Slow start in Dubai as we were quite tired. Headed by tram & Metro to the Mall of the Emirates. Over 630 shops, mostly high end and even a Tim Hortons! Checked out the ski hill and snow park just in time for the penguin show. Minus 2 degrees inside but the snow didn’t look like quite the right texture. Back to our pricey hotel in Dubai Marina then strolled along The Beach at JBR (Jumeirah Beach Residences). Dinner on the beach at a Turkish/Lebanese restaurant with a view of the Dubai Eye.
Awesome day in downtown Dubai at the Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping mall with 1300 shops. It’s a small city with a giant ice rink, aquarium, indoor theme parks, and 150 food outlets.
First stop was the Aquarium & Underwater Zoo. Two separate areas complete with a giant undersea observation tunnel. Lots of tropical fish and sea creatures as well as a desert creature area and two enormous salt water crocs from Oz. We were most impressed.
Next stop, the Burj Khalifa, currently the tallest structure in the world at 828m. Incredible feat of architecture and engineering. Going to the 555m level at floor 148 was very costly ($130 each), so we opted for levels 124 (452m) and 125 (only $60 pp). Amazing views of the city and ocean. Had a coffee on the outdoor observation platform. Lots of fascinating info about the construction of the tower which opened in January 2010.
Most impressive part of the day was watching the dancing Dubai Fountain sound, light and water show in the lake below the Burj. Water undulates and surges as high as 140m all synced to classical, Arabic and world music soundtracks. It plays every 30 minutes so we saw 6 different versions. The Burj in the backdrop participates in the light show as well, with lasers and moving lights and projections. Absolutely spectacular! Excellent dinner on a patio overlooking the show then back to JBR.
Next day we needed to be in Abu Dhabi very early for our flight to Bahrain. Strolled The Dubai Marina Walk after checking out of our hotel, then headed to the bus station late in the afternoon.
Photos of Dubai in Fickr are here:
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates