My trip in Asia started on Saturday November 16th when I took a flight from Prague to Bangkok. I decided to fly with Emirates although it was not the cheapest option but I liked the itinerary because it provided me with the possibility to visit additional two countries. I left Prague around 4pm and the flight lasted 6 hours which means that I arrived to Dubai at 1am. The flight attendants served food, I had chicken and we could choose free drinks, I was surprised that also the alcoholic ones were also free. I got a transit visa for 3 days with Emirates and I passed the border controls smoothly, the officer didn't have any questions about my stay in Dubai but he asked me about the Czech football player Pavel Nedved. I found a host on CS and he picked me up at the airport. We were driving in the city, then we stopped to have a drink in some fast food, my host ordered French vanillla coffee, I usually don't drink coffee, but this one was good. Then we drove to the hotel Atlantis in the Palm Jumeirah. The guards didn't want to let us enter the hotel but my host told them that we were going to book a room there so we were allowed to go in. There was a huge aquarium with many kinds of fish, we took many pictures and I also made a video.
After visiting the hotel Atlantis we went to my host's home in Discovery Gardens. It was still warm although it was very late at night, the temperature was around 25°C. We went to sleep very late and I managed to sleep only 3 hours. When we got up in the morning my host took me to the Ibn Battuta mall which was close to his home, there was some Indian and Chinese architecture inside. We took some photos but my host was in hurry because he had to go to Abu Dhabi and I had to take a metro to the Dubai mall. I booked a ticket to Burj Khalifa in advance which is the highest building in the world but unfortunately there was a sand storm that day so the view from the top wasn't good and I could barely see the hotel Burj Al Arab in the distance.
I spent around one hour on the top, but I didn't find the view amazing due to the bad weather. Then I went back to the mall, there were many shops, waterfall, aquarium, skating ring and also the ski slope. I walked around for some time but then I had to take a metro to the airport because my flight to Hong Kong was leaving at 18:30. When I was in metro a woman spoke to me, she asked me if I was a crew, I said no and she said she was from Egypt and she was a crew. When I gave her my flight number she was able to see the details of my flight on her phone. I arrived at the airport two hours before departure. I felt a bit embarrassed about my stay in UAE, I admit that one day in Dubai is not sufficient to know it well but I found it overrated. It might be worth visiting for the people who want to spend a lot of money there and enjoy the megalomania of this city, but in my opinion it doesn't have many things to offer to a common traveller. Although there are many skyscrapers it is still a desert with a very hot climate for most of the year. However, my next destination Hong Kong was one of the most beautiful places which I have ever seen.
After visiting the hotel Atlantis we went to my host's home in Discovery Gardens. It was still warm although it was very late at night, the temperature was around 25°C. We went to sleep very late and I managed to sleep only 3 hours. When we got up in the morning my host took me to the Ibn Battuta mall which was close to his home, there was some Indian and Chinese architecture inside. We took some photos but my host was in hurry because he had to go to Abu Dhabi and I had to take a metro to the Dubai mall. I booked a ticket to Burj Khalifa in advance which is the highest building in the world but unfortunately there was a sand storm that day so the view from the top wasn't good and I could barely see the hotel Burj Al Arab in the distance.
I spent around one hour on the top, but I didn't find the view amazing due to the bad weather. Then I went back to the mall, there were many shops, waterfall, aquarium, skating ring and also the ski slope. I walked around for some time but then I had to take a metro to the airport because my flight to Hong Kong was leaving at 18:30. When I was in metro a woman spoke to me, she asked me if I was a crew, I said no and she said she was from Egypt and she was a crew. When I gave her my flight number she was able to see the details of my flight on her phone. I arrived at the airport two hours before departure. I felt a bit embarrassed about my stay in UAE, I admit that one day in Dubai is not sufficient to know it well but I found it overrated. It might be worth visiting for the people who want to spend a lot of money there and enjoy the megalomania of this city, but in my opinion it doesn't have many things to offer to a common traveller. Although there are many skyscrapers it is still a desert with a very hot climate for most of the year. However, my next destination Hong Kong was one of the most beautiful places which I have ever seen.
Nice read and informative. For feedback I want to mention your entries are rather curt. You could pick an interesting event and delve deeper, sharing your personal reflection. That needs more time of course. Still it's was nice to read your blog.
ReplyDeleteI am not good at describing my feelings or giving deep reflections ;) I usually explain facts and I try to avoid showing emotions... it's not that I don't have them, I just don't consider it appropriate to talk about them
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting, though unexpected, reply.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you want to suppress your emotions? It is in your personal reflections where your uniqueness lies. For the facts every one can go to wikipedia or another informative site. But as a person you can make remarks that are not available anywhere.
Also there freely expressing yourself will have an effect on your own mind. You can consider your mind like a flower -- the more attention and care you give it, the more it will blossom. If you ignore it, it will not change or grow. True, some times our emotions will be rather banal and unimpressive. But that too must be experienced before more creative and deeper ideas can take root. I'd say every emotion is here to be experienced, to be felt, to teach us something and go away. And it's good to take advantage of it.
I usually do my best to give my real opinion on the issue, but I am not good at expressing emotions. If I had managed to talk about my feelings openly I could have prevented many misunderstandings, but I feel embarrassed to share my inner thoughts with other people.
ReplyDeleteI recommend to start it right here! I have similar difficulty, but I am learning to improve it. I think writing is an easier way of self-expression since it is less emotionally involved and relatively farther from the audience. So for people who find it easy to write than to speak, it can be a good beginning step for learning to express oneself. There are now many opportunities to do this, thanks to facebook and a plethora of blogging sites.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend whose greatest goal is to express his deepest feelings and emotions as freely as possible through writing. I am amazed at his ability to express the tiniest and most intricate feeling in great precision. It just tells me how much I myself can go by consistently trying to honestly express my feelings.