Today was our second day in Dubai, and we saw the new Dubai
today. This is a magnificent city and one we would come back to, if we had lots
of money.
We started off with taking a photo stop at the Emirates Twin
Towers, the 9th tallest in the world. Hazel Wong was the architect
on these buildings. They are very beautiful and so is the area they are in. The
Dubai Stock Exchange is right across the street and is also a very unique
building. This is the financial district of the city. Dubai is not dependent on
oil as some of the other emeritaes are, but has many other forms of income. So,
when ol went down they saw no issues. Donald Trump just signed an agreement
with Dubai to build a building here with an outdoor skating rink.
We then went to the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the
world, and they are adding on. This is where we saw the fountain show last
night. We walked through the mall and saw Fashion Avenue, they also have a
runway there for fashion shows and the aquarium. You can view the aquarium from
the mall itself. The walls are very, very high. The stores are mostly very high
end from all over the world. It is the first Bloomingdales outside the US.
Needless to say we did not buy anything here. There are 1200 stores and over 200
food and beverage shops here.
One of the things that our guide stressed was the lack of
crime. If you drink while driving or are caught with drugs, you go directly to
jail and then are deported and they put a lifetime ban on your passport. If you
are an Emerate, then they put you through a rehabilitation program.
Next we visited the Mall of the Emirates. This is a little
smaller mall, and not as quite high end. Here they have an indoor ski slope
(both novice and black slopes) and a play area for kids. It is called Ski Dubai
and was crowded when we went through. We also ate lunch in the food court. We
had Lebanese food; they were wraps. Mine had lamb and humus and Steve’s had
spicy chicken. It comes with fries, but they also wrap them in the wrap. They were
delicious. Mine was called a Kebab Halabi Sandwich and Steve’s was called a
Kebab Spicy Sandwich.
Moving on now to Dubai Marina, they call this the Monte
Carlo of the Middle East, minus the gambling. Five years ago there was nothing
here but sand and now there are over 200 buildings, business, food and beverage
and residential. The marina stretches 11 kilometers into the town. There is a
tram that does all around the area as well as Abra’s (boats) that take you
around. There is also a gorgeous public beach called Jumeirah Beach, which is
only six months old. TO rent a cabana on the beach is $100 per day. These are
just canvas covers for you beach chairs. This is the longest manmade marina in
the world.
Next stop was to drive over to Palm Island and see the
Atlantis Hotel. There is a special monorail that goes out to the island as well
as a road and tunnel. It is a manmade island that was started in 2007. There
are 2500 residential apartments on the island and they sold out in the first
three days that they were offered. There are 1500 condominiums in the Palm
Jumeirah area, each with their own beach. The Atlantis Hotel is like the one in
the Bahamas, but no gambling. The most expensive room is $48,000 per night and
was where Michael Jackson stayed. Regular rooms run $500 per night. They are
building another manmade resort called the World. It consists of 300 islands
and each will be named after a different country. They are laid out as the
world. It was started as the economy fell, so is now only getting back started.
You buy an island and then you must develop it. All of them are sold. There
will be no road access, you must take an Abra or a helicopter. Two of the
islands are developed. Greenland is owned by the Sheik and Lebanon is a private
country club.
Almost done, the next stop was he Madinat Jumeirah, Beverly
Hills of Dubai, where you must be an Emerate to live there. This was a beautiful
small open air mall, with carts and shops and restaurants. We walked around and
did some shopping. I bought a camel for a Christmas tree ornament. The last
stop was a photo stop at the Jumeirah Mosque. This is the most photographed
mosque in Dubai. It was very beautiful, but they have so many beautiful
mosques. We then returned to the ship at 6 PM (started at 10 AM). That was two
wonderful days in Dubai.
We are now off to Muscat (the capital) of Oman.
Here are the pictures.
1-2 Emirates Twin Towers
3 – Stock Exchange
4-10 Dubai Mall
11 – Dubai Mall – largest candy store in the world
12 – Buildings that look like dolphins
13-15 Mall of Emirates
16-19 Ski Dubai in Mall of Emirates
20 Lunch
21-27 Dubai Marina – note the twisted building
28-30 Jumeirah Beach
31-33 Palm Island – Atlantis Hotel – the rooms that are in
the span between the two towers make up the Penthouse Suite
34-42 Madinat Jumeirah
43 – Water Park
44-46 Jumeirah Mosque
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