Travel Insights – Dubai and Mahabaleshwar

October 2008 was month of travel.

I travelled to two great destinations – Mahabaleshwar for a family vacation and Dubai for a business trip.

Both these locations are diametrically different from each other. While Mahabaleshwar is very rustic and rural, Dubai is highly urbane’.  Both these trips were a tremendous learning experience – about life and contrasts therein.

Mahabaleshwar is a serene hill station located at an altitude of 1500 Meters (4500 Ft.) above the sea level – and offers some great views of valleys and rivers flowing. It is a great destination to beat the heat of typical Indian summer and indulge in some wonderful delicacies made out of corn, strawberries and mulberries.  Wind, water and scenic views detoxified me and offered great relaxation.

While this sounds great, life is difficult in such a remote location. When I was enjoying fresh strawberries with cream, I recollected images of farmers growing strawberries and rice in the vast plains surrounded by these humongous hills – they toil hard in all seasons and lack some very basic amenities. On our sightseeing visits, I saw taxi drivers who daily chart those dangerous serpentine roads where one mistake can cost lives. Yet, they all wore smiling faces.  I am reminded of a friend who earns a decent salary, has a good position in the IT organization and still frets about job satisfaction! As I said, life is full of contrasts.

Dubai is a great destination too – truly an oasis amidst a desert. Dubai has a New York like skyline and boasts of having one of the tallest towers in the world – Burj Dubai. With so much of construction going on, Dubai is a home to 25% of world’s total construction cranes! Dubai too is a city of extremes. On one hand, I could see women covered from head to toe in black burkas and on the other, I saw women dressed in shorts and skirts!

I visited “The Mall of Emirates” which houses famous “Ski-Dubai” – a true marvel in form of an indoor ski resort. I could not believe my eyes when I saw people skiing, children riding tubes and enjoying snow in a city where external temperatures cross 45 degrees!  Ski Dubai is an amazing 22,500 square meters (equivalent to three football fields) covered with snow all the year round! True testimony of the fact that if one we actually have a strong will to do something, it generally gets done!

I had a tryst with Lebanese food for the first time, thanks to one of our friends and business partner who treated us – we relished hommus with chick peas and pita bread accompanied by fresh strawberry juice! Four days of work coupled with fun – met a lot of new people at GITEX Technology Week and saw some great places.

October was great – looking forward to Diwali now!

[Mahabaleshwar Photo Courtesy: Geetish Bajaj]