the hunting of the oxen

Dubai

make the most of your time in this emirate one of the seven that make up the United Arab Emirates, and behave like a local and staye indoors for most of the time.

This city is not like any other we have visited thus far, it is so clean, new and modern, with amazing skyscrapers, endless miles of over designed freeways, mega malls on every corner and the evidence of money everywhere. The city is spread along the coast of the Arabian Gulf and has been mostly built in the last 25 years with excess in mind. The architecture of the new tall sky scrapers truly is a sight to see if you can see them through the sun storm (a fog of sand and heat). Most notably of course is the only 7 star hotel in the world the Burj Al Arab built in 1999 and the world’s tallest hotel which is sits on its own island in the gulf. This iconic hotel with its sail like design truly stands out from the rest, but needless to say we could not afford the $2000.00 a night charge, and only got to see it from the beach. 

 

But no one does a shopping mall better than Dubai. These malls are so impressive and large they can take days to discover. On our first day we visited the Mall of the Emirates, a massive structure that seems to go on for miles with countless shops and boutiques, including an indoor ski hill. Ski Dubai is the world’s largest indoor snow park with five ski runs (longest being a ¼ of a mile) toboggan hill and a snow man making area. It was most odd to see everyone hiding from the heat and enjoying good old Canadian fun, so we had to join in. So we both put ski suits on and skis on our feet and took several runs down the famous ski hill, it was a blast and after over 15 years I now know I can still ski.

 

 

 

But the most impressive of all the malls is the new Dubai Mall located at the base of the world’s tallest building the Burg Khalifa. This mall is larger the West Edmonton Mall, and contains not only a skating rink, but the world’s largest fish tank, an underwater Zoo and a fountain show similar to that at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. This mall had every high end store imagined and went on for miles, too much for only one visit, it even has an area dedicated to high end chocolate stores. 

We also toured the Dubai Museum with its view on the Arab world of the past inside the Al Fahidi Fort. Here they highlighted life along the ocean using their boats called wooden Dhows, Bedouin culture and lifestyle as well as a focus of the animals of the desert. We also toured along the Dubai Creek area, the lifeblood of old Dubuai, the Jumeirah Mosque and the old Gold Souq located in the heart of the old city.

In addition we toured the Palm Jumeirah the manmade island shaped like a palm tree in the Arabian Gulf, with its massive homes, condos and of course the incredible Atlantis Hotel.

But the highlight of our stopover in Dubai was without a doubt the Desert Safaris. We had great fun in a 4WD climbing sand dunes west of Dubai. This exhilarating ride over countless dunes and sliding down the other side was a heart stopper for sure. And then in the evening we were treated to a Bedouin feast in a camp in the desert including an incredible performance by a belly dancer. 

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