Cerita Seru dari Dubai Yang Tak Terlupakan

Selama berkunjung di Dubai, ada bosennya juga didalam kota terus. Jadi kita memutuskan nyobain ke luar kota Dubai selama 3 kali. Nyaris 4 sebenernya karena tadinya kita sempet mau ke Oman. Tapi karena batal, yah cukup 3 aja. Semuanya punya cerita serunya masing-masing nih.

// During my visit in Dubai, I went on 3 short distance road trips. Actually it’s almost four if we didn’t cancel our trip to Oman.

Yang pertama, ke Padang Gurun di daerah Al Ain // The first trip was to the desert of Al Ain

Temen gue si tuan rumah yang baik hati, Nita, sengaja menyewa supir Indonesia yang hafal jalan, terus ngejemput seorang teman dan suaminya yang adalah fotografer dan pergi ke Gurun Al Ain, 120 km dari Dubai. Kita sampai teng jam 12 siang dengan matahari persis diatas kepala. Ya Tuhan baru deh ngrasain sampe di padang gurun siang bolong begini. Sadis panasnya. Kaki nginjek pasir langsung berasa kayak lagi atraksi jalan diatas bara!

// My friend rented a car with an Indonesian driver who already worked there for many years, picked up a photographer friends and his wife (good decision!) and drove away to the desert. Al Ain is located about 120 km south of Dubai. We arrived at 12 o clock sharp in the middle of a vast desert! The sun was directly above our heads and the sand was burning.

Semua kita lakukan karena obsesi gue pengen naik unta!!! Hehehehe…  Kita ketemu dengan orang lokal di tengah padang gurun yang ngijinin kita untuk naik ontanya. (makasih pak supir yang jago bahasa Arab). Baik banget mereka. Pertama kali seumur hidup akhirnya nyobain naik onta di padang gurun di Arab. Begini toh…. untung onta nya sabar banget sama gue. Cekrek! Temen baru gue sang fotografer, mengabadikan momen ini. Thanks Robin! Maap ya norak…😛

// It was a nice experience though as we got to meet with the locals who were quite friendly to us and lend us their white camel for me to ride (the driver spoke to them in Arabics). It was my first time being in the real Arabian Desert and rode a barely tamed camel without a decent saddle. Felt like sliding and falling at all times. I felt sorry for the Camel cause I grabbed its hair so tight (plus I had camel meat for lunch the other day..sorryy….) Somehow I managed to control the camel and stayed in one piece. 😅 

 

Tadinya kita mau lanjut nyetir ke Abu Dhabi dan makan malam disana. Tapi karena satu dan lain hal, kita akhirnya balik lagi ke Dubai dan nongkrong di apartemen Robin dan istrinya. Apartemen mereka enak banget di pinggir pantai daerah Marina Dubai. Daerah yang sangat happening di Dubai. Banyak resto disini tinggal pilih! Disini juga tempat anak muda Dubai ngeceng. Ada yang sengaja mondar mandi naik mobil mewah dengan kaca dibuka, siapa tau ada cewek yang suka. ckckckc.

// After the desert, we actually planned to go straight to Abu Dhabi for dinner but something kept us from doing that and we drove back to Dubai instead. We ended up at our friend photographer’s apartment, which is located at one of the most pumping spot in Dubai, the Marina Dubai. It has a nice beach with ‘The Palm’ as the view from a distance, at the backyard. Awesome. We first had a couple of burgers for lunch nearby. They swore it was one of the most delicious burgers in Dubai. The name of the restaurant was “Burger Fuel” from the New Zealand, and they did serve some tasty burgers. My burger came with a ‘Doofer’, -a clever cardboard gimmick designed to hold the burger, keep toppings from sliding onto your hand-. Their milkshakes were also tasty. 

Habis makan burger di “Burger Fuel” yang enak banget burger dan milkshake-nya, kita ambil kain bali, buku, kacamata item, dan santai di pantai yang sore ini lagi rame-ramenya – nungguin matahari terbenam. Life is good.

// Satisfied with our meals, we went straight to join the crowd at the beach. Brought our selves a cozy mat, some books, sun glasses and we enjoyed the good life, waiting for the sun to set. Ayayay. 

Nah, ceritanya jadi menarik tuh disini. Pas kita lagi duduk-duduk, gue ngga sengaja merhatiin bahwa ada segerombolan pria lokal yang bediri-bediri di pantai tapi dengan niat “lain”. Mereka sibuk melototin para bule-bule cewek yang lagi berjemur matahari sore dengan bikini minim. Tau sendiri bule ya kan… nggak ada malu-malunya.. apalagi di pantai yang menurut mereka tempat sah untuk buka baju. Nah si para lelaki ini juga ikutan nggak tau malu. Mereka bener-bener melotot nggak berkedip!!! dan gue ngeliat dengan mata kepala sendiri, mereka ngeluarin kamera pocket dan zoom ke para bule, lalu motret berkali-kali. Jadi gue potret aja nih muka para lelaki pervert. Serem tapi kocak kelakuan mereka. Aduh ada-ada aja.

//The weird part of that lovely afternoon was the presence of some locals (male) who stood around at the beach, staring at some bule (Westerners) sun bathing in their tiny bikinis, and….sometimes stole a snapshot of the girls with their phone cameras. It was very obvious. I wanted to ignore them, but I couldn’t. It was so creepy but funny at the same. 

cerita seru dari dubai

 

Trip kedua gue yaitu ke Abu Dhabi.// The second trip was all the way to Abu Dhabi.

Masih dengan driver yang sama tapi teman fotografer yang beda, kita berkunjung ke kota Abu Dhabi, masih di Uni Emirat Arab, berjarak 1,5 jam dari Dubai.

//With the same driver, different photographer friend, we took a day trip to Abu DhabiIt was a 1,5 hours drive. 

Abu Dhabi tuh kota yang sangat indah! Kita ngeliat matahari terbenam di daerah Corniche di tengah kota, mampir ke Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel, hotel termahal kedua yang pernah dibangun di dunia, berhenti di “Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque”,  Masjid terbagus yang pernah gue lihat yang memang luar biasa cantik, dan makan di resto Indonesia bernama Restoran Bandung yang makanan Indonya cukup enak, dan ke beberapa tempat seru lainnya.

// We went to the mall, waiting for sunset at the Corniche (missed it by seconds, but spotted it while looking for a parking space. Duh!), visited the Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel (second most expensive hotel ever built, owned by the government, and has a 1.3 km long private beach), tried on the only decent Indonesian restaurants in the city called “Bandung Restaurant”, and took some time to admire this wonderful building called “Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque”. With its white and gold colors, at night it lit up beautifully by a unique lighting system. It’s a super-stunning Mosque, the best one I have ever seen. We also went to some other cool  places.

cerita seru dari dubai

NAAHHHH, kesannya seru banget ya kann.. Emang sih!! TAPIII…. si teman nya Nita, sang  fotografer kita, membuat ceritanya jadi berbeda. Masalahnya gini, lo bayangin ya… dia tuh (nama disamarkan ya.. hehee) peralatan kameranya canggih banget, sampe dua koper gede! Lengkap sama lighting segala. Canggih deh beneran. Terus gue sama Nita, temen gue, udah disuruh dandan karena bakal photoshoot di Abu Dhabi ceritanya. Dan beneran, kita berdua jadi model yang baik selama di Abu Dhabi. Fotoooo terus. Sangat meyakinkan.

// I don’t want to talk about Abu Dhabi very much for a reason. It’s actually because almost ALL the nice photos we took of the trip was in the camera of our photographer friend, which up to this very second –a year later- hasn’t been sent to any of us. and he said they are all gone for no clear reason 😫 

Nah, pas udah pulang ke Dubai, kita kan penasaran pengen liat hasilnya, dan tebak coba… nggak ada satupun yang jadi! Dia bilang rusak atau ilang gitu… pokoknya satupun kenang-kenagan kita di Abu Dhabi nggak ada dari kamera canggihnya itu.😫 Walhasil gue dan Nita cuma punya sekitar 5 foto sedaanya yang kita ambil pake hp kita di Abu Dhabi. All those cool place that we went to nggak ada jejak fotonya satupun. Hilang tanpa bekas dan tanpa pejelasan yang pasti. Udah capek-capek make up.. capek-capek pose… HIKS. Tiap kali gue ama Nita inget cerita ini kita dongkol banget!

Trip ketiga, ke Desert Safari yang sangat terkenal.// The third trip I took was the famous Desert Safari at night.

Temen gue mem-book tour untuk bisa nikmatin Desert Safari yang sangat ngetop dan katanya wajib dilakuin di Dubai itu. Kira-kita perjalanan 1 jam masuk ke daerah padang gurun untuk bisa ngeliat matahari terbenam, ngerasain offroad ditengah pasir yang gokil banget, nyobain sand boarding, ngeliat tari perut, bbq-an dan lain-lain.

// My friend booked me a tour to enjoy the sunset in the desert, watching belly dancers, sand boarding, camel riding, Henna hand painting, barbeque dinner, and an off road style dune driving with a land cruiser mobile.

cerita seru dari dubai

cerita seru dari dubai

cerita seru dari dubai

 

Tapi di tour ini,  tanpa terduga gue ngalamin perlakukan yang sangat buruk dari tour guide ‘Arabian Night Tour’ yang bernama Mohammad. Asli traumatik abis. Seperti apa? Nanti gue tulis di lain waktu ya karena panjang ceritanya. Mungkin kalo gue nulis buku suatu hari nanti akan gue ceritain detail.

// Honestly I had a very bad moment here with the tour guide named Mohammad from ‘Arabian Night Tour’ but I will tell you the story some other time 😉 In my upcoming book maybe…haha! Basically the sunset was incredibly pretty, the food was not bad specially the bbq and kebab. The belly dancer was okay, the sand boarding was not much, the dune driving was awesome. I think no matter how bad my experience was with the tour guide, everyone visiting Dubai should at least try this Safari once. (I said ONCE. No more. My friend went for it 3 times and couldn’t handle more of it. “No more Desert Safari ever!!” she said. Lol.😂 

Sangat buruk sampe gue nangis ketakutan sodara-sodara!!!!

Temen gue juga sampe ngrasa gak enak banget karena dia yang booking-in tournya – padahal bukan salah dia sama sekali. Anyway, walau begitu, gue tetep pikir semua orang yang mau ke Dubai harus nyobain Safari minimal satu kaliii aja – karena pengalaman yang berbeda aja buat kita, dan sebagai turis pasti bakal menikmati karena sangat seru. Pinter-pinter aja pilih operator tur dan jangan pergi sendiran kayak gue!!

Sekian dulu cerita seru dari Dubai

Dari semua pengalaman gue di Dubai, mungkin naik onta siang bolong di tengah gurun adalah yang paling gue suka. Sangatt organik!! hahahaha. Sedangkan kalau dinilai secara keseluruhan, momen paling horor di Dubai adalah ketika gue lagi jalan di Dubai Mall sendirian dan diikutin sama seorang cowok Arab yang membuat gue sampai lari ke security. Asli ngeri banget. Sedangkan momen paling menyenangkan ialah segala hal yang gue lakukan bersama teman baik gue Nita, yang memang menjadi tuan rumah yang luar biasa selama gue tinggal di Dubai. Thanks Girl!

// Out of those three trips, my favorite one would be the day we went out to Al Ain Desert. It was rugged but memorable. And out of all the things I did in Dubai, my most uncomfy moment was one time when an Arabic guy followed me everywhere in Dubai Mall and tried to talk to me. SCARY! While my most fave part of Dubai is maybe the quality time spent with my best friend. She was a great host during my stay there. Surely return one day🙂

(Tulisan gue berikutnya tentang Dubai, click disini : 10 Things I Did in Dubai)

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Wherever we go, always collect moments, not things. ALWAYS.

-olivelatuputty.com/blog – @shiningliv

(1) Comment

  1. It means you had fun ,what is your suggestion regarding Belly Dance ,especially when they shake their bellies ,it was the best performance ,really no words to define the actual feelings …..

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