Why Dubai's Global Village remains the city’s most joyful tradition—every visit feels new

What does it mean to visit Global Village for the first time?

When I moved to the UAE in 2020, the name kept coming up — in casual conversations, in Google searches. You couldn’t avoid it, even if you tried.

I wasn't entirely sure what it was — only that my husband had bought tickets we never ended up using.

When we finally made the trip to Global Village, it was 2022.

Yet, it persisted in different ways in our home till then. On our table sits a colourful box, seemingly crafted from soda caps, where we keep our keys and wallet. It belongs from my husband’s visit, years ago. And considering that I usually love picking up colourful, strange things at stalls, I was even more keen that we should visit it as soon as we could.

The chance came in 2022. I remember the first sight: Something resembling the Disney castle logo. You walk into a burst of colours; there’s something always beckoning to you in each corner, while you wonder which ‘country’ to enter first. Iran, with its exquisite blues, or China and the trademark dragon. You walk a little more, and you’ll see Japan and Korea: The former is unmistakable with Mochi stalls and counters of Japanese fluffy cakes. In my first visit itself, I learnt that you need to be sparing with your food choices. And that’s a difficult thing to do, especially when you’re a foodie. You’re surrounded by hotdogs, ice-creams, of different kinds, flavours, from rounded mochis to cones, and cups. Or maybe, you just want to sit down with a plate of dynamite shrimps, like we did. You can have full plates, or you can opt for finger foods. In the past few years, we’ve gone to town with dizzying number of dishes, including the Natsu cubes, which are crispy potatoes topped with sauces and crushed Takis.

And, folks, that’s just food. I have breezed in and out of different ‘country’ stalls, picking up something from everywhere I visited, including fluffy cartoon socks, because why not?

We’ve pored over spices for over half-an-hour at the Yemen pavilion, bought shiny rings and necklaces at the Africa pavilion, walked over to China and picked up variations of Lucky Cat in the China pavilion, and vaguely considered tea-sets.

But my favourite memory, would be the one with my parents, this year. It was their first visit, and my mother is the happiest in such places. We chaperoned her around, while she picked up necklaces for my sister from the Saudi Arabia pavilion and bought a kaftan for me. Yet, while she enjoyed all that, one thing that truly excited her was, getting a caricature portrait done.

“Come, we must do, it’s so much fun,” she insisted. I, who normally avoids any such sketching, tried to explain that I didn’t want it. But she was so happy about it that my husband melted too. “It’s just one sketch. Go for it.”

So we sat for a good 45 minutes, solemnly following instructions from the artist, whether to turn our heads or not. “Don’t move,” was one of the firm instructions. Finally, the artwork was ready, reducing my mother to chuckles, as she seemed particularly flattered by how she looked. After a month of illnesses and extremely stressful news, I just remember that night of Global Village the best; more than anything else. And maybe, it's what I'll always remember in time.

And so, there’s one thing for sure. Even if you’ve been to Global Village a dozen times, there’s always something new to take home — sometimes a trinket, sometimes a memory, and always the promise that you’ll return.