United Arab Emirates Archives

Grantourismo – 12 months, 24 destinations, countless experiences

Finishing writing projects (books, stories, reviews) and planning our exciting new project called Grantourismo, a contemporary grand tour of sorts, has kept us busy throughout December and January, and once again prevented me from updating this poor neglected little blog. Early this week we left Australia, where we went to spend Christmas and New Year … Read more about Grantourismo – 12 months, 24 destinations, countless experiences

Goodbye Dubai

by Lara Dunston

We spent our last night in the UAE in Dubai – stuck in a traffic jam, checking into our fully booked hotel, shopping for last minute necessities at busy Dubai Mall – packed with shoppers laden with shopping bags as late as midnight – and strolling the waterfront overlooking the new Burj Dubai, where tables … Read more about Goodbye Dubai

The Dubai Melting Pot is in the Kitchen Too

by Lara Dunston

Technicalities aside (see my previous post on Dubai as ‘salad bowl’ rather than ‘melting pot’) I was pleased to read The Dubai Melting Pot Is In the Kitchen Too in the New York Times. After an abundance of Dubai-bashing in the media recently, it was a relief to see a story by a writer who … Read more about The Dubai Melting Pot is in the Kitchen Too

Dubai – more of a ‘salad bowl’ than a ‘melting pot’

by Lara Dunston

Dubai is a big delicious bowl of salad. And a fusion salad at that. Don’t you think? While the term ‘melting pot’ gets used a lot, it’s not a ‘melting pot’ in the strict sense of the concept, in that there hasn’t been an assimilation or intermarriage of ethnicities to the extent that the original … Read more about Dubai – more of a ‘salad bowl’ than a ‘melting pot’

10 things we love about Abu Dhabi

by Lara Dunston

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (no, Dubai is not the capital, as much as it likes to think it is), has been getting loads of media coverage in the travel press lately. You know when a tourism body and airline has hosted a junket as a spate of stories appear … Read more about 10 things we love about Abu Dhabi