Gamel SanKarl

One other exciting experience I have had on my tour of Dubai is having a dinner on a cruise ship.  This was at the Dubai Marina Yacht Club. The club have several ships/vessels for this exceptional experience.  I was on board the Dutch Cruise. This ferry/vessel has four decks. There is an underground deck with rooms for guests wanting to have a hotel-like experience on the vessel.  The first, second and third decks are designed as restaurants. The upper deck is not roofed and has a demacated VIP session.  Guests get to experience the breeze of the sea on this deck while enjoying the breathtaking sights and scenes of the city.  On the vessel, all guests on all decks of the cruise are treated to a buffet with drinks and desert. They also have on schedule a series of performances and entertainment.  I witnessed two shows while on the cruise and both were all sorts of awesome.

My visit to the Dubai Harbour was equally a blast. Everything about the place, from the clean water, to the different yachts and yatch crew etc. radiates beauty and luxury.  I had a great time cruising on a yacht for two good hours. And the experience was surreal.  While aboard, I got to see some parts of the city of Dubai whilst on the waters of the city.  Just by the harbour is SkyDive Dubai. There is a tarmac with jets for visitors who wanted to experience sky diving.  While cruising,  I could see some visitors flying down in their parachutes from the jets. The sights and scenes from the sea was a beautiful one to behold.

I had a desert safari experience. It was simply a thrilling ride!  Being driven up and down this desert in a V8 was all sorts of awesome.  Before the ride, the driver had to deflate the tyres a bit to make movement on the desert easy.  I guess he did this to release pressure from the tyre and prevent them from sinking deep in the sand while in motion on the desert. Well, safety first, I fastened my seat belt and sat tight whilst clinging tightly to the door handle.  I got to do sand skating too but could not move smoothly from top to bottom. Glidding down with the skates was tough without any prior experience.  I fell off mid-way on the two times I tried. I would have loved to try again but couldn't because of a sudden slight headache.  That aside, it was a good experience all the same.

For a long time, I have longed to do quad biking. I have relished the opportunity but hardly made time to enjoy it in Ghana. And so when my Dubai tour package had it on offer, I took it with both hands.  I had this golden experience at Al Barary. This facility has a fleet of quad bikes and other desert oriented automobiles/vehicles.  They have packages for single and double rides. Since I was alone, I went for the single offer. It is a paid service and each offer has its price.  I paid for the single package and was briefly taken through how to start, accelerate and apply brakes when in motion on the quad bike. I started the ride right after the briefing, and Oh my goodness, it was such a thrilling experience riding in the desert.

The Burj Khalifa, just next to the Dubai Mall, is the tallest structure in the world. It is a masterpiece of architectural and engineering ingenuity.  This towering edifice is a creation of the EMAAR Property Group and is worth 1.5 billion dollars, according to an article I chanced on online.  Being the tallest building in the world, it is undoubtedly one of Dabai's attraction.  The Burj Khalifa translated as Khalifah's tower was originally named Burj Dubai.  It was later renamed Burj Khalifa in honour of the president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa Ibn Zayed Al-Nahyan, who doubles up as the ruler of Abu Dhabi, the capital city of UAE. The Burj Khalifa stands tall at 828m and has 125 floors. It has an elevator that can speed travel and transport guests from the ground floor to the 125th floor in 1 min. Well, that is not a hearsay. I had a personal experience and it was a breathtaking one. In a word, I would say, Thrilling!  Indeed, the buildi...

The Dubai Mall is not just the biggest mall in the world but also the most preferred destination for shopping, entertainment and leisure for people all over the world.  My visit to the place presented me with the rare opportunity to see so many people of different nationalities gathered at one place at once.  Considering that the mall covers over 1million sqm and is equivalent to more than 200 football pitches, it is not much of a wonder that it could accommodate the number of people I saw.  I learnt the mall hosts over 1,200 retail shops. Given this number of shops, it is clear why it seemed to me the entire world was in Dubai for shopping this Easter season. Inside the mall are great places of pleasure including the Dubai Mall Fountain, The Indoor Dubai Aquarium and the Underwater Zoo. So much to see and so much to experience...

Some of the exciting new experiences I have had on my tour of the commercial city of Dubai include the following:  1. I have ate Arabic and Indian cuisines including the famous briyani.  2. I have had dinner on a ship during the Dutch cruise.  3. I have rode on a quad bike for 20 minutes at Al Barary during a Desert Safari. 4. I have had a desert safari and enjoyed a bumpy ride in a V8 on a sloppy sandy desert on a sunny day.  5. I have walked the streets of Old Dubai, Old Baladiya and done window shopping in Dabai's city of Gold. 6. I have sampled original perfumes from AJMAL, one of the best brands in Dubai.  7. I have shopped in one of the cheapest shops in Dubai where everything you pick is 1-10 AED.  8. I have walked around the night market in Deira,  and interacted with Ghanaian/Ugandan security men I met in town.  9. I have had the pleasure of riding in a water taxi in Old Dubai.  10. I have had the pleasure of ...

Dubai Frame:  I got me a photo inside the frame of Dubai...:) By the way, the Frame is actually a complete building on its own. This giant steucture is 150m high and 95m wide. It has a lower and upper deck called the Sky deck.   The magnificent structure has a total of 48 floors. It takes the elevator 75 seconds to travel to the topmost floor.    The Frame has a Gallery that tells the story of Old and New Dubai.  It essentially has the big picture of the city, capturing in a perfect perspective; the past, present and future of the city of Dubai.

Powerful words by the Ruler of Dubai as seen inside the Museum of the Future.  "The secret to the renewal of life, the evolution of civilizations,  and the development of humanity is simple: innovation." "The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn't something you await, but rather create." "We may not live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity leaves a legacy long after we're gone." These words of wisdom from the Sheikh really inspires me. I am particularly in love with the third one.  I have always believed that being a writer and publishing my writings is one way I can live life and leave a legacy of my creative expressions long after I am gone.  I believe writers live twice: once in their generation and second in the generations that come after them, through their words.  What do you intend to leave as a legacy when you are no more? Think on this!

I paid a visit to the Future Museum of Dubai. The building is an architectural and engineering marvel. It has no pillars and no corners. It is circular in shape and inspires creativity.  This is a great vision of the ruler, Sheikh Rashid Bin Al Maktoum and the leadership of Dubai.  It is a grand plan on what the city wants to focus on until 2071. And they are already working to make it a reality.  A visit and tour of the facility gives one a glimpse of the future of humanity and the place of Dubai in that future.  The Emirates of Dubai are planning to experience tomorrow, today.  Thus, this museum of the future has been carefully created to give visitors a snapshot of how the future they're building looks like.  The museum is a unique expression of the futuristic goals of the city. It serves as a place where great ideas, technology and creativity are put to good use to shape the future.  All visitors to the Future mu...

On my tour of Dubai, I visited the Island of Jumeirah. This beautiful island is a creation of the Nakheel Group.  Nakheel is translated to mean Palm tree. For this reason, the place is called the The Palm.  An aerial view of the place is a typical symbolic representation of the palm tree.    The Island is 5.5 km by 5.5 km. To create this Island, they brought sand from the sea and sourced rocks from some other places.  They then created a channel that the natural sea water can flow into the man-made Island.  There are about 300 apartments and about forty 5-Star hotels. One of the most significant is the Pointe.  Also on this Island is the famous Atlantis Hotel. This tower of a hotel has about 50 floors and 1539 rooms.

Dubai Marina is such a beautiful place to behold. In this enclave are some of the most awesome architectural pieces of art. In all, there are more than 200 skyscrapers located in this vicinity. And they are mostly hotels and apartments. A visit to this hub of hotels is an excursion on its own. The buildings are truly a testament to the creative prowess of the architects and engineers that made them.

Dubai is part of United Arab Emirates. It is one of the seven states that form the UAE.  Dubai is one of the largests of these seven states, only second to Abu Dhabi, the capital city. It is also the commercial city of the UAE. Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Bin Al Maktoum is the ruler of the city.  It has two parts, the old and new Dubai with different towns within it. There are also hubs for different purposes. These include the Internet city, university city, media City and several others.  And these serve as the respective hubs for technological companies, educational institutions, television and radio stations etc.  The city is well planned, organised, and systemized for its effective running. Most of the buildings are skyscrapers.  Most of these skyscrapers are owned by foreign investors. I understand that in some areas in Dubai, you are only sold a land when you plan to develop a skyscraper not less than 50 floors.  From m...