Dubai - The City of Life - Essay Example

Mohamed Hablail Meredith Jeffers English 101 The of Life What is it like to live in Dubai? How modern is Dubai? When did Dubai started toflourish? Most people think that this city, which is located in the Middle East, is a desert. Actually Dubai is one of the most modern cities in the world, it includes the tallest tower and the biggest mall in the world. It has breathtaking artificial islands beautifully laid on the sea that extraordinarily shaped like a palm making Dubai one of the most attractive destinations on the surface of the globe. Dubai is one of seven emirates (states) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the third largest city right after Abu Dhabi and Sharjah but when it comes to popularity, there is no doubt that Dubai is the most popular city in UAE. It is the economic capital of the UAE and one of the best tourist site in the world. I grew up in Sharjah which is 15 minutes far away from Dubai. As a kid, I used to spend my weekends and holidays at this marvelous city. I used to go hunting with my family and have dinner at the park or have dinner at luxurious restaurants in one of the five stars hotels. I have a childhood friend named Ahmed who came from Dubai where we used to have a good time in Dubai and Sharjah. Ahmed and I applied to West Virginia University together and we are now roommates. We shared many wonderful memories in Dubai together where he spent his entire childhood in the city. Such, he is the first person that came to mind when I decided to interview someone from Dubai. During the interview, Ahmed narrated that “during weekends, we either go to the park or desert and that is the happiest part of my childhood.” Ahmed’s childhood was full of joy and happiness where he and his family had fun at gatherings, doing barbeque and playing traditional games together. The parks in Dubai were not that big but he had much fun swinging with his brothers and cousins in it. During winter, he and his family usually go to the other side of the city, which is the lovely desert, to hunt, ride camels and desert bikes. Among these activities, riding and feeding camels was Ahmed’s favorite part because he is so passionate about camels. “Those old days people had different types of lifestyle” he said. Dubai did not have big malls and cinemas, buildings were not that tall, the urban city did not flourish yet but few years later Dubai has developed and progressed a lot where we witnessed very big changes during that time. These changes were the vision of ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Almaktoom, the president of Dubai. His vision focused on rising and developing Dubai to be one of the best cities in the world. As a result of this vision, Dubai transformed from a regular city to a big fancy modern city. Today, modern Dubai’s downtown has the tallest tower in the world which is surrounded by a bunch of five star hotels where the biggest mall in the Middle East “The Dubai Mall” can also be found. The city became full of malls and cinemas that changed the lifestyle of the people that going to the park or desert is no longer an option anymore during weekends. Ahmed recalls that during his childhood, he also go to malls and cinemas but during winter, he still prefers going to desert rather than watching a movie, shopping or drinking a coffee at Starbucks. The best way to spend summer in Dubai is either go to the beach or visit a water park. There are two big water parks in Dubai, which are Wild Wadi Water Park and Atlantis Water Park. Wild Wadi Water Park is located beside the astonishing Burj Al-Arab while Atlantis Water Park is part of the Atlantis hotel. Ahmed mentioned Jumairah Beach Residence (JBR) as the best beach in UAE where one can enjoy many beach activities. One can also visit the beautiful yacht marina that has a huge food court overlooking the beach view. There are also many other activities in the summer such us Dubai summer festival that lasts for the whole summer. It has special attraction like shopping discounts and sales including carnivals which compels people from different countries to visit Dubai during the summer. Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world is located in Dubai. It towers with 154 floors that attracts most of the tourists in the Middle East. Burj Khalifas construction which started in January of 2004 faced many challenges as “building something new for the first time, with no one in the world who had the experience to do such a thing was a huge challenge” Ahmed explained. “Moneywise, United Arab Emirates did not have any issues with money at the time because they were expanding so quick with their large projects.” Ahmed said. Burj khalifa costs somewhere near 1.5 billion U.S Dollars. Burj Khalifa has more than one place to visit such as the Dubai Fountain which features over 6,000 lights and 50 colored projectors. It is 275m long and shoots 150m. Burj Khalifa also contains Burj Khalifas park, which has more than one type of park – the water park, palm park, flowers park, and desert park. Ahmed told me that he just loved going to Burj Khalifa fountain during midnight when it is empty and he use to sit by himself for one full hour. Weather in Dubai is almost hot for the whole year. Dubai beaches are full most of the time because of the hot weather. It is only during winter that we get some cold weather and from Ahmed’s point of view, it is the coldest winter a person could experience. It is the coldest winter because of the windy the cold air. Winter is the season where people don’t like going to the city anymore. Ahmed and his friends leave for the desert during winter break or weekends to hunt. But when winter ends, Dubai is extremely hot. “The worst thing about the weather in Dubai is when it is humid and really hot.” Ahmed said. In the end, Ahmed and I had almost the same point of view about Dubai. We shared the same opinion that Dubai is one of the biggest modern city in the world and contains many special attractions to make any tourist want to visit Dubai and these attractions were completed in just a short time. It is so beautiful that every tourist should include Dubai as one of a must visit city! Reference Alghamdi, Ahmed. “The City of Life.” Personal interview. 15 Sept. 2015. Read More