Dubai city tour - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Today we explored Dubai and thank goodness for a rental car as the temperature is in the high 30's and very hard to be out in for more than a few minutes. We started the day with a drive down the west coast, taking a look at the very exclusive hotel called Burg Al Arab and then enjoying a drive around the man made resort called the Palm.
We then stopped at the Emirates shopping mall and took a look at the indoor ski fields which are quite amazing and look like a lot of fun (something worth trying if we stop over again) and wandered around the shopping centre and grabbed a bite of lunch there.
Heading back into the city we had a short and very hot walk around the gold souk area where prices were ridiculously high and then decided to have a short rest back at our apartment before we headed out again to go up the tallest building in the world, Burg Khalifa. The trip up in the lift was amazingly smooth and quick and the view from the top was impressive, although there was quite a bit of haze. We arrived down on the ground just in time to watch the musical fountain show in the lake at the bottom, which was quite impressive.
Heading back into Dubai we parked the car and took a ferry ride across the creek on a very rickety boat, for the princely sum of about 30 cents. We had hoped to find somewhere to have a meal on the other side but all we could find were lots of market stalls selling all sorts of apparel. As obvious tourists we were continuously pestered to buy things so decided to hop back on the ferry and head home for a quiet dinner in the hotel. Quiet was an understatement as we were the only people in the restaurant. The service was unbelievably slow but once the food arrived it was very tasty, very reasonably priced and more than we could eat.
DEREK'S COMMENTS
Much better to have a car in Dubai, rather than relying upon tours. You can just zoom off to any odd thing that looks interesting, and you see so much more. Driving here is quite easy, nothing like the driving madness elsewhere in this part of the world. Roads are well sign posted, and car parks all over the place.
The Burj Al Arab is the long term iconic sail shaped hotel that you see on all the tourist brochures. It was built on reclaimed land that you reach on a short causeway, if you can - you can't do it without a booking at the hotel. It is touted as a 7 star hotel (officially no such thing), but on my last visit here I just thought it was grotesquely overdone, with gold leaf on the foyer walls etc. Great design though, with the front of the hotel actually being sail material.
The Palm was the first man made island complex here - there is now another Palm (obviously shaped like one) being finished, while the much touted the World complex (reclaimed islands all built in the shape of the world - wouldn't it be good to buy,say, Britain - Ric************ where are you) has largely stalled due to the GFC effects. Dubai is suspiciously quiet about its progress.
The Burj Khalifa (168 stories - highest building in the world at the moment) is truly a monument to man's engineering ability. The observation deck is on floor 124, and we only learnt later that you can have a meal on floor 123 for less money with a meal thrown in. It actually gives you a good birds eye view of Dubai.
Why people go to the gold souk amazes me. Essentially a few streets packed with gold shops, you would have to be keen, plus really know your gold prices. Takes all types I spose....