GBS Students go on international Tour to Dubai. A provision was made in the admission policy of 2013 that all the admitted students to the batch of 2013-15 be given the experiential learning platform through the international visit. All the students on the roll at the time of the tour with necessary and valid documents were eligible for the tour. GBS has taken the students on international tour on three previous occasions and all the three times it was a tour to Malaysia. This time it was decided that the tour be to UAE (Dubai). Hence the present tour was to Dubai from 18 th November to 23 rd November, 2014. About the Tour. Joha Adventure Tourism, Dharwad was retained as the tour organizer. The route was Hubli to Pune by Bus and from Pune to Sharjah by Air and return by the same route and mode. The tour started with students taking up the buses on 18 th November,2014 morning from Hubli and reached Pune airport by 7pm to take the flight at 10pm IST. After the scheduled 3 hour run flight journeys the tour reached Sharjah by 12.30 (00.30 am) local time. The tour was taken to the Moon valley Hotel Apartments (3 start) accommodation by 2.30am on 19 th November to get ready for the next leg of the tour. The tour was housed in the same accommodation on all the days of stay at Dubai. The tour left Sharjah by Air on 23 rd Morning local time 1am and reached Pune by 5.30am and by Bus to Hubli by 8pm with breakfast and lunch taken on the way. About UAE. United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a result of coming together of seven nations in 1971 of which Sharajah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the part. This unification was thought of by Abu Dhabi king then to stand united as individually these are very small countries as a result are vulnerable. Till 1971 Dubai had Indian
Rupee as its regular official currency as a medium of exchange. After the unification UAE adopted Dirham as the official currency as the acceptable medium of exchange. (Dh1= Rs 17 approx at present). The constitutional Monarchy is the rule of governance in UAE and each of the nations has the dynastic rule of a family. Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are connected by road and the distance between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is about 165kms. Since day temperature is quite high and touches above 50 degree in summer, the general life starts in Dubai after 6pm and goes no till morning. As such the markets are open till about 3am in the morning. Few Places. Dubai Museum is a place housed in Bur Dubai (Dubai is separated by a creek and one part is known as Bur Dubai). This museum is a depiction of evolution and culture of Arab nations in general with trade, commerce, society, life, culture and so on. Cruise Dinner is another attraction in Dubai. It is two hour cruise ride in the creek waters with dinner served accompanied by some culturals. Desert Safari (in Dubai) is an adventure sport. In six seater vehicle (Toyota Land cruiser) specially made for desert ride takes the people on the ride which has many stunts. At times it can frighten one of toppling, sliding and so on. But the drivers being well trained the mishaps are nil. The tyres are tailor made for these vehicles. The driving license to ride in desert is a special one for the drivers. The route is well marked and it is a one way with no vehicles allowed on coming. Al Arab hotel is one of the costliest hotels in the world costing one night stay about Rs 25lakhs. This hotel has a tennis court on one of the storeys visible to the onlookers. Hotel Atlantis is the costliest hotel one among such in the world in terms of cost and size in Abu Dhabi.
Zyed Mosque located in Abu Dhabi is largest mosque which accommodates about 40,000 people at a time for prayer. The structure built of marble is modeled on Lahore mosque and gives a look of Taz Mahal. The carpet in the mosque is suppose be the largest. The Ferrari World is located in Abu Dhabi on a huge landscape fully air conditioned in its built up. It has 17 games including the real and simulation related to speed. The highest speed game can touch in one game is of over 250kms with many stunts. (One can have looked at the photographs taken to see the various expressions the riders give in while on the ride). At the entrance few Ferrari models are kept for the visitors to have the photos. It is a good promotion by Ferrari. Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall is located in the same place. It is a biggest mall for shopping. The structure Burj Khalifa is a modern civil engineering wonder. The tall 164 storey burj khalifa presents a good place to have aerial view of Dubai. It is claimed as tallest one in the world at present having got the entry in guineas book of world record. The visitors are allowed to go up to 124 storeys for the aerial view. One can spend as much time as one wish there and take the look at Dubai. There is a story about burj khalifa that this structure at some point of time in its construction stage ran into financial difficulty and the Khalifa family came forward with financial assistance to see its completion as planned hence the name Khalifa. Further just to convey the enormity of the structure it is informed about 1,00,000 elephant weight equal concrete is used in building Burj Khalifa. It is also called as a vertical city. Some General Observation. Dubai has about close to 500 skyscrapers apart from the many high rise buildings. The high speed roads are 6 lanes on either side of the dividers lit by mercury lights. Many fly overs and undersea passes mark the traffic management system. The traffic on the roads is monitored by radar. Pedestrians first is the rule when it comes to road crossing between vehicles and pedestrians in cases where the touch and go situations arise in traffic signals as also where the free entry is there for vehicles. One can hardly see the two wheelers on the roads. The traffic is full of four wheelers consisting of all the brands of cars (prominently Toyota and Hyundai are seen in many) in the world. It is a left hand drive system as such keep right is the road discipline. It is difficult to find the vehicles honking the horns even in the thick traffic conditions. The lane discipline is followed to its best. The radar monitor deters the drivers from over speeding on the roads.
The driving license is a luxury as it takes many repeat trials to secure the license and each trial comes with cost. Any road accidents is cleared within no time by the police for traffic. There are many super markets for day today living necessities. The crime rate is claimed to be zero as punishments are heavy and law enforcement is strict. People can feel safe to walk any time during the day/night time. The cost of living is high. There are many mosques in Dubai and Friday is weekly holiday. The life starts after 2.30 pm on Fridays. Indians constitute about 55% of the population. Lot of Hindi speaking people can be found. Therefore language barriers are not there. Lot of Indian restaurants make Indian food available as such food is not an issue. The white clad dress with a black ring on the head worn by Arabs has significance. The hot weather makes white as good textile material. The black ring is used to tie the Camel legs so that the animal does not stir out when people are taking rest. Conclusion. The four day tour by 100 plus students and staff had many lovely moments for lifetime cherishing. Like first flight experience, first overseas visits, the lifelong passport possession (with timely renewals when due), immigration and customs clearance, meeting people from different culture and enjoyment.
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