bring the rope up with you from the ground and clip it in as you climb. This always adds extra mental and physical elements, because when you fall you can fall about 10 feet down and potentially slam into the wall. We both made it about 2/3 of the way up, then the wall becomes an overhang and we didn’t have the arm muscle to make it to the top.
We headed back to Nick and Ashley’s where everyone but Ryan decided to eat leftovers, while he picked up some Thai food from the food area. Nick is busy overseeing the drilling of a well, so he had to stay up later that night. We kept him company drinking more Kingfisher beer and watching YouTube.
Day 8 – Abu Dhabi – February 5
Again, we started our day at the gym. Afterwards Ryan rewarded himself with doughnuts from Tim Hortons – he hasn’t had doughnut in so long. Just to reiterate, this place is mini America, except drier and woman don’t have quite as many rights. After showering and doing some last-minute laundry, we took an Uber to downtown Abu Dhabi. We decided to eat lunch at an overpriced Irish pub, but it was nice to have a cold pint and bar food. We ate curry French fries, fish and chips, and a giant pretzel.
To burn off some calories, we walked along the beach and enjoyed the views of the city and the beach walk. We first found an entrance to a private section for $1, but walked the extra 10 minutes to the free entrance. On the beach lots of people were sunbathing and swimming, which we didn’t expect since it’s winter here. Nick heard from coworkers that in the summer the beach is unbearable and the water too warm to cool you off. We picked up more beer, Red Horse, another strong beer, this one from the Philippines to say thank you.
For dinner that night we went to the local fish market. We walked through the market where everyone tried to sell us the same 5 things. In front of the market is a string of restaurants, more or less all selling the same thing, with hawkers trying to get you into their shop. After walking by a few we were convinced into sitting down at one. The girls got shrimp in some sort of spicy mayonnaise sauce and the boys got huge cuts of fish. They grilled the fish bone in with all the seasoning so it was a struggle to keep the seasoning on the meat when cutting it up.
The food was delicious and we spent the rest of our final night drinking beer and hanging out. Ryan had a moral/cultural trial when he observed a father slap his young daughter across the face. We learned from Nick and Ashley that the Emirati culture strongly believes in saving face, which basically comes down to not speaking out against another person (or getting upset for their actions). Its been incredible to travel and see different cultures, but can be very challenging to figure out when to speak up and let things lie that you don’t agree with. Ryan let it lie with the encouragement of the group, but it made all of us more grateful for our upbringings and opportunities.
Day 9 – Abu Dhabi – February 6
We had to catch the 6 am bus back to Dubai, so we called an Uber to the bus station and said good-bye to Nick and Ashley at 5:30. It’s always so nice to see people on our trip and we are so glad we were able to meet up with them. The bus was freezing cold, but we managed to sleep for a couple hours on our way to the metro station. We got off the bus, then had to take the metro to the airport. The check-in and security process again went smoothly and we were in the lounge enjoying our free breakfast with plenty of time to spare.
Our first flight, flying on an Indian airline called Indigo, was four hours to Bangalore in India. The flight and landing were rather bumpy and the business man next to us was clearly a nervous flier. We landed and were trapped with a few other passengers on connecting international flights. You have to pay a visa fee to enter India and go through immigration, so we had to wait for a staff member to take us through a separate security. We made it with enough time to pop into another lounge for dinner and Indian food. Elizabeth gorged herself on airport buffet Indian food and loved it. We washed them down with Kingfisher beers and were on our next flight to Kuala Lumpur. We really enjoyed our time in the United Arab Emirates. If you ever want to experience Muslim culture, but not stray too far from westernization this is definitely the place to go. Also, it’s beautiful.
Things we learned in the United Arab Emirates:
- They don’t like to call it the Persian Gulf, they prefer Arabian Gulf.
- There are 9.5 million people in the UAE and only 11% are Emirati. Indians make up the highest percentage of expatriates.
Ryan and Elizabeth Goss 