Stopover in Dubai: an eventful day between visits and shocks

So as we left Sri Lanka, I was heading towards France and had planned to stop for a day in Dubai (flying with Emirates) to visit the city.

And this day in Dubai was not easy, but hey, I knew that in advance, just as I knew that I couldn't see everything in this amount of time. I had to make choices about what I wanted to visit first and organize myself accordingly.

Concretely, I had in all a day and a half, my plane not leaving until the afternoon the next day. I had even hesitated to go on an evening safari on the first day or to go skiing, but hey, it was becoming "too much" in terms of management and especially cost.

What to do in Dubai in one day?

So yes, if you have a free day, voluntary or not (the stopovers are sometimes long, for my part, it was voluntary, my thirst for discovery pushed me to discover this city rather than just flying over it), it is always interesting to discover this city apart.

This is what my visit schedule was based on:

• Dubai Marina
• Dubai Creek
• Burj Al Arab
• Burj Khalifa

I had decided to leave my luggage at the airport to avoid being weighed down with it, as checking in at the hotel was not normally possible at this early hour (6am), obviously for a fee (25 AED for my big bag, or 5 euros for 12 hours of care, it's reasonable), but I also knew that this day would not be cheap.

So after discovering Dubai airport, I went to the metro at Terminal 3. My reasoning being first to go as far as possible, I headed towards the Marina, south of the city. Not that it was unmissable, but from the photos I had seen of it, it looked interesting, to photograph, that is, because that was my primary goal in visiting Dubai, to take photos in an urban environment.

So I discovered this marina, obviously artificial (I mean that the cove did not exist before) like of course the whole city, which has the air of an amusement park so much does everything seem sanitized and surreal.

But the city does not hide it, quite the contrary, because it has no shortage of attractions and is competing in ideas to know what to build and offer to its inhabitants (like skiing in the middle of the desert...) and to attract tourists, proof after all that it works since I am here visiting it.

The morning atmosphere is pleasant, it is not too hot yet, although it is not yet summer and therefore the temperatures will not exceed 40°C in the afternoon (compared to 45 and more in summer!). It is time for jogging, there are no crowds.

With all these buildings and shapes, there is plenty to do for those who love photography and especially architecture. At one point I was passing a group of workers on their lunch break. I thought about the living conditions of these 21st century convicts, they generally welcomed me with a smile, even inviting me to share a piece.

Once I had done the tour, I took the metro again for my next stop, back near the airport to Dubai Creek, the souk district.

I was not prepared and got off at the wrong station... I found myself at Rigga station, in practice if you want to get as close as possible you have to get off at the next station "Union" on the red line and then you can get closer by taking the green line to Baniya.

Getting around Dubai, what means of transport?

A quick aside on transportation in Dubai, basically you have 3 choices:

1. The taxi whose charge is 10 AED, the trip generally costs between 20 and 80 AED depending on the distance (80 is the cost price if I had made the airport-marina trip, the two furthest points, by taxi)
2. The metro, fully automatic, which is currently made up of 2 lines, is practical and inexpensive, count between 2 and 5 AED per journey, you can also take a rechargeable card (Nol Card) or a Travel Pass (also valid for the bus):
   • The red line, opened in 2009, runs North-South from the airport (52km).
   • The green line, opened in 2011, roughly crosses the “historic” districts in the north of the city (17km).
3. The bus, also cheap since the journey is between 1 and 4 AED generally, there is a special bus for tourists which is open tour, that is to say that you take a day pass and get on or off wherever you want on the route of the bus which navigates between the important spots of the city, knowing that there are 2 possible circuits and that there is also a bus for the night.

I had hesitated to take this last option, but I was afraid of finding myself dependent on the timetables and the price, 220 AED (around 55 euros) did not seem really attractive to me.

I had originally booked a car at the airport to ensure maximum independence, but considering the cost and especially the fact of having to drive in an unknown city, etc., I preferred not to do so. Since I had not had to make a deposit in advance, I was free to let it go.

So I did a combined metro/taxi to cover the distances between my different points of visit.

Dubai Creek and the Souks

To get back to where I was, I got off the metro too early, the route from Rigga station to the spice souk that I was visiting was already 3.3 km, knowing that I was still continuing along the loop along the river for 1 additional km.

By the time I got back to the nearest station (Baniyas), I had walked almost 7 km, all on foot... Luckily the temperatures were mild and I'm a pretty good walker.

It took me 1 hour to collect my bag from the airport and head to the Dubai Internet City district so that I could finally check into my hotel (the Comfort Inn) and it was already past 13 p.m.

For simplicity, I took a taxi to avoid lugging all my stuff around on the metro, it cost me about 75 AED (15€). I rested for about an hour before deciding to go eat, to keep it simple I settled for the hotel restaurant, on the ground floor.

At the time, I felt the need to extend my "break". So I stayed in the room a little longer, testing the games on the TV when suddenly, the earth shook...

My first earthquake

It was April 16, 2013, the earthquake occurred on the other side of the Gulf of Oman, at the border between Iran and Pakistan.

With an intensity of 7.8 there, it was at least 35 deaths to deplore. In Dubai, the tremors felt were equivalent to an earthquake between 4 or 5 on the Richter scale. At the time, I didn't really realize it, in my head, I stupidly said to myself, it's the wind that makes the building sway, realizing the absurdity of my reflection, being only on the 5th floor and especially there is no wind...

I suddenly realize: "But it's an earthquake!"

Not that scared, I lay back down, as if nothing had happened, on the bed once the shock had passed. Until a few minutes later the hotel alarm sounded, screaming through loudspeakers to evacuate. Even then, I didn't really realize it at the time, but coming out of my room to listen to where the noise was coming from, I then heard the speech...

And there I was, rushing down the stairwell (thank goodness I wasn't at the top...) to join the other people from the neighborhood gathered at the foot of their respective buildings. While waiting for permission to go back up (to make sure there wouldn't be any aftershocks) I was able to chat a little with a French couple on vacation here for a week. After this particular episode, I quickly went back up and this time went to continue my visits of the day, it was already past 16 p.m....

Direction Burj Al Arab

My goal was to reach the public beach next to the famous 7-star hotel, but again, I misjudged the distances, because it is still 3km from the nearest metro stop (at the Mall of Emirates). Not discouraged, I walked straight towards my goal, I also came across a few other foreigners who clearly preferred to walk too.

After 2km, I pass by a place that I seem to remember the photos of and decide to go and have a look. It is the Madinat Jumeirah souk, which is part of a gigantic resort. It took me 20 minutes from the metro station (compared to 30 minutes of travel, including 2 metro stops/stations and the walk from my hotel).

But by the time I had gone around the Disneysouk, I found myself faced with a choice to make: either I went as planned to the Burj Al Arab and would therefore not be able to see the Burj Khalifa any closer than at night, or I headed straight to the tower at the risk of missing the sunset on the beach near the Burj Al Arab hotel.

At that moment, I decided to go to the tower, because it is still the tallest tower in the world and I preferred to see it (better) during the day.

So here I am again in a taxi and relieved of 40 AED (8€) I arrive at the foot of the impressive 800m tower. I won't linger too long, just enough time to admire the famous show with the fountains, I was lucky, this water jet show with music takes place every 30 minutes every evening between 18pm and 23pm (so I attended the first session!), on weekends only (which for them are actually Thursday, Friday and Saturday) with 2 extras during the day at 13pm and 13:30pm.

So that left me with the opportunity to rush back to the Burj Al Arab, get a super nice taxi and arrive just in time for the sunset on the beach, perfect timing.

Another stroke of luck, there was a kind of "festival" sponsored by one of the princes of the ruling family, right at the end of the beach and with the aim of promoting local culture. The fact is that with modernity, these skills are disappearing...

I stayed there for almost an hour before leaving, after tasting a local specialty, watching a dance show with children, adults also doing a kind of "tribal" dance and soaking up this special atmosphere. This time I would take a taxi rather than walk to the Mall of Emirates station.

By the way, I would take a quick tour inside the dis Mall to see what it looks like and then return to my hotel.

That concludes this somewhat unusual day in the United Arab Emirates. This day cost me a mere 100 euros, but with better planning it is possible to get by for less.

The next day, I would allow myself a lie-in and wait patiently for departure time, this time I would take the metro with all my luggage, challenge accepted! And in the A380 that took me to Paris (my first return to France since my departure for Thailand!!), I saw this mushroom city moving away. Good Bye Dubai!