The Transcript

I often wonder what it must be like to live in some of the most touristy places around the world. Is it super crowded all the time? Is it always loud and chaotic? Do locals feel like there are always a lot of people around everywhere they go or are there some areas and places that are free of crowds – just for them to enjoy?

Perhaps one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world is Dubai. Known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and lively nightlife, this city has transformed itself from a desert outpost to a destination where tourists flock for sales bargains, sunshine, and family fun. But surely there is more to Dubai than just that, right? And what better way to understand this than chatting about all things Dubai with a local.

Today we explore Dubai with Sharon Cassidy, a long-time expatriate in this city. Sharon has been living in Dubai for the past 15 years and she shares all the reasons why Dubai is such a great place to not only visit but actually live, work and play.

Sharon is an educator and lives with her family in Dubai and she says that the diversity of life and lifestyles she experiences in Dubai is quite unique – people from so many different walks of life come together to make a life here. From touristy hotspots to unique experiences, Sharon showcases Dubai in quite a different light than what we normally see in popular magazines and guidebooks. Yes, Dubai is a mecca for tourists but with a little help from locals like Sharon, you can experience this beautiful and vibrant city in a new way.

Come join me as we explore Dubai with Sharon Cassidy on this episode of CulturallyOurs.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that due to changing travel advisories and restrictions as a result of the global pandemic, please check local and country specific travel guidelines before visiting.

Karthika: Welcome Sharon. Thank you so much for joining me on culturally, as I am really excited to have you on the podcast and I cannot wait to chat with you and get to know you a little bit better.

Sharon: Thanks for having me.

Karthika: Absolutely. So before we begin, could you tell us a little bit about  who you are, where you’re from, just to kind of help set the stage for this conversation?

Sharon: Yeah, absolutely. So my name’s Sharon. I’m from New Zealand and I live in Dubai and I have been here for about 15 years now. I am an early childhood teacher, so it was education initially that brought me over here to Dubai, I suppose, new adventures and that kind of thing. And I honestly never expected to still be here after 15 years, but here I am and I love it. It’s a fantastic city. It’s become home and I’ve really got some fantastic friends that have really become family. So it’s a fantastic place and I’m really excited to be talking to you about it today.

Karthika: That’s excellent. Now, I have been to New Zealand a long, long time ago and I absolutely fell in love with the country and I’m from India. So Dubai is really close to me, but somehow I haven’t quite made it out to Dubai. I don’t know why I keep flying over it when I go home. And one of these days, I’m sure I’ll get there, but talk to me a little bit about Dubai and you said you didn’t think you would be here for 15 years. What’s  kept you there.

Sharon: Oh, that’s such a good question. We were going to be here for one year and we had thought we’d moved to the UK and look for work in that kind of area. But I think it was 2005 when I came. So the, the climate of the country, the opportunity for growth, the opportunity to become someone really special, kind of took over, I think. And that’s, what’s held us here for such a long time. And then before we knew it, we, my husband and I, we got married, not long after we got here before we knew it, we had children on the way and it’s a fantastic place to have kids as well. So in terms of the location, it’s great because we get to see other parts of the world, we’re so close to Europe, we’re so close to Africa, we’re close to Asia. So, obviously New Zealand is a beautiful country, but it’s a very, very far place to kind of travel to. So here we get to kind of see a little bit more of the world, I guess you could say.

Karthika: True. Now things obviously have this year. How has your community, your local area, even the country, how has it handled the pandemic so far and what are plans to reopen, have they reopened and what does that look like?

Sharon: So I suppose lockdown kind of happened out of the blue, I suppose. I actually had family visiting and within two weeks of their departure, the airports are closed down. So it was , it was quite a shock, but to be honest with you, I  had this feeling like something was coming. So I’ve been watching the news really closely. And I think generally speaking, I think Dubai has done a fantastic, or the UAE really has done a fantastic job at  maintaining some kind of workflow. Obviously, I work in education and that’s not been easy. but my husband works in construction and he’s a project manager. And so they’ve made that a priority. And so work has continued and it has to continue because as soon as they stop completely, then there’s real fear for what will happen to the UAE and Dubai.

Sharon: But I think they’ve done a great job at kind of keeping us safe at putting restrictions in place in terms of social distancing, but at the same time , keeping some kind of economy continuing. So I know that tourism opened again. It was probably about four weeks ago, we’re seeing some tourism. Not a whole lot, but we’re seeing some kind of influx of people coming in again. So yeah, it is definitely a strange time. There’s a lot of uncertainty, the work is very difficult for some people and it’s not easy for sure. But I think Dubai doing the best they can given the situation.

Karthika: Yeah, for sure. I mean, and every country deals with it so differently. There is no right or wrong. You just look around and see what is going on and make the most out of it. I know for us here in the States, things are again different state to state. I live in the Chicago area and things are opening up, but there’s also a lot of like caution and people are nervous and it’s kind of a weird time for sure. You touched on this a little bit earlier. You shared why you love where you are. Talk to me a little bit more about what makes Dubai so special, not just for you, but like your friends and the people around you. , I know it’s a very culturally diverse and very cosmopolitan city, but talk to me a little bit more about why Dubai and what’s so special about it.

Sharon: Yeah. So initially the first thing I would say is it’s a total melting pot. You have such a variety of culture and probably that’s one of the things that I’ve always sought in life is different people, different cultures. I just love being among it all I suppose. And so the experiences that are very vast from one extreme to the next. From a perspective, it’s tax-free, which makes it extremely appealing because I’ve managed to make an income and not pay any taxes for the last 15 years. And that’s definitely a plus and obviously I mentioned before the travel it’s so close to the rest of the world, so we love that about it too. And I think that the people here are just incredible. There’s a very like-minded community that we live in everybody comes from a diverse background, but at the same time, we’re all seeking similar things in life. And so there’s that. And I find that we can have friends that are 10 years older. We can have friends that are 10 years younger. Whereas if I was back home in New Zealand, we’d probably the type of people that we would tend to spend most of our time with would be very similar that would have very close similarities to what we’re looking for in life. But here it’s an opportunity just for difference for diversity for yeah. It’s ticks all those boxes for sure.

Karthika: Yeah. I, I love what you said. I mean when you don’t have that diversity, you tend to kind of stick to what you’re comfortable with and that  has a very different life experience versus when you are in thrown in the mix with so many different people, not just skin color, not just ethnicity, but even thought process. And I think it just opens you up to be more

Sharon: Exactly. One of the things I love about my girls going to school here is that it’s an international school. And when my daughter had a birthday last year and she had eight friends, every single friend was from a different country. And I just think that that’s a really she’ll never experience that again in her life. That’s a really special thing

Karthika: For sure. Now since travel has changed so much in these past months and you talked about things slowly opening up, how else is the travel industry dealing with this in Dubai?

Sharon: It’s interesting actually, and I think probably I’ve made an effort to get out and see a little bit more lately. Our time here is coming to an end in Dubai soon. So we’ve made a real effort to kind of get out and see a few places that are really special to us. And going to those places, we’ve noticed that there is definitely a lack of tourism. For example, we were at the Burj Khalifa a couple of weeks ago. And normally, what would be hustling bustling kind of place where you’d have to fight to kind of get a view of the dancing fountains and the Burj Khalifa was suddenly no problem at all. And so, there’s definitely a lack of tourism, but I know that they’re trying to do everything they can to bring that back in. There are certain steps that Emirates airlines to put in place to cover people for insurance in terms of if they catch COVID 19  on their travels. Just little things like that. So I think there are small steps being put into place that will hopefully begin to see a little bit more tourism begin to take off again.

Karthika: Excellent. Now digging in a little bit deeper into that. If I or somebody else out there wants to plan a trip either now, or when things open up a little bit and say you’re still in the area and we meet up where would you take me or take us? Give us an itinerary where to go and what to expect.

Sharon: That is a fantastic question because it’s one that’s constantly changing. There’s so many things changing in Dubai so rapidly, but I asked my husband actually before today and I say, now, listen, where would you go? And, and we were basically saying exactly the same places. So there’s an area in Dubai called the Creek, which is kind of like the main port, I suppose, where old Dubai begins. It’s not a creek at all, it’s quite a giant river, but it’s a really interesting place to go and visit. So there’s some great ways to cross from one side of the Creek to the other side that are super cheap and that’s always a really fun day out. There’s some great little food places down there to go and check out as well. I always recommend to family and friends that come to visit that we go and check out grand mosque in Abu Dhabi.

Sharon: It’s beautiful. They ask you to put on an abaya so that you’re being respectful and you’re covering. And it’s just like looking at the windows and the carvings. Its beautiful. Obviously Burj Khalifa is a must visit. You can’t miss the Burj Khalifa. And if you can go for a visit at the top and I always try and encourage family members to take a staycation while they come. There are so many beautiful hotels five-star accommodations as well as some of the cheaper ones too. You’ve got the five-star side, the staycation side, the hotels, the grand resort. And obviously they are beautiful. And if you can get at least one night in a lovely place like that and be treated like royalty, then I always recommend it. So places like the Palm Jumeirah are beautiful places to find hotels and resorts. Some of the souks are also really good for shopping. And then of course there is the dunes bashing in the desert. You can’t come to Dubai without going into the desert for an afternoon doing this and hopefully find some camels.

Karthika: Yes, my sister was in Dubai last year and she did the dune bashing and she loved it. Of course, don’t eat anything a few hours before and you probably don’t want to eat anything a few hours after as well.

Sharon: Yeah. So with the cars they say don’t sit in the rear of the car. The front is the best place to sit so that you don’t get too sick when you are thrown around in the back.

Karthika: Yes. So she was upfront and then she said there were a couple of guys who thought they would be so cool and not be affected but they ended up being the ones who threw up the most

Sharon: Yes for sure. Maybe the first time is a bit uneasy but when you have been there a couple of times it is really a lot of fun.

Karthika: Yes. Now what we are seeing here in the States is that in the travel space things are going more grassroots. More  off the beaten path, some where less crowded. Hyper-localized  experiences. So the next series of questions will be from your perspective – your favorites and more importantly why. What is your favorite restaurant? I know that’s kind of a hard one to answer. But also tell me why do you like that restaurant?

Sharon: I honestly, I can’t pick one and I’ll tell you why, because there are so many good restaurants on so many different levels. If I was to go for Arabic, I have one, if I was to go for Indian, I’d have another. But like for Arabic food, Blue down on the Creek is fantastic. If you wanted to go for Indian Wren, goalie is really good near the Creek actually as well. If you wanted to do something Mexican, there’s a lovely little place called Maria Benita’s and that’s been open from, for the 15 years I’ve been here and the food, very authentic Mexican it’s and I lived in central America. So I’ve got a fairly good idea about what’s authentic and what’s not, but the food is very good. And then through to five-star you’ve got some restaurants like Pierre chic which is a part of the Jumeriah hotel.

Karthika: Wow. So you pretty much can have once cuisine a day and never have to repeat it again for a bit.

Sharon: Yes and everything here is good. And there’s some lovely Emirati restaurants as well that are kind of starting to crop up more and more. So it’s nice to go and support those as well. There are some cross-cultural influences that make it into the food as well. There is this one restaurant that I went as part of a food tour and they specialized in like fish dishes and things like that and cooking fish in a traditional way. I don’t know exactly how they did it, but the food was incredible. So you’ve got a lot of spices coming into it, obviously. It’s kind of part of that whole spice route. You’ve got a lot of Lebanese Jordanian foods, Egyptian foods coming in as well. So there’s a lot of meats and things like that.

Karthika: Oh, it sounds amazing. Now what’s your favorite activity to do?

Sharon: So off the beaten track is something I enjoy. I want to talk about Frying Pan Adventures. I did this tour a couple of years ago and I believe it is still there. It is just a young girl who was born in Dubai. I believe she was from India actually. And she gives a fantastic food tour just herself and her sister. And she’ll pick you up from the Metro and just take you through to about probably five or six different restaurants. She’ll go to each restaurant that specializes on one particular thing and you’ll have a little bit from everywhere. And this Emirati restaurant that did the salt salted fish was where we had that as well. Absolutely recommend it. And probably you get an idea that one of my favorite things to do is eating. They say, when you come to Dubai, you put on the Dubai stone.

Karthika: It’s funny. I’m not a big foodie. I’m vegetarian, so I have a little bit of limited choice, but I know a lot of people have kind of spoke to me about this where the food and eating out and visiting restaurants is one of the best ways to explore a place. And the more local you go, the more it opens up a window into life, local life, life on the ground. So I totally get that. Now any outdoor spaces that are more like a local hangout that you will not bump into a tourist every time.

Sharon: Yeah. So I suppose it kind of crosses over again into activities, but we’re starting to see a lot more of outdoor activities and outdoor communities growing. There’s a lot of cycling that happens now. There’s kayaking in the mangroves which you can see locals and the ex-pat locals particularly getting out and doing that kind of thing. There’s a lot of hiking in the mountains. There are a lot of dried up creek beds where you can camp for the night. We have done that a few times as well and it is a lot of fun. Outdoor life is definitely kind of more taking off. We of course have a limit on the amount of time and times of the year that we can do this so we make the most of it. And not only Dubai but the rest of the Emirates are also doing a great job in getting more people outdoors and doing outdoor stuff. There are also some funky creative places in the city. They have movie screenings, get bands to play music and have local events outdoors. It is a very alternative community. You walk around, there’s some funky shops to go and check out. There’s a really lovely chocolate factory there, which is Emirati started and funded. And that’s a really great place to go and look around as well. And then obviously, outdoor bars. We’re in Dubai, we live on the beach, so it’s great to go to an outdoor bar on the beach.

Karthika: Now this maybe bleeds into my next question because a lot of times when we see ads for popular destinations, we see big group adventures, right? Like five days and four nights and everything is planned out, but are there a lot of like local experiences or local outfitters that are kind of coming up now?

Sharon: I haven’t looked much into these but definitely things like Frying Pan Adventures are unique and grassroots. And it’s not something that you would likely find in the guidebooks I may be wrong; it might be in the lonely planet or something like that. But I would imagine it’s a little bit more unique. I wouldn’t even know how she advertises it. I know I found her on Instagram, to be honest with you, I don’t know of any off the top of my head.

Karthika: Okay. I was just curious because especially if it’s things are becoming more hyper localized like you talked about the cycling and the kayaking. It’s not something that I would necessarily associate with Dubai, but it’s so nice to know that it is out there for people. I hate shopping and I hate going into like crowded places. So for me, if I were to come there, I would probably spend half an hour shopping around, but then my idea of a vacation is not to go to a mall.

Sharon: Yes I understand what you mean. I would recommend anyone to say pick up a rental car because all of this, everything I’ve mentioned is accessible to anybody. It’s not like they’re not hidden. You put it into Google maps and it will take you straight there. So getting a rental car gives you access to find those places definitely far easier than if you were to be on a group booking or a part of a higher company like a tour group.

Karthika: Right. For sure. It just gives you a lot more freedom to plan your day around. Now you mentioned earlier when we were chatting that your family’s time is likely coming close to an end in Dubai. And you guys have been exploring things as well. Can you talk a little bit about where you’ve gone recently and discovered maybe a new local jam or something you maybe didn’t know that there.

Sharon: Yes. So we actually got a drone a couple of weeks ago and we are kind of rookies. But we wanted to try it out. So we did some googling and found an area called the love lakes. From the air this place looks incredible because it’s two giant hearts interconnected and it’s in the desert. So we packed up some sandwiches for dinner and we took the car out to the desert and it completely blew my mind. It’s a giant park in the middle of the desert that is attracting wildlife. You’ve got some pretty special kinds of birds coming into the area now for the water and for the greenery.  So that was a really special place to go and see and it is just half an hour out of the city. So definitely the love lakes is well worth the trip out.

Karthika: That sounds amazing. Now Sharon, I would love to get your personal perspective in the next couple of questions. So can you share where do you think travel is headed in the future, especially given  COVID and where we are.

Sharon: If you’d asked me this question six months ago, I would’ve probably given a completely different answer and maybe its because I am feeling a bit lost at the moment or perhaps it is because we are getting ready to leave Dubai. We had this grand plan to travel the world and we were originally the plan was to travel through Mexico through Argentina. I don’t see that happening. I don’t see the world returning to the way it was before all of this started. And maybe that is not a bad thing. Maybe the world needs a chance to take a breather from us and our travel and we try to do it as sustainably as we possibly can. So to be honest with you, it’s such an unknown and while I hope that we will be traveling again soon, I think definitely we will be doing it in different ways. Maybe it gives us the opportunity just to reflect on how we’re doing it and doing it in such a way that we’re more careful as a society, as a community, as a country globally. So yeah, I think travel definitely has changed for the future.

Karthika: Things are definitely change day to day. Borders open up and sometimes almost immediately within 24 hours they shut down again.

Sharon: Yes so many places go into lockdown, get out of it and now are again back into lockdown.

Karthika: Yeah. Even when we did our road trip, we were nervous. It was great to get out of our house and outside our four walls but we were very aware that sometimes it can be quite controversial and we were aware of being extra cautious everywhere we went. I don’t think that’s truly is the right way to think about it, especially when you’re living in a society and your kind of responsible for the wellness of everybody around you.

Sharon: Yes. It’s a little bit controversial. In Dubai generally over the summer we have a mass exodus of people because of the summer heat. But now most families have had to stay local. Obviously it’s a different type of hibernation, but we’ve all still been here. And people that have traveled, some have gathered criticism for traveling. Obviously some people have just decided to go home back to their.

Karthika: Now you mentioned a couple of times that you guys are thinking to move out and perhaps still keep your South American trip or maybe not. So can you share it if you’re okay with it, what are your travel plans in the future?

Sharon: Definitely. So, I mean, this has been actually a plan in the making for about three years. So you can imagine how disappointed I was when July rolled around and we were still here. But the grand plan was to do a US trip and then buy a car in the US, maybe a 4×4, and make our way to South America. The reason being I had lived there for a while, so I speak a little bit of Spanish and also because my husband and I just really wanted to kind of ground ourselves after being here for such a long. We worked really hard in Dubai all these years and now wanted to be a family and travel. My husband’s decided to stay until the end of the year and he will carry on with employment and I will try and go to Europe. Getting to Europe is not easy at the moment. I can get into Greece, but I just don’t know where I can go beyond that. Ideally, I’ve got a friend in Spain and I’d like to go and live with her for a couple of months

Karthika: Now you mentioned kids. So how many kids do you have?

Sharon: I’ve got two girls, five and a soon to be eight year old.

Karthika: Oh, wonderful. You have an education background, so you plan on like homeschooling and things like that.

Sharon: We thought we’d try and do something. I don’t know how well my patients will bear with my own kids but we shall see. I think that the beauty of it is when you travel is kind of education becomes around you. It’s just finding the environment and letting it become part of the education

Karthika: Awesome. Thank you so much Sharon, for coming on and sharing all your adventures.

Sharon: Thanks very much for having me. It’s such an honor to join you on the show.