It was my first time travelling to Dubai and it was worth every moment.
People who have travelled to Dubai more than once may not understand where my excitement is coming from, but as a first time traveler, I remember pausing for a moment and asking myself, is this really happening?
Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE); others are Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajam, Umm AI Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, with Abu Dhabi as the capital, and seat of the presidency.
However, Dubai is the emirate designed to make you question everything about your country, leaders and infrastructure. Luxury malls that stretch endlessly, clean roads, laws that actually work, ultramodern structures that seem to touch the sky and vibrant nightlife.
From the time I heard about this trip towards the end of last year, all I could think of was when the D day was coming, and when the trip was postponed from the second week of January this year, to the last one, my hopes started shrinking.
But when I finally got my ticket and visa, I knew now the only person that would stand between me and the trip was God himself.
The check-in process at Entebbe international airport was smooth and swift, and at around 11:15am, the boarding call was made for Fly Dubai airline and within minutes we were up in the clouds, Uganda becoming a distant blur beneath us. In about five and a half hours, we were making our descent on Dubai, and what a breathtaking bird’s eye view from above!
I was struck by how huge Dubai international airport is. From where distance is almost the same as the one I travel from home to my workplace, The Observer; there are buses to ferry passengers.
The airport is so busy, there is a plane landing almost every minute. I was amazed by the number of Ugandans working at the airport in various capacities and they are always happy to see a fellow Ugandan.
Another thing that stood out at the airport was the easy access to the internet, after the long flight and being off the grid, the one thing a person would think about is informing loved ones that they reached safely.
Like many modern airports, Dubai has free access to WiFi and despite the big volume of passengers, it is exceedingly fast. After officials verifying travel documents, a free tourism sim card with 10 GB valid for 24 hours is given to each arriving passenger, saving you from the burden of scrambled communication before reaching your hotel.
FIVE-STAR HOTEL EXPERIENCE
Our host, Spiro, who were treating Boda Boda leaders, riders and innovators to a Dubai retreat, made sure we had the best experience and booked us into Intercontinental, a five-star hotel in Dubai Downtown.
The Boda Boda Riders Cooperative Union was also marking their first anniversary. Dubai possibly has the highest concentration of five-star hotels compared to any other global city, with more than 142 hotels in the city classified as five-star.
Because of the resultant competition, it is easier to have five-star accommodation in Dubai at competitive prices. Back home I have slept in a few hotels and guest houses when I travel up country for work, but experiencing five-star treatment in Dubai is something I will not forget.
The customer care was top notch, making me forget problems back home. My hotel room overlooked Dubai Creek, a partly man made water body featuring a waterfront that came alive at night with fountains rising and dipping in rhythm.
Above the creek, coordinated drone displays took to the sky, forming shifting patterns that hovered over the creek before dissolving into the sky. I could watch all that from my hotel window. When it came to meals, there was little urge to experiment. The dining experience felt familiar to that in fine hotels in Kampala.
WINTER WITHOUT SNOW
I had heard about Dubai and its snowless winter season, but did not think I would get a chance to experience it. From the moment we landed, we got our share of the coldness and I was wondering how Dubai could be this cold yet it is a desert country, until someone told me, “This is the winter period”.
It is not European-cold, exactly, but still colder than Kampala on a cold morning. At the hotel especially during breakfast, hotel staff hand out shawls on request.
INSIDE THE DUBAI MALLS
The Dubai festival city mall was right next to my hotel, and it was the first thing I visited immediately after unpacking. It made our Arena and Acacia malls look like small shops.
The three storey mall is so magnificent and beautiful that each level gives you a different scenery to marvel at. It is so huge that to get a full tour of the mall you have to pay a fee for a ‘mall cab’ to drive you around.
I visited the mall for three good days, but each day I could see a section I had not seen during the previous visit. The mall hosts a wide range of cafes, casual and fining dining eateries and international brands stores.
On the final day, we visited the world’s biggest malls, Dubai Mall, and indeed its size was just overwhelming, at one point we got lost and needed Google Maps to find our way through the complex.
The mall has a massive indoor aquarium, meticulously designed interiors, brightly lit spaces, robot displays, cafes and almost all international fashion brands have a store here; the icing on the cake was experiencing the fountain show at the base of the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world.
At a fee, tourists ride an elevator to the observation deck, from where one sees all of Dubai sprawled outside. At the fountain show, the surrounding pond transforms into a stage of light, music and ‘dancing water’, as Burj Khalifa puts on a lights display, creating an unforgettable scenery. I had never felt more alive!
THE DUBAI METRO
The transport means in Dubai for people who don’t own cars is mainly the metro and cabs, although using the swanky cabs is quite costly, where by a 10 minutes journey can cost up to 40 AED, which is equivalent to Shs 40,000 in Uganda, for our movement around the city we chose the cheaper means: a boat ride from our hotel to the metro station cost only 2 AED.
At the metro station that is where the real transport experience starts. Every passenger is required to have the metro card that costs 25 AED. Each trip costs around 3-7 AED, depending on the distance.
The other option is to buy a one-stop ticket if the journey is short, otherwise you may have to buy a ticket at every stop. The Dubai Metro, built to shield the city’s residents from the scorching sun most of the year, has indoor stations for the red and green lines.
The red line links Dubai International Airport to major places such as Deira (where you are more likely to hear Luganda liberally spoken in random shops), Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai and Dubai Mall.
The red line represents the new Dubai and along the way you can see numerous sky scrapers, the museum of the future and many others. The green line serves the older parts of the city, including areas around Dubai Creek and Dubai Healthcare City, offering access to historic neighbourhoods and commercial hubs.
During the morning and evening hours, the metro is so packed that the only space you have to yourself is where you are standing. Navigating that maze is not a piece of cake; at one point we got lost and a stranger had to call someone we knew in Dubai to give him directions to where were going, before telling us which metro station we should board from.
DUBAI NEVER SLEEPS
It is only in Dubai where you move around the mall at 11pm and see children still playing, enjoying musical strollers cars and other toys. This was a surprise, given that in Uganda it is uncommon to find children as young as six months out with their parents having fun at that time of the night; in Dubai it was a normal sight.
The adults also have their share of fun; from cafes that serve a range of meals till late, fashion stores that stay open for late night shoppers, well-lit streets for photos and more, all I can say is, that city never sleeps.
I mean who takes a boat cruise at 9pm? Only in Dubai. Because Dubai is populated by mostly foreigners (85 percent), who are there to work or for tourism, the indigenous Emiratis that own the city reportedly prefer to stay away during the day, and come out at night when it is cooler and their visitors have retired.
THE HUSTLE SIDE OF DUBAI
When someone hears about Dubai, what comes to mind is luxury, expensive shopping malls and highend lifestyle; however, that is not the only facet of Dubai. It is a public secret that the cost of living in Dubai is high, and residents work for every penny they spend.
I got a chance to visit a place in Deira called Union, and there things were different; no fancy malls, no skyscrapers, but a place for business, where you find cheap things to buy. There are many Ugandans in Union; “Every Ugandan who has just reached Dubai and does not know where to go, comes here,” said our guide.
In fact, I found some Asians in a phone shop, who could speak smatterings of Luganda. Union, like its name, has Nigerians, Indians, Nepalese and many other nationalities. It is a cleaner version of downtown Kampala, and people here live a simple life and jobs do not pay that much.
For context, Downtown Dubai and Downtown Kampala are polar opposites; the former represents the swankiest and newest parts of Dubai, while Downtown Kampala includes the seediest parts of our city.
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