WOW, what an amazing city. This is where the high rise skyscrapers meet the Persian Gulf on one side and the desert on the other. Our arrival into Dubai was long awaited. We were greeted by all the tall, tall buildings, one is said to be the tallest building in the world and they are still working on it. That said, Shanghai claims to have the next tallest building. Crystal, having been to Shanghai, says she sees a resemblance with the large number of cranes all over the city. Due to all the construction and the desert sand, there is a haze over the city of Dubai.
Dubai’s money comes from oil, which was discovered in 1970. Though not the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is the largest as well as the wealthiest city. The UAE realizes that their oil will only last for 15 more years, so they are redesigning themselves as a financial center.
We had planned to fill our two full days in Dubai with touring, so our first afternoon, we hopped on the ship shuttle to the City Centre Mall. Once we entered the mall, we felt no different than any mall in the U.S. Believe it or not, most of the women wore Western clothing: pants, shorts and short skirts. We had a few jobs to do here so Crystal found an extra battery for her camera and was able to get her glasses fixed at an eye glass center called Nice Optics. Their name rang true as they charged her nothing to repair the frames. We also discovered Carrefoure, the French version of Wal-Mart. We had a good time looking at the exotic fish, fruits and veggies. We made a few purchases of t-shirts and pashmina scarves.
Dubai – Day Two, we took the Big Bus Tour of Dubai. It’s a hop on-hop off bus that offers two lines. We took the Historic line first and stopped at the Dubai Museum and it was fascinating. Built in the well of an old fort, we found it nice and cool to visit.
The slideshow through the ages showed the changes and growth in the area since the 1950s. The exhibits showed daily life in the olden times, shopping, education, prayer, metalwork pots, leather crafting, life under the stars and the pearl industry, which is no longer done since the Japanese took it over.
We hopped back on the bus and went to the Gold Souk….. bad mistake, as I acquired a new arm adornment. All the gold jewelry shops reminded me of a Turkish rug store with all the rugs thrown on the floor in front of you or the flashing lights and sounds in Las Vegas. It was sensory overload, to say the least. Later we walked to the Spice Souk a few blocks away. It was filled wonderful smells of dried fruits and spices. It was a warm day, so we walked back to the bus and rode by the creek. This area was filled with boats from other countries loading up with supplies to take away. Interestingly info is that boxes and piled high on the sidewalk around the creek area for boats to fill. We were told that automobiles and refrigerators are also loaded on these boats. The workers don’t have visas or paperwork , so they can only get off the use the restrooms. It must be a sad life to only see this city from the top of a boat.
Our next stop was the dhow boat ride along the creek. We enjoyed this as we saw views of the city from the creek and were out of the hot sun for awhile. We got lots of photos of this part of the city. I even got a photo of the public library. Since we had only eaten 3 peanut butter crackers each and 2 bottles of water, we thought it best to return to the ship for room service and a rest.
The next day, our last in Dubai, we took the Blue line which went past the Jemiarah Mosque, the new tall skyscrapers and the malls. One stop included a photo op of the Burj Al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world. It is famous as it looks like a ship sailing on the water and its expense. We then rode on Palm Island, which are man-made islands that from the air look like a huge palm tree. There is an Atlantis Hotel at the top part of the islands. We saw some suspicious palm trees planted in strategic locations that were really cell phone towers.
After that on to the Mall of the Emirates, the biggest shopping mall in the Middle East. This is the mall with a ski slope inside. Our main objective was to see Ski Dubai and get pictures. We were dropped off at the opposite end from the ski lodge, so we trudged through and ate lunch with a view of the ski lodge. It was a cool 4*C reported inside the lodge: much nicer than the temps in downtown Dubai while we were there. I did pass on the skiing, as I’ve never done it back in the U.S., so Dubai wasn’t going to be my first skiing experience!! We hopped back on the bus and as time was short until all aboard, we jumped off at the City Centre and zipped through the mall with others from the ship following us to the shuttle.
This is truly a fascinating city. We barely got to enjoy it, but had a wonderful taste and I would say I could return sometime.
Dubai’s money comes from oil, which was discovered in 1970. Though not the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is the largest as well as the wealthiest city. The UAE realizes that their oil will only last for 15 more years, so they are redesigning themselves as a financial center.
We had planned to fill our two full days in Dubai with touring, so our first afternoon, we hopped on the ship shuttle to the City Centre Mall. Once we entered the mall, we felt no different than any mall in the U.S. Believe it or not, most of the women wore Western clothing: pants, shorts and short skirts. We had a few jobs to do here so Crystal found an extra battery for her camera and was able to get her glasses fixed at an eye glass center called Nice Optics. Their name rang true as they charged her nothing to repair the frames. We also discovered Carrefoure, the French version of Wal-Mart. We had a good time looking at the exotic fish, fruits and veggies. We made a few purchases of t-shirts and pashmina scarves.
Dubai – Day Two, we took the Big Bus Tour of Dubai. It’s a hop on-hop off bus that offers two lines. We took the Historic line first and stopped at the Dubai Museum and it was fascinating. Built in the well of an old fort, we found it nice and cool to visit.
The slideshow through the ages showed the changes and growth in the area since the 1950s. The exhibits showed daily life in the olden times, shopping, education, prayer, metalwork pots, leather crafting, life under the stars and the pearl industry, which is no longer done since the Japanese took it over.
We hopped back on the bus and went to the Gold Souk….. bad mistake, as I acquired a new arm adornment. All the gold jewelry shops reminded me of a Turkish rug store with all the rugs thrown on the floor in front of you or the flashing lights and sounds in Las Vegas. It was sensory overload, to say the least. Later we walked to the Spice Souk a few blocks away. It was filled wonderful smells of dried fruits and spices. It was a warm day, so we walked back to the bus and rode by the creek. This area was filled with boats from other countries loading up with supplies to take away. Interestingly info is that boxes and piled high on the sidewalk around the creek area for boats to fill. We were told that automobiles and refrigerators are also loaded on these boats. The workers don’t have visas or paperwork , so they can only get off the use the restrooms. It must be a sad life to only see this city from the top of a boat.
Our next stop was the dhow boat ride along the creek. We enjoyed this as we saw views of the city from the creek and were out of the hot sun for awhile. We got lots of photos of this part of the city. I even got a photo of the public library. Since we had only eaten 3 peanut butter crackers each and 2 bottles of water, we thought it best to return to the ship for room service and a rest.
The next day, our last in Dubai, we took the Blue line which went past the Jemiarah Mosque, the new tall skyscrapers and the malls. One stop included a photo op of the Burj Al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world. It is famous as it looks like a ship sailing on the water and its expense. We then rode on Palm Island, which are man-made islands that from the air look like a huge palm tree. There is an Atlantis Hotel at the top part of the islands. We saw some suspicious palm trees planted in strategic locations that were really cell phone towers.
After that on to the Mall of the Emirates, the biggest shopping mall in the Middle East. This is the mall with a ski slope inside. Our main objective was to see Ski Dubai and get pictures. We were dropped off at the opposite end from the ski lodge, so we trudged through and ate lunch with a view of the ski lodge. It was a cool 4*C reported inside the lodge: much nicer than the temps in downtown Dubai while we were there. I did pass on the skiing, as I’ve never done it back in the U.S., so Dubai wasn’t going to be my first skiing experience!! We hopped back on the bus and as time was short until all aboard, we jumped off at the City Centre and zipped through the mall with others from the ship following us to the shuttle.
This is truly a fascinating city. We barely got to enjoy it, but had a wonderful taste and I would say I could return sometime.
1 comment:
Beth, thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I'm enjoying each post. And planning to start saving up for my own trip. :-)
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