You see, I was born in 1996. I grew up watching documentaries on “giant construction projects” and Dubai was where most of such projects were coming to fruition when I was just a young pupil. Normally, when I visit a new country, the most recently built thing I plan to see would be a factory from the 1960s, or something along those lines. Obviously, I do end up seeing and visiting parts of cities that are more recently built, but those are never really on my itinerary. I am a historian; I like older things. With that being said, I was looking forward to my time in the UAE, and certainly in Dubai. I watched the building of Burj Khalifa almost from scratch as a child and dreamt of seeing it one day with my own eyes. I knew of the Palm Jumeirah as a kid, it was featured on newspapers we would have at home, and certainly on TV at least a dozen times. I heard of the Dubai Frame when it was under construction, and when it was finalized halfway into my high school. All of this is to say, Dubai is (mostly) a very modern city. While it has its own historic parts which I wrote about last week, most of us know it as a modern phenomenon, and that is certainly the image that I had on my mind before visiting it. After all, practically all the following places that I will mention below are younger than me, and yet, they seem to work so well together already, which is a feat on its own. While initially I had my concerns, I ended up enjoying all parts of Dubai quite a lot in this trip of mine, and in this article, you can find a selection of the more modern parts of the town that I liked the most.
Let us start with Dubai Mall, a mall that made realize that I did not really hate the very concept of malls, I simply did not like the ones I visited before. Dubai Mall has it all. Its food court is top notch, the interior design is superb, and even if the original mall area may seem somewhat ordinary at first glance, the authorities truly upped their game in time by adding new (and more exciting) wings to it, such as this China Town themed area in recent years.
There is also an actual dinosaur skeleton here, one belonging to a diplodocus, and a massive indoors aquarium, as well as a bunch of other attractions. If shopping is not your thing, like me, then you may still enjoy the Dubai Mall given how many unusual (for malls that is) things that it has inside. If shopping is your thing, then you will be happy to hear that there are an almost blasphemous number of brands inside this massive complex.
Perhaps the main reason why Dubai Mall exists and thrives is the fact that it acts as a one stop shop for anyone who comes to see Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building and likely Dubai’s most renowned landmark. It is a phenomenally beautiful structure at night and manages to make its presence known even during daytime. There is also a rather charming musical show which uses the fountains and lights that can be found in the middle of the area in between the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, which is why this space can get very crowded later on in the evening.
This whole area is as futuristic as it can get, and while I am not doing the best job of showing it in all of its glory, that is because Dubai in general, and more specifically its more modern parts are already some of the most well documented and advertised spots in the whole world. Sharing ten more photos of these gorgeous skyscrapers would be most uncharacteristic for this website, which, at least for the most part, aims to bring the lesser visited parts of the globe in some limelight. Still, it is most inauthentic to ignore a very memorable part of my trip to the UAE, so here we are.
If you enjoy fountain shows, or similar flashy entertainment, you probably already know that there are many other opportunities for those around Dubai. For example, you can enjoy a similar night show in Dubai Festival City Mall, to the one that you could find by the Burj Khalifa. However, when I visited this place, I was positively surprised to run into the recording of a live episode of the Emirati version of X Factor instead of another fountain show. I do think that I was lucky since you can find fountain shows elsewhere too, and this was certainly more than what I signed up for on that night!
Since we seem to be going from one mall to another, it seems to be the right time to share my favourite mall in all of Dubai, and therefore, the world, at least so far. It is none other than the excellent Souk Madinat Jumeirah. This place has a captivating atmosphere. It does help that you can see Burj Al Arab from over here, but that is not really enough on its own.
The point of this mall seems to be to look and feel like an Emirati souk, and it nails that just right. Moreover, this is where I ended up getting my souvenirs, and while they may have been a bit overpriced compared to similar goods you can find in the souks of Old Dubai, you cannot really beat the vast selection of some of the shops here. It is also often less crowded than some of the contestants as well, at least, that was my experience with it in the two times I visited it.
However, there is more to Dubai’s modern face than some decent malls, though they are, once again, surprisingly enjoyable, especially when the sun is all the way up in the sky. Nevertheless, for lovers of modern art, and for what one may refer to as hipster crowds, Alserkal Avenue is a must visit place. There are a few studios here, some have open exhibition halls, some do not. There are also some luxurious cafes, and a highly respected cinema which apparently shows an excellent selection of independent movies.
I liked the available art that was on display and enjoyed watching a few artists at work even more. It is a relatively small area, and not being used to such affluent areas, it is interesting to see that many Ferraris and Maseratis back-to-back at times, which could be yet another good reason for some of you car enthusiasts to visit this spot.
One of the liveliest and most luxurious part of the town is the area around JBR Beach, which is known as the Dubai Marina. This was where I ran into about 90% of the foreigners I saw in Dubai. I mean, I do not consider the non-citizen residents such as the majority of the labour force to be foreigners, by foreigners I mean travellers like me who are here for a short time.
This is hardly surprising. This place has some of the finest beaches I have seen in a long time, though as is the case with most decent beaches across the globe, it seemed like not many people were actually out here swimming. They were sunbathing, playing some games, socializing, eating around the premises, and so on.
JBR Beach was also where I came across a few DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival) shows. I especially enjoyed the acapella group from Hong Kong. However, the establishments in this part of the city seemed to be noticeably more expensive given how they are also at times noticeably more luxurious, so spending most of your day here could get pricy. With that being said, I am certain that there are cheaper spots to eat around in the Dubai Marina as well, such as the branches of international fast food brands, and possibly a few other places that one must look into beforehand.
While travelers with thicker wallets may have an even more enjoyable time in Dubai Marina, I nonetheless also enjoyed my time there, especially as it does have some exceptional views after sunset. Therefore, you should at least spend a few hours to visit Dubai Marina later in the day if you are already visiting the town.
As we near the end of this article, which already turned out to be longer than I expected, I just want to say that while I go from one modern marvel to another in quick succession, there is obviously a bit more to these megastructures than just looking at them from the outside. While I am much more interested apprecating these architectural marvels from the outside, going atop the Dubai Frame, pictured above, or Burj Khalifa as many others do, are some popular attractions to consider in Dubai.
The park that surrounded the Dubai Frame, called Zabeel Park, was where I more or less ended my tour of Dubai, and so it feels right to finish this article here as well. It was almost Christmas, and so there were a lot of Filipino families enjoying a BBQ and reading verses from the Bible all around the park, which really added a most beautiful twist to my early morning walk surrounded by some much needed greenery.
In a way, Dubai is like a book that you want to keep on reading despite knowing the ending of. It is same old same old, especially once you get used to it, but yet, it still somehow keeps you hooked. While it is easy to criticize, I do think that doing the rarer thing, as in, admiring it for what it is and not criticizing it for its growing pains that have already been shared by most other metropolises across the globe is necessary at times. For a city that was barely bigger than a sizeable village just over half a century ago, Dubai is doing quite well for itself today. As things stand today, Dubai does, at times, admittedly feel like a massive playground for tourists at its more modern parts, and while I understand how problematic that this may be for some locals, I find it unfair not to appreciate the city as the highly attractive destination that it is for us travellers. Regardless of one’s own opinions on what good urban development should look like, perfecting this shiny exterior and becoming a luxury travel destination through that is one of the goals of the city’s designers, and that goal seems to be achieved in my opinion.