We are back from our 3 day weekend in Dubai and we had a fantastic time. First of all, THANK YOU TO KHALED for his generosity and willingness to put us up at his apartment and tour us around. We are so glad to have such great friends all over the world. So we left for Dubai on Friday right after school and arrived in the early evening. The flight is only 2 1/2 hrs and there is only a 1 1/2 hr time difference so it makes for easy travel to and from Mumbai. Our friend Khaled picked us up from the airport and was eager to show us his city. We weren't too exhausted and decided to go drive around a bit and check out some sites. We drove to the newly opened Dubai Mall (one of the largest in the world) and walked around a bit. Now, when we say mall, don't think about your local mall. Think Mall of America in Minnesota with an ice skating rink and a giant aquarium. Oh, and five times the square footage with twice as many stores. Needless to say, being a mall-rat in Dubai means something different than any other part of the world. So we grabbed some Coldstone and went to check out the aquarium and the ice rink. We weren't expecting to see such crazy things right away so we unfortunately didn't have our cameras with us but here are some photos of the mall to get an idea of what it is like.
After a couple hours we finally hit the wall and headed back to Khaled's apartment to go to bed. The next morning we went
to brunch at the incredible Shakespeare & Co. Cafe located in the center of this peaceful hotel plaza with a wonderful view of the Burj Dubai Tower (The tallest structure in the world).
After a delicious breakfast we went to the old part of town to explore the historical side of Dubai.
We parked by the creek-side and wandered through old town for a while, venturing through the souks (shops) filled with rediculous amounts of gold and gems and other miscellaneous items. We had some trouble finding where we wanted to go but in the process got a great tour of the narrow roads, markets, and alley ways of old Dubai. We finally made our way to the Heritage House, a restored example of a traditional Dubai villa. Next to it was the first school ever built in Dubai, orginally holding nearly every child in the city for many years. Both buildings were simple yet elegant and the open design made it feel very comforting and relaxing. We toured through these buildings and the attached museum and displays which was a nice way to get a taste of tradition and culture in such a modern, commercial megacity.
We then took a boat across the creek to explore the Dubai Museum and some palaces and mosques on the other side. Again, we had a bit of trouble finding where we were going, but got another great walk along the water and some great pictures of both traditional and modern buildings in the area. We stopped in for some nachos at a little Mexican restaurant then headed over to the Marina and a visit to the Palm.
Now, if you're not familiar with Dubai, just picture the beach front mansions and hotels of Hollywood, Hawaii, or Florida combined with the shopping and towers of New York City smashed together with the glitz, glamour, and desert heat of the Las Vegas strip and you have a good sense of what it's like. The city is constantly under construction with billions of dollars spent on new hotels and skyscrapers. One of their most well knows achievemens is the Palm Islands and the World Islands. They reclaimed land off the coast to create new artificial islands in the shape of a palm tree and a series of islands resembling a map of the world. (See the sattelite image from google maps to really understand) The city is basically the world's shopping center and playground for the extremely wealthy.
With that in mind, we went down to the Marina which is a section of the city on the coast that is full of only hotels and privately owned skyscrapers and luxury apartments. The Palm is connected to this area and all of its branches are also privately owned luxury apartments and hotels. We went at night when everything was lit up and drove out on to the Palm to visit the brand new mega hotel Atlantis that just opened in September. It is located at the tip of the Palm and looks more like a man-made 8th wonder of the world than a hotel. For something really
crazy, check out the opening cerimony last September when they created one of the world's largest fireworks displays on the Palm. Khaled said you could hear it from miles away and anybody who is anybody was there to see it.
After the Palm, we headed back into town for some shawarma then off to the Global Village for some shopping. The Global Village is kind of like a huge county fair with rides and crafts and those types of things but instead of local arts and crafts they have buildings designated for merchants from all over the world. For example, there is an Egypt building and a China building, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, etc. etc. each with merchandise from their home country. Some of the stuff was really nice but the majority of it was plastic junk and stupid toys and things. There was a good deal of art, carpets, and handmade items however which made it a great place to get a bargain on some really cool items. We were lucky enough to be there on the last night before the merchants all packed up and went home, so we were trying to score a bargain on a nice rug although we were unsuccessful. All we came away with was some sand art and a decorative vase and light for our apartment. Even so, we ended up staying until 1:30 then headed home exhausted after a very long day.
On Sunday we slept in then went over to Emirates Mall for some breakfast and to check out the famous indoor ski slope. We had breakfast at this amazing French cafe called Paul's and ended up going there again the next day because it was so incredible. After some food we took a look at the ski slope which, although cool and inventive, left quite a bit to be desired. We didn't actually go in since it was crazy expensive and the slope is only 400m which takes about 20 seconds to go down. We walked around and took some pictures though as it is a really incredible feat of engineering.
We then headed out to meet up our guide from Arabian Adventures for a desert dinner and safari we had booked the previous day. We loaded up 6 people in a giant Chevy Tahoe and headed out to the desert where we were driven through the sand dunes to a desert camp for some dinner and entertainment. The ride was a blast as they went up and down the dunes. We got to see some great desert scenery and even a little bit of wildlife as we drove out to the camp. When we got there, they had a wonderful set up with tables and carpets, a stage, and lots of places to relax, talk, eat, drink, or smoke the hooka. We had a wonderful dinner while watching the sunset followed by a belly dancer and some star gazing. It was a really great trip and I think we were all impressed and had a fantastic time.
The next morning we went back to Paul's for breakfast then took a quick
trip to Jumeirah to catch some sites of hotels, souks, and get a glimpse of the famous Burj al Arab Hotel before heading home.
All in all it was a really busy but really fun weeekend and it makes us even more excited to do some more Middle East exploring in Cairo next month! Check out the photos and video from the weekend.
Hope all is well! Until next time...
K&E
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