Old Dubai Charm - Getting lost in Al Bastakiya

Attributing Dubai with the description "charming" seems like a misconception. Dubai is vibrant and over-the-top... and flashy. Like a glittering disco ball. Charming would be the simple, inexpensive baubles my grandmother use to decorate the Christmas tree, and hold some form of nostalgia or sentiment. All of which Dubai know nothing of.*

*This is just my personal assessment and opinion of a city  I visited for 48 hours, and objectivity is not one of my selling points. Also, I'm not for sale.

But I'm here to tell you that that's all "New Dubai"! Old Dubai is charming, and resonate with the simplicity of years before skyscrapers, water theme parks and hordes of tourists happened to Dubai.

Marvelling at a magical Year of Travel, and having the Pictures to Prove It

I think it's fair to say - nay, proclaim to all!, that twenty twelve was my bitch! In fact, it might have been the best year of my life, albeit a difficult one. Despite it's challenges I can truly say it was overall a MAGICAL year, the main reason being the absurd amount of travel I got to do with my hubby. That and the fact that only a small margin of it was wasted on fighting with him. (Yes we have our rows, but this year, I can only recall one that ended in screaming with tears and snot gushing from my face, while blindly marching into the seedy night-life of Amsterdam.)*

*To put it into perspective, 2011 started out great with a two week trip to Thailand, but the rest was a never ending flow of shattered dreams and disillusionment; which of course spilled over into waves of constant arguments with my husband. To put it mildly: F#CK YOU 2011!

We go to the desert, and it floods.

I think many would agree that Dubai is quite an impressive city. Artificial, but impressively so. On our recent trip to Sri Lanka we decided to stop over for two days to explore another new corner of the globe and add a new Customs stamp to our growing collection. (I'm very proud of my bad-ass, inked passport!) And it did not disappoint. It was exactly what we expected, just  more exaggerated and overpriced. We saw many incredible things in Dubai, all of which made my mouth gape like a monkey spotting a lion...

There were foreigners, foreigners galore! Not tourists mind you, but ex-pats who live and work and play there like they own the place. It's also clear that they don't.