A Dubai adventure

Dubai Dubai
My first Winter sun holiday to an exotic destination as a tourist was Dubai Christmas and New Year 2016. What a fantastic way to end the best year of my life thus far. 
A year where I ran 3 half marathons, the London Marathon, walked an ultra marathon in a great time with a lovely girlfriend, excelled at work, grew spiritually, involved myself with youth work and sang in the Christmas carol choir at church and lost weight through discipline on the Dukan diet. I had great holidays with fabulous friends to Turkey, Crete and Prague and visited Scotland on my birthday and celebrated my Grandma’s 100th birthday. I fell in love again and indeed with life. I made progress in the journey to a more authentic Rosalind. How do I top this? A visit to Dubai of course….
From the moment we arrived in Dubai there was a surge of excitement in the warm day and night air, the smells of the street and the colours of the desert sand, beach and skyscrapers. Dubai claims it is the city where dreams come true and where reality is pushed to its limits. This couldn’t be more true. Whilst you are swimming in the Arabian Sea, you are relaxing on the whitest of beach sands against a background of the tallest and most spectacular skyscrapers all competing for beauty and height.Between the day and night the contrast is spectacular with the night lights and the technics making them shine like Christmas trees as far as the eye can see. 
What I found most spectacular was the architecture and the contrast in building design and the space that the buildings managed to accommodate. Where did all these tourists come from to fill these luxury sky scrapers? From somewhere it appears…
I was surprised by the vast distances between old, middle and new Dubai and completely by luck, we had chosen a hotel in midtown Dubai giving us easy access to the metro network and buses. These are easy to navigate, clean modern and very comfortable with air conditioning and facilities at every station. 
What struck me the most was the cleanliness of everything and the way in which a multitude of cultures were able to mingle together either as locals, ex pats or tourists. There are no beggars or street cats/dogs, no drunken hooligans or foul mouthed bad language heard anywhere. People are courteous and obey the rules. It did feel like a compliant city and one where you knew the rules you had to operate in, and you just did this. I adapted quickly to drinking tea and water with meals as opposed to wine and spirits, which i enjoy on my holidays. 
There is plenty to see and do in Dubai. We had pre booked 3 excursions – a desert safari, a day at Atlantis waterworld and a luxury meal and visit to the top of the Burj Khalifa – the worlds tallest building. Each one offered us a new and unique experience with excitement and adventure. I say this as you have so much choice in how to arrive at these chosen locations where you begin your adventure.
The desert safari was terrific. We were picked up in a land rover and driven an hour into the desert where a very exciting sand dune adventure awaited. Our tour guide Ibrahim was hilarious and gave us and our Scottish honeymoon companions the ride of a lifetime. He managed to keep his land rover upside, only just!! Onto a camel ride and sand boarding as the sun sets over the Arabian desert. Exotic indeed. We were treated to a magnificent buffet dinner, with the opportunity to smoke a sheesha along with the Arabs and taste delicious Arabian coffee with dates. Very fine indeed. To end it all, watching a belly-dancer and a man eating fire. It was superb and a delightful experience. 
Atlantis waterworld park on NYE was a fabulous way to end 2016. The slides and the details of the adventure park layout were breath taking against the backdrop of the Atlantis hotel on the palms. A day spent running up and down tubes being terrified by the heights of some of the rides and enjoying floating down Rapids and wave pools – exhilarating. Experiencing a sunset as all the wealthy prepared to arrive at their NYE parties in one of the most beautiful and decadent cities was spell binding. 
We saw in 2017 on the beach being enthralled by the fireworks display of the Burj Al Arab surrounded by a sober variety of a multitude of cultures all enjoying beach parties with their families against the sounds of the Arabia sea breaking on the shore. I felt blessed to have such an experience that was priceless. Everyone being respectful of each other’s space yet coming together to celebrate the start of a new year. Fireworks being displayed as far as the eye could see. Truly remarkable. Then the fun of getting home the 15km needed to rest our tired heads after an adventure packed day… Traffic jams that were mind boggling. A clever man saw the opportunity to use his car for private taxi hire and after bartering with him his price for the lengthy journey to our hotel, we were soon on our way to the dawn of the 1st January. 
Later that day, with our adrenalin running high, it was onto the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest skyscraper and dinner on their rooftop terrace overlooking the dancing fountains. They put on the most incredible fountain display every 30 minutes similar to the Vegas display. Spell binding. To sip on an exotic Mojito cocktail against the backdrop of the fountains and the Burj whist enjoying a 3-course dining experience was an experience I will always treasure. I felt like I was in Disney land. The sky scrapers are so surreal and like a city out of Batman…
There was so much to enjoy. Trips to the beach on public transport to integrate with the local communities, largely Indian and Pilipino enjoying the buses and metro services which are easy to use. We walked a huge amount covering about 12km a day by foot. This was the way to truly experience all that the city had to offer and not just the decadence. A trip on the ABRA riverboats over to the souqs and Deibra was sensational. Avoiding the multitude of pleas to enter their stall to buy their spices, materials and gold was tiring, yet enjoyable. Eating street food and drinking fruit juices prepared with fresh ingredients was simply stunning. 
To have been blessed to enjoy the best that Dubai had to offer was incredible and I thoroughly appreciated this. I got another taste of adventure and the pulse of a culture different to my own. It broadened my experiences and pushed me out my comfort zone. I return home enriched by my holiday experience and to be reminded to be grateful for the life I lead and live powered by my spiritual love of God who will guide me as I begin journeying into 2017. 
Happy new year everyone and may your dreams be fulfilled.