The Other Side of Dubai 🚤 #Dubai #Adventures

Once upon a time Dubai was just like any other normal city. In 1966, Dubai discovered oil in the territorial water, that was the start of a new Dubai, the population increased by 300% just in the span of 6-7 years. Rapidly and smartly Dubai has been developing so much so as even celebrities like Brad Pitt, Sharukh Khan, Abhishek Bacchan, David Beckham, etc. have invested in the real estate.

Now Dubai isn’t just famous for money, tall buildings, luxury lifestyles, transit destination, duty free shopping and sand anymore. It is much much more than that. It offers a plethora of adventures sports to choose from. You must have heard about sky diving on Palm Jumeirah, Desert Safari, water sports etc.

I went to Dubai in 2018. I had planned the whole trip by myself from booking of hotels to mosque visits to booking the adventure sports in advance. I made it an adventurous one. The one’s which I experienced are listed below-

1. Desert Safari-

Duration: 7 hours

Price: Approx 200 AED or 4200 INR

Booking website: https://www.oceanairtravels.com/ I recommend this as they have won various travelers choice award.

Let me start by telling you about an adventure which you can enjoy with your family- Desert Safari. It covered numerous activities like Sand dune bashing, Sand boarding, Quad bike ride, Camel ride, etc. The best thing about this is, it’s not heavy for your pocket, the activities are spread through the day and you get a pickup and drop from your hotel.

Quad bike ride-

It’s an optional thing for which you have to pay, on the spot. As soon as you reach the camp, they offer you to start with this ride while you wait for other activities to start. Price: Starts 100 AED for 30 minutes.

Sand dune bashing -

It’s off roading in sand dunes on 4*4-wheel ride in a land cruiser. It’s all about balancing in this one as you can skid, slip and slide very easily but need not worry as a convoy of cars will always be riding along with you. It’s a ride full of adrenaline.

Sand boarding-

It’s same as skateboarding. You slide from the top of a sand dune. It’s basically balancing while sliding down of skate board which is strapped to your feet. It’s still easy to slide but lifting the board and climbing the sand dune, Dude! That’s really not easy.

Now they give time to you to relax. In this you can experience any or all activities like feed the camels, henna pointing for ladies, smoking Sheesha, camel riding, Falcon experience. You can end this experience by having scrumptious dinner of kabab's and Gulf delicacies while enjoying belly dancing. For vegetarians you can take a sigh of relief as in the menu they have food for you too. This tour is highly recommended as it connects you with their culture and its totally value for money.

2. Fly Boarding-

Duration: 30 minutes

Price: Approx 300 AED or 6300 INR

Location: Many companies offer this, so you can choose according to your convenience of your location.

Booking website: Viator, Hydro-watersports.com

It’s like flying above the water. You must have seen this act in a famous Bollywood movie of Hrithik Roshan, Bang Bang. In this activity a pipe is connected on your feet, which uses high speed jets to take off (you) from the water. They claim to take you to the height of 45 feet’s but you can see in the video that I was barely able to stand and balance.

After having tried with all the shiddat 😂 I could only stand for 18 seconds. For this you can bring your own towel and dude don’t forget to take your sun screen along with you ️.

3. Sky diving-

Duration: Approximately 3 hours. After you board the plain- 30 minutes to land.

Price:

Location: Palm Jumeirah, Desert

Booking website: https://www.skydivedubai.ae/

For this activity you need to be daring enough because once you jump from the plain only God can take care of you . They make you jump from 13000 feet’s but still it’s not as difficult as the waiver form of 10 pages where you have to sign on every page. The reality is a bit different from the movies that we see because unless you are a trained and licensed diver, you will have to do Tandem jump i.e. a person is harnessed on your back and he is the one who will control everything, you just have to enjoy the adrenaline rush. In a single sentence- 200 km/hr fall from 13000 feet.

My personal experience was damn thrilling . I wanted to jump from Palm Jumeirah but due to the desert storm, my ride was cancelled. In such scenario, they either give you the next available slot for free or return your money. To my disappointment the next available slot at palm Jumeirah was after my trip would have been over and in the desert after 2 days which still depended on the sub siding of the desert storm. So, I decided to jump in the desert. After 2 days I took a cab for the destination, it was outside Dubai and during the whole ride, I was just praying for the storm to stop as after this I wouldn’t have been able to do the sky diving as my flight was after 2 days. As I reached, the first question I asked from the first guy who appeared in front of me was “Are you open?” to which he replied “If the plane is standing here that means we are open 😄”. And to that I sighed with relief.

After I went inside, they gave me a waiver form to sign which was followed by 15 minutes of training of do’s and don'ts. They took me in a small plane and once the desired height, they took me to the edge of the plain and for those those few seconds which feels like 1 hour each, my whole life started to revolve around me and I felt like “This Is It”. Again - 200 kms/hr from 13000 feet and you fall. After a minute of falling when the parachute finally opens, I took a breath of relaxation.

Once I touched the ground, it’s the moment of reality which hit me and I felt like hugging my friends like you all must have seen in the movie “Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara” but I was alone. Once I was back on the base, they gave me the pen drive of my videos and photographs.

Note - If you are opting for photos and videos, they will send one more guy along with you, who will jump just before you to capture your experience.

These experiences made my trip the most memorable one. If you any queries about Dubai or adventures, you can contact me.

Till then Happy travelling . 😄