September 2012 looks like such a long time ago, but it was a nice time when I visited Dubai for the first time in my life. After an 8-hour flight, I was greeted with extremely hot weather and humidity. But the time spent there, albeit just a week made me enjoy my time a lot.

One of the best decisions I made was to stay at the Gloria Hotel, which turned out to be an apartment hotel. The above shot was from one of the balconies. Incredible how much dusk was there, but it made for a very nice, moody picture. The weather was still really hot at that time, September turned out to be oven-hot. But I’d do it again, to be honest.

I took another shot from the other balcony which looked over Sheikh Zayed Road and I managed to capture this beautiful shot which for me captured the pulse of the city and the vibrance of Dubai, even at night.

To get around I booked the Big Bus tour and I had to go from the hotel only a few meters (thank God for that!) to the metro station. Mall of the Emirates was just a few minutes down the track and from there I started my adventures. One good thing I remember is that the Big Bus Tour had always cold waters in the bus to keep one cool. Boy that was really appreciated as the bottom bit of the bus and the first few rows had air conditioning. The rest was open air and yes, it was very hot! The views of Dubai and the rate of construction back then were mind-boggling.

One of the most memorable experiences was the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa which I visited with a To The Top ticket. It was amazing and the whole experience of the area has been nothing but exceptional. Dubai was as it’s now a land of the superlatives. Bigger, better, more impressive. When we were driving past the Burj Khalifa and I looked up, it made me wonder how anyone could build such an imposing building like this. Back in 2012 by the way there was no travellator, we had to get off the metro and wait under the metro line for a bus to take us to the Dubai Mall. Today, all is mostly covered by an air-conditioned bridge.

It’s about time to go back again and revisit Dubai 12 years later. After what I’ve seen on YouTube so far Dubai has exploded so much I probably wouldn’t recognise anything anymore.

The fountain play is spectacular and I visited it during the day and the night. I did it in one day as Dubai Mall is so big my shopping took all day and I walked multiple kilometres. I’ve never been to a mall that big before. It was truly imposing!

During the rest of my stay, I spent time on the Big Bus and took in the masterpiece of the Palm Jumeirah, which was the first completed palm in the ocean. Simply amazing and here’s a photo of the Atlantis the Palm whilst driving by it on the Big Bus Tour

One day, I believe I took the metro towards the Raffles Pyramid and decided to wonder about in the neighbourhood and soak in the normal Dubai. And it felt certainly like it. I’m very happy that I didn’t settle for the obvious tourist attractions and went off the beaten track and visited local shops. I still have good memories about that and would do it again, without any doubt. Dubai has an interesting, albeit short history but it’s worth a visit.

These are some of the photos I snapped during my stay, oh what stay it was!