If you’re visiting Dubai for a long stopover or business trip, make sure to leave a little space in your bag for a bathing suit, flip-flops and souvenirs.
For business travelers with just a few hours or half-day to spare in the emirate, head to the Dubai Mall. There, pick up a cold drink or frozen yogurt, and head outside to watch one of the world’s most beautiful dancing fountains and be mesmerized by base views of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa.
If you feel like getting some exercise in, skip the hotel gym and head out for a run or brisk walk by Kite Beach, where a safe 5km track runs along the coast. Don’t forget to stop and take a selfie on the beach with the sea and Dubai’s iconic sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel behind you.
Photo: Reuters
For spinning enthusiasts, head to Fly Dubai where there’s no membership cost. Just call ahead to book a bike at one of Fly Dubai’s two locations for indoor spinning classes, but make sure to order a taxi ahead of time if you go during peak rush hours. The metro does not connect to either location and taxis are hard to find between 4pm and 8pm.
For a quieter afternoon, head to Dubai’s man-made island, The Palm. Go for a day pass at the Atlantis or the Jumeira Zabeel Saray hotel. A day pass during the workweek, which in the Middle East runs from Sunday to Thursday, is significantly cheaper and the beach quieter than the weekend days of Friday and Saturday. Most hotels that offer day passes also include lunch.
FINDING SERENITY
Photo: Bloomberg
If what you need is a few, short hours of complete serenity to clear your head, go for the ultimate pampering experience and head to the spa at the One and Only Royal Mirage across from Dubai Media City or the Talise Spa in Madinat Jumeirah.
Once at Madinat Jumeirah, shop in its famous souq where you can pick up some reasonably priced souvenirs like postcards and Middle Eastern-inspired printed artworks at Gallery One.
Unlike most Middle Eastern markets, this souq is indoors and there isn’t too much haggling over prices. The upside is that what the market misses in authentic folkloric experience it makes up for in air-conditioned comfort between the hot months of April and October.
Photo: Reuters
Also at the souq are some of Dubai’s most popular restaurants with views of the Burj al-Arab and a man-made waterway that connects the three hotels that comprise Madinat Jumeirah.
If you are in Dubai between November and March, when the weather is great outdoors, visit The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence, better known as JBR. There, visitors can soak up some sun on the beach, enjoy a lavish meal and shop for unique finds at boutiques like Sauce — a homegrown chain of edgy concept stores in Dubai.
The hotels along The Walk are home to some of Dubai’s best restaurants, but meals there don’t come cheap. For something a little less formal, enjoy a bite to eat at one of JBR’s many outdoor cafes and restaurants. At night on the weekends, JBR turns into a bustling street for people watching. The Gulf’s wealthy cruise along the strip in their Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royces and Bentleys.
Nearby are some of the world’s most architecturally stunning skyscrapers in Marina. There, too. you’ll find a mall, outdoor cafes and some of the city’s most expensive real estate overlooking the yachts.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would