If you are thinking of a Dubai vacation, you will not be getting what you might think. You might expect a Muslim country with strict rules, and practically living in the past. Well, you will be in for a shock because Dubai is not like that. Located on the southern shore of the Arabian Gulf, it is the ideal meeting place of East and West, even though Istanbul claims to hold that title. But that is only geographically.

Culturally, Dubai has expanded from the 1960s onwards, when the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his father pulled their country into the 20th century, and turned it into a cosmopolitan centre of business and luxury that has as its capital the fastest growing city in the world. The old Dubai intermingles with the new, and round one corner lies the old traditional town with its wonderful old mosque and old fort that was used to fight off invaders from the east and west, and then round the other you have the tallest and most modern skyscraper hotel in the world.

That’s Dubai. It is composed of two halves, Bur Dubai and Diera, separated by The Creek, an inland waterway that forms a natural harbor and navigable channel through the center of the city. The Creek area, in fact, is the site for some of the most modern hotels you will find anywhere in the world, and it is a fact that at least half of the tall cranes in the world are situated in Dubai. Diera is where the modern buildings are still being erected, while on the other side of The Creek, Bur Dubai, you have the traditional heritage area and Dubai Museum, situated in the Al Fahidi Fort with its diorama displays of traditional Arab life. Here you find exhibits of old dhows and the pearl fishing that once was the main income of Dubai before the Japanese pearl fisheries became too strong to compete against.

If you are a golfer, Dubai has a lot offer with the championship Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, to which visitors are welcome, and of course, The Emirates Golf Club, the first all grass course in the Middle East and home to the European PGA Desert Classic. The other sport that Dubai is famed for is horse racing, and the Godolphin Stables are named after one of the three Arab stallions that founded today’s thoroughbred racing blood lines.

The Dubai skyline is something you must see. Manhattan may be good, but Dubai is in a class of its own. The Burl al-Arab is the tallest hotel in the world, claimed to be taller than the Eiffel Tower. It is built in the shape of the sail of a traditional Arab dhow sailing boat, the sail being the most awesome feature, and is built on a man made island in the Gulf. Speaking of hotels, since you are in a Muslim country, there are no pubs. However, in Dubai, alcohol is allowed to be served in hotels to cater for Western tastes. There are other provisions made to Westerners here, though we should not dwell on those.

Although Dubai is advantageously sited with respect to the trading routes from the East and the West, it was still only a small trading town until the late nineteenth century when the British ‘discovered’ it and it became part of the Trucial States, or Oman. It became part of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, the formation of which was largely due to the efforts of Sheikh Maktoum of Dubai and Sheik Zaved of Abu Dhabi. Its rich history, as part of ‘the Pirate Coast’, is evident in the old parts of the city still remaining such as the fort, and displayed in the Dubai Museum.

No Dubai vacation would complete without a visit to the souks. The souks, or souqs, are traditionally market places, or places where things are sold, and the main souks in Dubai are the Gold Souk, where gold jewellery is sold by the weight of the gold plus a ‘making charge’, the Spice Souk (wonderful spicy smells), the Perfume Souk (wonderful scents) and the Fish Souk (not so wonderful smells and perfumes). These are traditional style markets, apart perhaps from the Perfume Souk that seems to be dominated by the classic perfume houses rather than anything truly traditional.

There are too many attractions in Dubai to talk about here, but a Dubai vacation also offers the wonderful Dubai Children’s City and Creekside Park, and the flumes of the Wild Wadi Water Park close to Jumeirah beach. Dubai has so much to offer, whether you are interested in history, shopping, keeping the children entertained or just out for a good time. Dubai has it all!

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