The Dubai shopping festival is on from mid January to mid February but Dubai is a shopper's Paradise all round the year. Even for those who transit
Dubai, Duty free is a must.
Life revolves around the Dubai Creek, a natural seawater inlet that cuts through the center of Dubai. This is where the famous dhows plied the ancient trade routes to India and East Africa. Take a water taxi or abra and cross the Dubai Creek to Deira, to get a panoramic view of the city passing many of the city's historic and modern landmarks.
In the winter edge of the seat excitement is provided by camel races. A village fair comes up providing colour, with vendors selling rugs, blankets, beads and other rural artifacts. Dubai by night is however best savoured on board a dhow.
No trip to Dubai is complete without a Desert Safari to experience the majesty of the desert. Driving on sand in a dune buggy (4x4 vehicle) provides a roller coaster ride due to shifting sands. Sand skiing on special boards on high dunes in the interior of the desert is a fast emerging adventure sport. The Safari generally ends with a spectacular desert sunset followed by a traditional Arabian barbecue under the stars and can even be accompanied by music, belly dancing and the smoking of nargilehs and sometimes even a display of falconry.
Visit the Wild Wadi, a water park with 24 fun filled rides at Jumeirah Beach Resort. Another fun park is Wonderland with lots of water rides including a Caribbean cruise, water mist show and water Cinema where the films are projected on screens that are thin films of water.
Dubai is famous for its Souks (traditional bazaars of the East) the most famous being the Gold Souk, the biggest in the world. Each shop window is crammed full of gold jewelry with some of the lowest prices in the world. The Tiny lanes of the Spice souk on the Deira side are redolent with the smell of incense, spices and rose petals, with bags of spices everywhere. As the scents of the past take over, what comes to mind are scenes from the Arabian Nights. Shop for nargilehs (hookah or hubble bubble pipes) or coffee pots. Small textile shops sell veils with fringed edges, pantaloons with embroidered anklets. All one needs is a belly dancer to appear out of the shadows with the Sheikh of Araby to complete the picture.
The Dubai Museum is in the Al Fahidi Fort, which was built around 1787 and once guarded the city's landward approach. It has, in different avatars, served as a Palace, Garrison and prison and was renovated for use as a museum only in 1971.
Stop by at Sheikh Saeed's house dating from the late 1800's and built in the traditional manner of the Gulf Coast. It is now a museum and lies close to the Bur Dubai side of the Shindagha tunnel next to the Heritage and Diving Village.
Dubai is well connected by flights from around the world so do stop by for a visit. Any time is shopping time, so shop till you drop, after all that is why you came!