Many of you wanted to see inside the barns in Dubai, well here you go. There was something truly special about being inside this barn, maybe it was the dry heat out in the desert, or maybe it was because it had a very distinct feel to it. I will just let you take in all the sights and sounds but it's an experience that I will never forget.
UPDATE: There are 3 of these barns, exact replicas next to each other.
10 things I've learned since arriving in Dubai:
𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Friday's are their quietest day of the week in terms of traffic.
𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰.
It is a free for all on the roads. I wouldn't want to be a pedestrian in this city, you are yielding to the cars, not the other way around. Many of their traffic lights can have you sitting up to a solid 10 minutes at a red. If you don't like traffic this is not the place for you.
𝟯. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻.
It's so large and it gets incredibly hot and from what I've been told unbearably hot to walk anywhere in the summer months, thankfully there is AC everywhere you go.
𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲.
From what I've seen and have been told just about anywhere in the city. Parking meters, parking patrols, you rarely see them. Calgary could take a big hint here. It's not always about the money.
𝟱. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.
I'd imagine the very strict gun laws here play a big part. Very rarely do you see people litter or garbage disposed of in public places.
𝟲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.
In this city of 5 million, people are just so nice and polite. Everyone has a story to tell. The level of service here is something I haven't seen in awhile.
𝟳. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱.
Just so good and very diverse. I've tried other ethnic foods that are better here than in their home country.
𝟴. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱.
It has shades of technology that you would see in Japan.
𝟵. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲.
From what I've seen thus far, the people are happy. I do believe that the citizens here live life with low stress levels.
𝟭𝟬. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.
I am still trying to get into the some of the high skyscrapers but so far no luck without a big fee being charged for pictures. Oh well, no biggie to me, I am not a landscape photographer.
On a side note, I've had a few people try to convince me to move here permanently. Is this somewhere I would live permanently? Time will tell.
We are just finishing up the travel arrangements with me going into my second hotel next week. Earlier this month I received my answer from Dubai Racing Club, to notify me on my acceptance earning full Media Accreditation. I am officially in the 2019 Dubai World Cup!
This was not an easy feat. As an applicant in my shoes, one would rarely receive any rights since I am not on assignment working for an editorial or publication - I am working for myself. Thankfully the committee still reviewed my application, viewed my work and then concluded to bring me on board.
It's always been my motto to never give up in accomplishing what you truly want in life. To never take your foot off the gas and to keep pushing forward, no matter what barriers stand in your way. If it wasn't for the airline agent telling me a few weeks ago about the Travel Alert for India, there was a very likely chance that this all could have been called off due to me not finding out before it was too late to do anything. That would have been a very tough pill to swallow. This Travel Alert allowed me to extend my flight by three days to attend this event.
I know that I am still new, however, I truly feel with this achievement that I have just turned the page to a new chapter in my career.
Being a food lover I have to say that the food here is just so good! The pancakes are to die for, I've never had anything like the ones here and I am not even a big fan of pancakes but I will eat the ones here. I won't even get started on the vegan ice cream, I am a huge fan. One could travel here just to gorge on the foods. The scary thing is that I haven't eaten outside of the hotel yet.
The first thing that I noticed when I arrived here yesterday was how busy it was for an early Tuesday morning (2:50AM). Well here is 10:45PM on a Tuesday night, this is complete stand still traffic. I had to black out the hotel name across the street to be able to share this.
Of all places, what is the very first place that I decided to visit here in Dubai? A camera store! Not by choice but because I forgot my cleaning kit at home (and this is a must), so I looked up camera store's nearby and there happened to be one just a 25 minute walk from my hotel. So I took a stroll down to the store and got a good feel for many of the little shops and business's here.
There were SO MANY great images and a few spectacular ones that I saw along the way, that I wish I could have captured but I didn't bring my camera with me because I am right across from the police station and didn't want to take a chance. Mom and pop shops, alley ways, cyclists proudly working on their jobs, shop owner's doing their craft, shop owner's relaxing and enjoying the dry heat. It was all there and it would have been pure heaven for street photographer purists.
The driving here is umm unique to say the least. I've never seen so many drivers burn right through so many red lights and failing to stop for pedestrians while nearly hitting them. This is not a city that I would want to be jaywalking in.
That brings me to the well known Burj Al Arab Hotel here in Dubai. It's arguably the most iconic symbol that everyone want's to look for and capture when visiting this city. I initially did consider making my way down to this beach that this hotel is settled on and capturing it with the ocean waves but it's been done a million times by a million people. Instead, if I was given the option, I would much rather go inside and have a tour to see the state of the art architecture which of course includes those $4000+ per night rooms.
I'm just patiently waiting for the sun to come down as I am hoping I can get something magical from a specific location tonight.
I made it! It is 3:00AM here in Dubai and I will be going right to bed as I've now been up for more than 44 hours straight. It was a struggle at times getting through today but I wanted to suspend my sleep until I arrived in Dubai, so that I immediately go on their clock. That and I couldn't sleep on the plane with a crying child the entire way.
I landed just past midnight but it took me over 2 hours to get out of the airport and on the road. I had some issues with Dubai airport security and me having all this camera gear but after some time of me telling my story eventually they let me go. Hopefully that won't be a reoccurring incident. That is one beautiful but chaotic airport.
The back to back 8 hour flights was a challenge for me as I generally can't sit in one position for that long. There were definitely others on the same flight as me heading to Dubai for the Dubai International Horse Fair and even the Dubai World Cup.
It is also illegal to take any pictures in Dubai with any people in them and post them publicly without their consent as you will get fined and can get sued, so I will need to be extremely careful and this will limit what non-equestrian stuff I can take pictures of over the next two weeks.
There is one area (photojournalism) in certain villages of Dubai that I had on my list to do but I am not sure if I will be able to do it anymore. I will see what I can come up with.
Will followup tomorrow with more stuff.
