Don't have a car? You can always just decorate your camel instead. :)
Or your kid...
The decoration of the cars is for the massive "parade" of cars that happens on one of the main beach roads here in Dubai. I use the word "parade" loosely, as its more of a parking lot where the locals attempt to drive up and down shooting silly string, confetti, water guns, candy, etc. out of their cars and onto neighboring cars.
There are no safety laws in the UAE (or very lenient ones, if any) with regard to children riding in (or in many cases) ON the cars. You will see this situation below, as common on National Day - children sitting and riding on the sunroofs or even in some cases, the hoods of cars. Luckily, as I mentioned before, its mostly a parking lot, so hopefully this minimizes the danger.
Dubai has a very small population of locals, in relation to the other cultures that make up the population of this city. However, on National Day, you'd be hard pressed to see anyone OTHER than locals. Its quite a special experience - even if its not my own National Day, I do love to see how other cultures feel about their own home country.
You can be assured that no expense is spared - most buildings are fully decorated, streets filled with extra lights, interiors of buildings decorated with UAE colored flowers, banners, you name it.
The photos could never do it justice, but at least you have a little visual history of how the UAE celebrates its National Day.
And of course......there are FIREWORKS. Lots and lots of fireworks.
