Never will you feel as if you’ve landed in the future as you will in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Part stable financial center, such as Switzerland and part unbridled architectural riot such as Shanghai, Dubai is a cultural phoenix rising from the ashes of its hubris as a once tiny pearl trading center. Today, Dubai elicts only gasps of wonder.
There on the edge of the Arabian Sea, you can’t help feeling that the world has left you behind as it skidded towards the future. Here, partly because of a more loose Islamic system of laws and autocratic kingdom, you’ll feel safe as a woman traveling alone.
As a women traveling alone in Dubai, I received courtly, polite treatment as I adhered to a code of dressing modestly. In other words, I covered my shoulders and left the tank tops and bike shorts at home, any styles usually sported in American malls, for example.
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Here, there are no corner bars or winos slouching on the streets. Here, under a tightly controlled system of alcohol consumption, tourists can party on the beach at tony resorts. Or imbibe on fine wines while dining in world-class hotel restaurants around town. Amid the luxury, you’ll get jarring reminders that Dubai is still an Islamic realm, especially when discovering a Pork Room in the local Waitrose grocery. And, true to form, its offerings are the very finest in the world.
Yes, there’s the largest mall in the world, the Dubai Mall, complete with ski slopes. Yes, you’ll fly into the world’s largest airport and make inquiries of a friendly human hologram in the space-age terminal. And yes, the world’s tallest building oversees it all.
I want to go back to glide again in sparkling clean subway cars, some reserved just for women. Or to visit Gallerie Lafayette, Cartier and Zara in between ice-skating sessions or a ski run or two within the massive Dubai Mall. Or, most of all, savor Dubai’s mind-bending futuristic aspects with its ancient cultural heritage.
