Kerry-Anne Allerston|Published
My little adventure has begun! I touched down in a sweltering Dubai on Tuesday night and funnily enough, they’re heading into winter at the moment. At a balmy 40 degrees, causing more than a cute glow and shimmer all over me all day, every day, I’m fountaining again. So, I headed to Bluewaters Island and took a walk along the waterfront, where people were swimming in the sea, lying on their hotel sun loungers and sailing past on their yachts.
It wasn’t very busy and people have been telling me that things have become a lot quieter over the last few months because of everything that’s been happening in the region, which you’ll have seen on the news. I felt a little like I was on a movie set and Leo was about to pop out from behind a palm tree in a Hawaiian shirt with a bottle of bubbly in hand.
A girl can dream, can’t she? Or even hallucinate in this kind of weather.
What you can’t do, though, is entertain any kind of drinking habit if you’re just on holiday here from sunny South Africa because holy smokes, it’s a little pricey having a couple of toots at any bar once you do the conversion. You also cannot keep converting everything when travelling anywhere because you’ll end up eating bread and drinking your own tears that you’ve captured in a paper cup.
But in good news, that habit is no longer a problem for me and not by choice. Anyway, next on the agenda was a night out at Global Village. What a treat! I so wish I had a magic wand and could turn the whole world into what this crazy place is.
It’s basically Montecasino meets Gold Reef City on all the steroids, with golden sprinkles on top. Global Village is a ginormous multicultural entertainment destination with food stalls, restaurants and trucks offering dishes, drinks and treats from around the world, as well as clothing, trinkets, jewellery and just about everything else you can imagine.
There are 29 pavilions representing more than 90 cultures, and while I knew there weren’t hundreds of different countries there, it certainly felt like it. The buildings, decorations and attention to detail are absolutely mind blowing. Every time you turn a corner, you feel like you’ve landed somewhere completely different. One minute you’re wandering through Turkey and the next you’re exploring India or Egypt. It really did feel like I was in a dream.
And there I was, smack bang in the middle of Dubai, surrounded by people from all over the world, and we were all doing the same thing. Enjoying food, going on fairground rides, watching live performances, taking in spectacular light shows and exploring this enormous space together.
What I loved most was the beautiful mix of so many different cultures enjoying and experiencing each other’s traditions in a safe space, with music and the magical sound of laughter echoing through the different pavilions, gardens and restaurants. Nobody seemed to care where anybody came from or what language they spoke. Everyone was just there to have a wonderful time, and I thought that was pretty special.
And then there was the food! I tried M’OISHÎ, a delicious Japanese inspired mochi ice cream brand created right here in Dubai by Carole Moawad. I also tucked into mango sticky rice, that fancy mango shaped ice cream that’s gone viral, and some very weird looking but absolutely delicious dahi puri. If you’ve never tried it, it’s an Indian street food snack made with little crispy shells filled with ingredients like chickpeas, yoghurt, chutneys and sometimes pomegranate seeds. What a combination!
I tried all of these for the very first time and loved every little adventure my taste buds went on. I explored everything from Greece to Turkey, Egypt to India and what felt like another 20 countries in between. I’m not completely sure how my feet survived the evening, but my tummy was having the time of its life.
I kept thinking how wonderful it would be if life could be a little more like Global Village. Imagine if we could all gather together, enjoy each other’s company, learn about different cultures, try new foods, listen to different music and appreciate all the things that make us who we are. We don’t all have to be the same, speak the same language or believe in the same things to get along.
There’s so much to discover about people and places that are different from what we know, and sometimes all it takes is a little curiosity and an open mind. I know the world is a complicated place and there’s a lot going on out there, but for a few hours I got to experience what it might look like if we could all just live happily ever after. Wouldn’t that be a thing?
Tomorrow I’ll be checking out the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and the enormous Dubai Mall, so I’m off to plug my handheld fan in for a quick charge and polish my walking shoes. I have a feeling both are going to be working overtime.
Next week I’ll tell you all about how my body went into shock and how I almost died going from a cute 40 degrees here in the desert to a chilly 7 degrees in the UK. I mean, how is one little body supposed to cope with all of that? My heart is happy, my feet are tired and my suitcase is already wondering what on earth is happening. I hope you get to try something fun or something brand new this week too. Until then, Du-bye and Ma’a salama!