I had saved this post for New Year Greetings!
When I entered the Miracle garden, (Dubai) I asked myself: ‘am I dreaming?’ An incredible haven of tranquility, a fiesta of flowers, a riot of colors all around in astonishing shapes and sizes and an innovative display dazzled me!
As I was trying to brace myself, William Wordsworth’s lyrics from “The Daffodils” flashed across my mind “ten thousand I saw at a glance, tossing their heads in sprightly dance”… “I gazed and gazed but little thought, what wealth the show to me had brought…”
Actually this garden has 45 million blooming flowers and the captivating shapes in which they grow are amazing. I have seen Tulip gardens but their grandeur didn’t enrapture me as much as this one.
When I was looking up the options to visit this garden, I came across online booking of tours, which offered a five-hour trip to Global Village and Miracle Garden in $80.00 per person, which included hotel pick up and entrance fees. I thought we would be stuck up for five hours and since I was not very keen to visit Global Village, I chose to work it out myself.
We took a taxi from our hotel and reached the garden within half an hour. The entry ticket costs 30 AED per person. After spending an hour at the garden, admiring those who could create this wonder in the middle of a desert and marveling at the maintenance, we walked across the road to visit Butterfly Garden, which was a huge disappointment.
I would never recommend a visit to Butterfly Garden due to the exorbitantly priced ticket (60 AED per person) to enter and find a few butterflies, in an oppressive humid atmosphere. I think this so called Butterfly Garden is a misnomer! It should be called ‘Test your Patience at a high price.’ I bet nobody would enter!! The moment I entered, I wanted to rush out. It was disgusting!
I had clicked some pictures but didn’t find them worth sharing as there are hardly any butterflies to be seen!
Since the sun was about to set, we thought let’s visit Global Village too and capture the sunset there. So we took another taxi and reached there within minutes. The entry ticket to this place is just 15 AED.
Designed to attract tourists, this village, as the name suggests showcases the culture and wares of different countries through pavilions, which have been set up to sell their local products and seem to be doing a roaring business. There is too much to see…stroll around, watch the shows, take the rides, try global cuisine, shop the souvenirs. We spent an hour there and were in no mood to stay longer. We clicked some memorable pictures.
The whole trip cost us half the amount as compared to the online trip advisors, with the choice of how much time we wanted to spend at each place. Planning skills are indeed rewarding!
Thank you for reading this.
Wishing all my readers a Healthy, Happy and Peaceful 2018.
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Balroop Singh.
