Destination #9: Dubai
Welcome to tax heaven filled with expats for rich and famous! By tax heaven I mean no one pays taxes here. No income tax. No VAT. No state tax. No sales tax. Zip! 85% of the population in Dubai are immigrants. True Emirati's are so rare that the government pays them $19,000 USD for marrying a fellow Emirati. The country is so rich that their police cars include Bugatti's and Lambo's. With the 7th largest oil reserve in the world with a population of 9 million residents (NYC=8.5 million), it's not surprising to see why everything is so extravagant here.
We spent 3 nights in Dubai which is the right amount of time to see the city. We started the trip by having dinner in The Atmosphere which hovers over the Dubai Marina. This is where I had the best mashed potatoes in my life. The secret ingredient was truffles! Oh yeah, umamimamimami. We headed over to the Jumeirah beach resort for after-drinks where we took pictures of the beautiful self-proclaimed 7-star hotel Burj Al Arab while sipping on our $15 corona's. lol. When we got back to the hotel attached to the Mall of Emirates, we were impressed to hear that the stores are opened until 2am. It's Ramadan so everything opens late but to think that a mall doesn't closes until 2am vs 9pm in the US is kinda funny.
The next day we went up to the world tallest tower Burj Khalifa. This $1.5 billion property is built on sand (lol) and bolsters 160-levels of office spaces and holds 6 world records. The view from the top was surprisingly dusty on this hot summer day. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the world and the palm but no cigar. Nevertheless, the exhibition was enjoyable as it walks you through the history and construction of this beast.
The highlight of day 3 was the desert safari! We were picked up from our hotel in a 4x4 land cruiser and brought straight to the desert. While in the US we call it off-road driving, they call it dune bashing and for good reasons. The land cruiser was literally on a 45-degree angle and the only thing that's keeping us from not flipping over is the extremely soft sand that slides every time the vehicle goes side ways. They brought us to a camp site where we could ride camels, sand board, get henna tattoos, and grab dinner. It was definitely worth the hour long trip to the Arabian desert.
Off to London!
