On Wednesday 4.1. we started our six month long trip. We packed the kids’ school stuff, clothes for a week and all the other essential things from laptops to toothbrushes into our backpacks and off we went. Marko and Jaana are experienced backpackers, but now we wanted to introduce the concept to the kids as well.
The first destination for us was Dubai, because it was located halfway to Malaysia, which was our first destination where we planned to stay a bit longer.
The Finnair flight was smooth and quick. The quickness came apparently as a surprise to the captain too, since the last announcement was “Cabin crew, this got shorter, landing in ten minutes.”
We got through the passport control very quickly, because we were guided to a queue for families only. They checked our passports quickly, made us look into a camera (apart from Risto, who was too short for the camera), stamped our passports and then we were in Dubai. If immigration was quick, you can’t say the same about the luggage. We waited for ages for our backpacks. It took so long that the taxi driver we had booked in advance called Marko asking where we were. Finally all four backpacks were there and we could take our taxi to the hotel.
The hotel was located close to the airport, but that’s only on a map. It took about 20 minutes for the taxi to get to the hotel. Once we got our rooms, it was so late that we went to bed straight away.
The next day after the breakfast we went to check out the rooftop swimming pool. It wasn’t big, but big enough for us.
After the swim we decided to take the subway to the Dubai Mall. The station was conveniently right across our hotel, so it was very easy to use the subway. We bought the tickets and hopped on the train. The trains had designated cabins for women and children only. Marko didn’t want to push his luck, so we chose a common cabin.
Everything at the Mall was big, shiny and expensive. We went to check out Manolo Blahnik shoes, but when the person working there pointed Jaana and Ronja towards the discount shoes instead of the newly arrived ones, we realized we were in a wrong shop.
Since Risto wasn’t too much into shopping anyway, we went to the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. That too was extremely expensive! But since there was a chance to meet up with the Gentoo penguins, we bought the ultimate experience ticket with the penguin encounter. The ticket was pricy (1596AED, about 400€), but worth it. In addition to meeting the penguins (no picture of the encounter, own cameras were strictly forbidden and the official photos were 50€ each), we go to ride on a glass bottom boat in the main tank, see the shark eggs and the shark nursery, saw some fruit bats and other nightly creatures, checked out the gigantic crocodiles, walked through the underwater tunnel and of course exited though the gift shop.
After the Aquarium we were more than ready to head back to the hotel. Before that we needed to stop at the local supermarket to get something to snack on in the evening. In the supermarket there was a section only for non-muslims. There they sold the evil pork among other things.
The next morning during the breakfast Ronja spotted two men filming dance moves outside our hotel. First we thought they were a couple of wannabe-rapstars, but when Ronja went to talk to them she found out that they were actually a part of a dance group called Waffle NYC. They’re from New York, and have performed on America’s got talent. You can find their videos on YouTube (link to AGT performance). They told us that they were performing on a dance festival here in Dubai. They invited us to come to the show, but we chose the day on the beach.
We booked a taxi to take us to Kite Beach. Since the weather was a bit windy and cool (just perfect for us Finns), the beach wasn’t crowded at all. The water in the Persian Gulf was a bit too chilly even for us, so after a quick dip in the sea, the kids were playing on the beach building sand castles. Marko took a stroll on the beach promenade, but even though he walked three kilometres, he didn’t get close to the Burj al Arab, which seemed to be only a short walk away.
In the evening the kids went for a moonlight swim at the rooftop swimming pool. Then it was time to go to bed again.
The next morning we woke up for the sound of the rain. Yes, it can rain in Dubai too. Usually it lasts only for a short time, but this one just kept going and going. The swimming pool was closed due to the rain – you might get wet you see. And the water temperature was maybe a couple of Celsius lower than the previous day, so it was a no go. Oh well, we went for a dune safari instead.
First we did a bit of dune bashing with our driver. We couldn’t go too fast though, because the rain had hardened the surface of the dunes and the ride could have been too bumpy.
After the dune ride we were taken to a local tourist trap where everybody tried to sell us something. After a very long wait there, another driver took us finally to the campsite, where we rode the camels (of course!), had a local barbecue and watched belly dancing, tanoura dancing and a fire show. Ronja wasn’t too happy about the camel ride at first. I’m not sure whether it was the camel or Ronja that made a louder noise… But once Ronja got the hang of it, she said that riding the camel was fun.
The evening’s belly dancing performance generated a lot of discussion and comments.
Ronja: “How can it be like that here, when it’s a Muslim country?”
Marko: “Allah can’t see these things in the dark.”
Ronja: “She has silicones!”
Risto: “What are silicones?”
The last day we popped by at a local souk. Only thing we eventually ended buying was a cup of ice cream made of camel milk. It was surprisingly good.
