Thursday, July 1, 2010

A Muslim Yankee in Dubai

DUBAI.

Let me tell you guys is not all that its hyped up to be. I mean yeah it's a pretty cool place but that whole Oo La La feel that everyone gives or the whole, I luv Dubai...I dunno.

Maybe I came in expecting too much.

Yes, well, that could be a possibility.

But Dubai, in my opinion, seems to beat America as the 'Melting Pot'. You see a true mixture of people. And not the kind of diversity where everyone seems to have wrapped themselves into their own little boxes.

While Dubai does seem to be the leading forefront on the most shnazzy looking buildings and construction/architecture miracles...well let's just put it this way, I can't go into the tallest building in the world because there's a waiting list to get in and it's still being constructed...same goes for the world famous 7 star hotel and that palm thingy that they built on a man-made island.

I've had my share of Oohs but I'm still sitting around waiting for something to hit me and be like Oh la la Dubai is so amazing

Don't get me wrong. It's pretty dang cool but I guess my expectations were raised too much.

On the BIG PLUS side, there's Muslim eatables everywhere aka Halal food aka Kosher food for Muslims aka meat and food that is lawfully allowed for Muslims.

So that means all those years worth of commercials that have tortured me from KFC, Chili's, T.G.I Friday's will insh'Allah (God willing) be shoved back in THEIR faces. Because I will have (insh'Allah) tried that food!!!!

P.S. Some of these opinions have a chance of changing after maybe I have explored Dubai a little more. And that was my disclaimer to all Dubai amazonian patriots...if any.

10 comments:

Sana said...

I wanted to go really badly a few years back. now, not so much. IDK why. But yay for halal food. That's one of the perks of living in India. I'm trying to eat as much halal Chinese as I can before I leave this place. And Subway.

Hummus said...

I've never really wanted to go, just because it seems like it hasn't really got a culture of its own- seems to be just basically an American shopping centre of a country, with a warmer climate. :S I'd rather go somewhere with a proper history and culture. I could be wrong about it :S
(But then again, the food is always a plus :D )

Jaz said...

Dubai looks great and I've never visited so I hope you have a great time! As for the halal food, here in Edinburgh, Scotland those food chains are halal anyway yipee!

Farnnay said...

i cant believe they have waiting lists for people to go into those buildings. thats so lame. i hope your trip gets better!

Soda and Candy said...

I haven't been to Dubai but from what I've seen on TV I get the impression that it's probably great for people who are immensely wealthy and can afford to go to and use all the amenities, and for anyone else it's probably just really, really hot.

Yay for the halal food though!

The Demigoddess said...

I have so many friends who moved to Dubai for work and for one year I was so obsessed about moving there, too,but the visa policies are so insane. Like, you can't go there unless you are sponsored by a relative but you can go there if a hotel applies for a visa for you. Anyway, I heard that Dubai isn't as wealthy anymore and I saw an article in a magazine that says a prince from one of the emirates had to bail out Dubai because it couldn't recover from its infrastructure losses.

At any rate,I think it is still a beautiful place and you need to knock yourself out with all that Muslim-certified food.

ellen557 said...

I felt the same way about Dubai to be honest. My favourite thing there was the markets near the gold souk, that to me seemed more of an experience than trekking through the malls. But in saying that Ski Dubai was great! I do agree with you though, food was one of the best things for me when I was in the Gulf... mmmm halal *everything!* :D

Saya said...

OMG I know what you mean about being tortured by adverts - I felt like that when I went to Egypt...it was like OMG FOOD! That I can EAT!!! OMG BUUUUUY!

Except we then got to the problem of it being too expensive. Sigh.

You know Dubai - it's the Middle East's version of the Western world. Ish. With halal KFCs. It's Muslim, but certainly not Islamic...

PI said...

i hear you about the waiting lists thing... i won't be able to see da vinci's "the last supper" here because you have to book like 2months in advance, lol. and same for a lot of other artsy stuff.. but they have historical significance.


dubai is a country on crack.. forreal. i want to go just to snowboard indoors.. otherwise i donno. italy is charming.. does dubai have that kinda charm?

MaryAnne said...

Wanda is in Qatar and we wanted so bad for me to fly over and meet up with her Dubai... unfortuately our wallets weren't agreeing with our spontaneity. :(