Sandier Pastures

I was tagged by Kailani and Expat Mom to do a very interesting meme. So here’s another closer look at Dubai, in the eye of a resident.

Introducing the Weekend in Your City Meme!

Best Place to Eat: Spice Island at The Rennaisance Hotel must be Dubai’s favorite international restaurant! It is an international restaurant and home of Dubai’s famous Grand Buffet that boasts with all you can eat, all you can drink brunch menu that highlights cuisines from around the world. It also has lots of live cooking stations: Mexican, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Indian, Indonesian, Italian and Mongolian. 

For budget meals, and those who are seeking to try Arabic dishes, it’s L’Auberg (sorry I don’t know how to pronounce that, I just eat there). If ever you come and visit and don’t try this restaurant, I’d cry - - for you!

Best Shopping Mall: Definitely The Mall of the Emirates, the largest shopping center outside of North America. Where else can you shop and ski at the same time even in the middle of summer? I haven’t been inside Ski Dubai yet. I am not missing snow and cold that much. Clarification: I don’t ski everytime I shop there. Just want you to know that Ski Dubai is inside this mall and a mall that holds a ski-resort means it is insanely huge - - meaning, all your shopping needs are met.

Famous Landmark: Dubai is full of landmarks. I guess the Palm Island would be one. There are three of the palm islands by the way, one of them, the Palm Jumeirah is almost complete, residents moved there last June. Palm Deira and Palm Jebel Ali is under construction.

Then we have the Burj Dubai - which when completed, would become the world’s tallest structure and of course, who would ever miss the iconic and world’s tallest hotel, The Burj Al Arab?

     

 

Best Tourist Attraction: We are just new here so we haven’t been to great tourist-y places. We’ve been to Madinat Jumeirah lately and I think it is worth a place in your itinerary.

    

 

Entertaining the Kids: Deira City Center’s Magic Planet. So far, this is the only place we go to entertain our kid. We have not explored Dubai that much. She also loves the Creekside Park where vast greens sprawl for kids to run about all day long. The park is also located near Dubai Creek - a very nice scene to enjoy.

We want to go to Wild Wadi sometime in the future. Wild Water Water Adventure Park, situated between the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel is a 12-acre desert filled with 30 million liters of water solely dedicated for fun.

Popular Outdoor Activity: Hands down it’s the beach. I am so happy to think that so many people from different parts of the globe coming here just to see the beach and we are living right here.

       

Also camping in the desert is popular. A desert safari tour gives you the opportunity to watch the beautiful sunset before reaching the camp site where you have the opportunity to experience camel riding, sand boarding or sand skiing. After that rigorous activity, enjoy a delicious barbecue dinner and a shisha (the famous Arabic water pipe) and watch a belly dancer perform. Audience participation is recommended.

Breathtaking Views: The red dunes? The crystal clear beaches?

   

 

Only available in your city: This is so far the hardest question. I feel like being one of the finalists vying for the coveted Miss Universe crown. Here’s what came to my mind:

• 24/7 construction rush

• people from 200 different nationalities living (or trying to) in harmony

• Arab women behind the wheels! In Saudi Arabia, and other Islamic countries, women are not only prohibited to work, they are also prohibited to drive a vehicle.

• Lots of optical illusions that are becoming real. Man-made islands, marinas, gigantic tall buildings that spiral their way to the skies (some even dance), man-made grass parks, overwhelming amount of water although in a very dry and arid area…

• Lastly, this might be the only city where the foreigners outnumber the locals in terms of population.

Let me know what’s hip in your city!

• Mar in Spain

• Sabine in Malta

• Robin in Israel

• Divina in The Philippines

• Samulli in Germany

… and YOU. If you want to review what your city has to offer, do this meme and let me know. I love travelling to different places and checking out the charms of each city but right now, I can only do that through reading blogs so let me know if you feel like doing this, ok?