UAE: First Trip Ever To The Middle East
Here goes another one of my travel blog posts, and another destination I’ve ever been to for the first time of my life - United Arab Emirates.
I originally planned this trip to Asia to finally visit home and my family after 4 years apart, the outbreak of coronavirus smothered my perfect 2020 dream. Nevertheless, I feel very thankful and lucky that I still got to visit Dubai for the first time of my life right before the entire world went under lockdown mode. It was also very nice to spend time with my boyfriend after a couple of months of being apart.
Let’s kick it off with my favorite snap of this trip, a photo of the magnificent Dubai Frame. Doesn’t just looking at it make you wonder, how the heck did they build this gigantic frame? Apparently, this entire structure started from the bottom to the top like every other building, except the very top part of the frame, aka. the Dubai Frame Skywalk was originally built on the ground level, it was then raised all the way to the top to match the side frames.
Dubai Frame landmark divides the city into half, one half preserves its history and heritage and the other half builds the future. The east side is where Dubai Creek is and where you’d find its cultural sparks. The west side is where Burj Khalifa and other remarkable skyscrapers locate. That being said, Dubai Creek tower is still under construction, once that’s done, it’ll be taller than Burj Khalifa, and the east side will probably have a unique combination of the future and history.
The skywalk wasn’t really scary to me, probably because it was the night time when we were up there, I couldn’t really see much underneath my feet walking through it.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
I was so stoked to see the Louvre in Abu Dhabi and it happened to be the first attraction spot we visited in the UAE. Everything about this museum is mesmerizing to me, its architecture, interior design, and art collection teleported me to a completely different dimension, it felt like the outer space.
You can see its minimalistic interior design in the pictures below, the handsome young lad is Kurtis, aka. my boyfriend and the sweetest model of the day. Kurtis is also an amazing concert photographer, check out his work in the link here.
Being underneath the floating dome of light and shade was the most beautiful and poetic moment of our Louvre Museum tour, as the sun passes above, its light filters through the perforations in the dome to create an enchanting effect within the museum, it is known as the ‘rain of light'.
Words can’t describe my affection for this beautiful piece of architecture, at the very end of our tour, I couldn’t help but stayed longer to observe its beauty from outside and afar.
Click the link here to learn more about the Louvre Museum Abu Dhabi.
Dubai is known for its remarkable architectures, and not gonna lie, everything in Toronto just seemed a lot smaller after coming back from a city full of gigantic buildings. Every building in Dubai has its unique feature and design, very pleasant to look at, even staring at an unfinished construction site wows you. If you think about it, this entire city is built on top of a desert!
JBR stands for Jumeirah Beach Residence, and it’s my favorite neighborhood in Dubai because of the beach and the marina. I was very lucky to be able to stay in the JBR, Kurtis’s bedroom had a west direction window view facing towards the Jumeirah Beach and the Bluewaters Island, now picture my daily sunset view from his bedroom window, I was drowning in romance constantly.
Walking in the JBR neighborhood was one of my favorite things to do, although everything took longer to get to than the distance seemed to be because things are divided by water. the marina gave me a ton of upbeat vibe, watching the boats passing by and cute little seagulls flying towards the sunset was very meditative. In contrast, you could also see people zip lining across the marina from the top of a skyscraper to the Marina Mall.
The Old Dubai is where it got me homesick with its souks almost identical to the bazaars back at home. I come from a beautiful city called Urumqi in Xinjiang province, China. You may or may not have heard of it. If you are interested, you can click the wiki links to learn more about Urumqi and Xinjiang.
Dubai Creek is where tourists in this city find history and authentic culture. The narrow alleyways in the souk are very 14mm-photogenic, people would constantly come up to you and try to sell you things, they’d give you celebrity nicknames, they called our friend Camyl “Shakira” the entire time ><
Crossing the creek was the most fun part of the Souk day, you get to sit in a little boat with the locals and tourists for only 1 dirham, and say hi to thousands of adorable looking seagulls chilling out on the creek. You can learn more about Dubai’s old town in the link here.
Global Village makes you feel like you are inside a never-ending lucid dream and wandering around the entire world, Dubai is known for making everything gigantic, and perhaps a little extra from the two leveled carousel to a water fountain with fire shooting out at the same time.
It combines the cultures of 90 countries across the world in one place with an amusement park inside it. Among the 90 countries, every country has its own pavilion and section, there’s also a main stage in the middle with ongoing performances.
OLE HENRIKSEN & Sephora Middle East
I had originally planned to go skateboarding and sunbathing on the beach for my very last couple of days in Dubai because Kurtis had to work for the OLE HENRIKSEN’s launch events at Sephora Middle East, but he got food poisoned the day before the first day of the event, so I couldn’t help but to cover his first-day shift as a photographer and a sweet girlfriend ><
I’m not really a cosmetic/beauty kinda girl, although I felt honored to be able to capture the first day of OLE HENRIKSEN’s launch event at Sephora Middle East. I was given some of the OLE HENRIKSEN products afterward and have been using them, and honestly, it has been very refreshing to me ever since.
I was very impressed by the decors and setups at the event, very vibrant and energetic as if it could instantly boost your serotonin to the max. I felt absolutely lucky and appreciative of the fact that there was coffee, snacks, and yummy drinks ready for us when we arrived, fixed my morning grumpiness instantly.
The event was located in the Design District of Dubai, it reminded me of Stackt, Toronto, because of the identical shipping containers.
Here goes the happiest man on earth - Ole Henriksen! His smiles and dances can boost the vibe of the entire room and energize you instantly!
The Last Sunset
I started to feel very emotional towards the very end of this trip, lucky to have spent my last couple of days in Dubai with Camyl, this trip would have not been as exciting without her, our lady’s day on Paradise Beach was a legend, and one of the most unforgettable days, although the night after might have been a little forgetful to me because I was intoxicated by all-day boozing and joy. Camyl is also an incredibly talented filmmaker, her ways of seeing things and attention to detail are the most inspiring things of this trip. Check out her work in the link here, and check out her boyfriend/our travel buddy/also a very talented filmmaker - Arudz’s work in the link here.
The Ferris wheel in the picture is still under construction on Bluewaters island. It is yet to be the world’s biggest Ferris wheel at the launch of World Expo 2020, but because of the virus, it has been postponed to next year. Maybe by then I’ll be back again and ride the biggest Ferris wheel in the world.
I teared up on my very last day leaving Dubai, I wasn’t quite sure if I really enjoyed myself on this trip because I felt very vacant and burnt out towards the end. I guess my biggest desire was really to go home and visit my family, but not with the pandemic circulating around the world. One thing I’m 1000000% sure is that I certainly enjoyed this trip and this country.
I feel very lucky to have made it back to Canada before the entire world went under lockdown and that I’m healthy and safe. It has been 2 months since we came back from the middle east, time kinda flies when you are quarantined with your loved one who’s always there supporting you, inspiring you, and motivating you. Thank you, Kurtis, for making this chaotic world so much easier to deal with.
This pandemic did not only ruin my plan of visiting home, but it also made me a stronger person. I fought back against my depression and wiped my tears off my face, and told myself that, one day, all of this will be over, and soon, I’ll hug my parents like how I used to nuzzle my teddy bear when I was a kid. 2020 may have been chaotic, but without the rain, there would never be rainbows.
This may be my first middle eastern trip, but I’m sure it’s not my last. Thank you for bearing with me and my words till the end and hope you liked my photos. <3
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