Christmas in Dubai

by Adrienne Wilson on

When the Christmas holiday season rolls around I do my part to spread the holiday cheer by putting cards in the mail to all my loved ones and co-workers from past and present. Since I can’t supply the world with gifts I find cards usually suffice for most, but there was one Christmas I remember feeling crushed. A girlfriend of mine who I’d known from high school called me after receiving the card only to say, “Sorry, I don’t celebrate Christmas.” I was stunned. What did she mean she didn’t celebrate Christmas? She had when we were classmates, but times had changed and with her marriage she converted to Islam. Christmas no longer existed in her world. Fine, I thought! I’d never send her another Christmas card or anyone else again. Bah-humbug! Instead I would send Seasons Greetings cards and if anyone made so much as a yelp then they’d get a lump of coal! Simple enough, I think. Can’t we all live harmoniously during such a harmonious time?

The answer is ‘yes’ in Dubai. In this Go World Travel piece on Christmas in Dubai the author takes us through the Wafi City Mall where she finds a 50-foot tall Christmas tree in the lobby and Santa’s Village upstairs. Every kind of Christmas design and decoration you could find or imagine from the Western world was in Santa’s Village. Elves, gingerbread houses, penguins and polar bears all hung out. Dubai is said to be full of surprises, but this was one the writer and even I was blown away by reading. Dubai’s majority are Sunni Muslim, however it is the only emirate to accommodate foreign minorities. Go figure. I never would have thought something like this, but the story makes it real and is an awesome read should you find yourself wondering how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world.

Perhaps I should even forward it to my girlfriend.

Golf With a Twist

by Erik Olsen on

I’m not much of a golfer. Most of my friends can attest to that. I’m not horrible, it’s just that I’ve never really mastered the driver, a rather important part of the game. Also, when it comes to being outside, I much prefer hiking or kayaking to hitting a little white ball around a nicely manicured lawn.

But if golf’s your thing, AND you want to add a dose of adventure to the game, you might be interested in a show called Adventure Golf. The program follows around an amateur golfer named Ian Cross as he plays courses in Dubai, Japan, South Africa, Scotland, and Florida. After the round, he takes viewers around the local environs and shows them (one would guess) all the lovely poverty (except in Dubai) that skirts the course.

Flying First Class with the Emirates

by Erik Olsen on

Ah, first class. The real silverware, the champagne on your arrival, the cushy seats. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Or does it? Well, a site that features some of the best that Google Video has to offer featured this clip, shot by an obvious amateur, of his experience riding on United Emirate Airlines. The camera work is shoddy, but the seats, well, lets just say you’ll be seething the next time you ride coach.

Travel like a sheik with a gaping space all to yourself and fresh OJ in a crystal glass. All that’s missing are the belly dancers and the harem girls feeding you loins of lamb. Of course, maybe the guy’s tape ran out.

Luxist on Jumeirah Festival of Taste

by Adrienne Wilson on

As much as I really heart our sister-blog Luxist it does me no good reading many of Deidre Woollard’s blurbs on ridiculously priced hotel stays,
wine fests or swanky private country estates. With each line read I slowly find myself shrinking into the $99 swivel
desk chair from Tar-jay, an
item that surely will never see the light of day judging from her luxurious tastes.

This short summary of
the Jumeirah Festival of
Taste being held in Dubai from May 21-26, 2006 is a prime example of what I’m talking about. This Ultimate Dinner
Party will take four people on an "unparalleled" dining experience. To keep it short and sweet they’ll start
with a cocktail reception at the Jumeirah Emriates Tower, then take off in a helicopter to the Burj Al Arab for first
and second course, followed by a luxury car ride ot the next destination and delicious dessert and eventually ending
the next day after a night stay in the Burj Al Arab. The total package cost is around $27,230.

I take pride
in finding the best bargain, so having large sums of money isn’t a huge deal. Yet no one can knock that rich feeling of
having the option to either munch on mouth-watering desert locusts while camping in under west African stars or
splurging at the first annual Jumeirah Festival of Taste. Provided you had the loot what would you pick? C’mon, make me
proud.