Planning a Dubai trip? Look beyond Burj Khalifa, opt for new experiences

Tourists at Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

Top of the world

Can a frame be an interesting attraction to visit? If you’re in Dubai, it can. At The Dubai Frame, an observatory, museum and monument in Zabeel Park, you get a spectacular view of not just the sunset but also a birds-eye glimpse into both the past and present sights of the city. Once you’re on top of the building, at a height of 150 metres, try walking on the luminous glass walkway to , feel like you’re on top of the world – a feeling that people with fear of heights might not get to experience. The Frame is also a great background for a profile photo, one that is bound to get you a lot of likes.

The Frame

Past forward

Tired of looking at all the skyscrapers around you? Check out Old Dubai – the town of Al Bastakiya, now renamed as Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood. . This is the perfect place to take a peek into Dubai’s rich past and foundation. “Without the past, there is no present, is a famous saying we have over there. People here have undergone economic crisis during the World Wars and until petroleum was discovered,” said Nimesh Kumara, our tour guide who showed us around the walled city, where people once lived and traded.

If you’re a history enthusiast, you should check out the coins museum, coffee museum, dagger museum and the Traditional Emirati House museum.

Another way to make your Dubai visit memorable is to take a photo with a falcon, which was once considered a symbol of power. Today, the falcon is an exotic pet in Dubai, holding bird passports and housed in air-conditioned aviaries, and also sometimes used in sport (falcon racing). There are even breeding centres and hospitals dedicated to falcons!

The splat painting experience
| Photo Credit:
Srinivasa Ramanujam

Art attack

Paint your worries away at this art jamming studio to wrap your visit up to the city of gold. Don a poncho or apron, and get started working on a colourful canvas. This splat painting experience at the Wild Paint House can be both de-stressing and therapeutic at the same time. Thought you could use only a paint brush to paint? Here, you’ll get not just that, but also other tools like a string, toothbrush, et al. There’s no being messy here. There’s just being creative. “Children remain children here, but adults become children,” says its founder, Kevin J, who is also looking at setting shop soon in India.

(The writer was in Dubai at the invitation of Dubai Economy and Tourism)