20231215 AAAA Trip - Dubai, UAE Day #3 - Old Dubai and a night tour

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 90/105 - Dubai, UAE Day #3 - Hop on bus tours

We had another nice breakfast with a nice sunrise.

This morning, we hoofed it to the Museum of the Future since it was the closest bus stop for our hop-on / hop-off bus tour today. We bought five days so we play to use this until we sail on Tuesday. The bus showed up, we got on, they looked at our tickets and told us we were on the wrong bus. Wait, what?

It turns out that there are two competing and very similar tours, Big Bus Tours (the one we didn't buy) and City Sightseeing Dubai (the one we did buy). Luckily for us, our bus picked up close to there as well and we got on the right bus just a few minutes later.

Yup, that's a golf ball on top of Dubai's largest wireless company's building

The Dubai Frame

Our first stop was the Al Seef area - an area in old Dubai with classic buildings from long ago. It is surrounded by modern buildings.

They were in the middle of decorating a massive Christmas tree

You can see the crane lifting a worker with decorations

Gorgeous boats

The US Consulate - I didn't see the No Photography sign until after I took the photo

Classic old buildings...but...

...they were all built in 2015 so this is a re-creation

From there, we wandered through the Al Fahidi historical neighborhood.

They had camels

Looks like he's punching a little above his weight class

They had a falcon too

An architectural element to cool a house - air gets taken in from any direction and gets directed down into the house

We hopped back on the bus to the Old Souk - a classic shopping area. 

It was awful. Lots and lots of the same stuff in each shop, but the sales folks out front were simply obnoxious. We wanted to just walk and browse but we couldn't as every shop had someone who approached us and would only leave us alone once we just walked away. "No thank you" meant nothing to them and they tried to make you feel bad. "Why are you breaking my heart by not just looking in my store?" We had enough and hopped back on the bus to get a ride to the Gold and Spice Souks. 

There are mosques everywhere - we heard several calls to prayer

OK, this made me laugh - $136 fine for peeing

Another of those cooling towers

A cool bridge

Since we knew the Spice Souk would be the same as the Old Souk, we avoided it. The Gold Souk, however, is much lower-key and that suited us.

One entry to the Gold Souk - the government oversees it to ensure product quality

Several stores had massive display pieces

All 18K or 22K

Arlona even found a nice bracelet that matched a ring she already has so it was a worthwhile stop.

We hopped back on for the ride back. 

Looking back over Dubai Creek at the Al Seef area

Dubai Creek

We passed by the Dubai Frame. How did the conversation go?

"I know, let's build a picture frame!"

"Uh, why?"

"Instagrammers will flock to it."

"Uh, why?"

"Because we'll make it big!"

"Uh, why?"

"So we can say we have the biggest picture frame in the world!"

"Oh! OK! Here's the cash to build it!"

The Dubai Frame is 150 meters high and 95 meters wide. Did I mention that it is big?

We continued on.

Another angle at the golf ball building

Our final stop was back at the Dubai Mall. It was approaching 4 p.m. and we hadn't had lunch, so we were hungry. Hey, doesn't the Dubai Mall have a zillion eateries? Yup! We selected Jamie Oliver.

Ultimate garlic bread - it was light and fluffy

The inside was smeared with pesto

Pasta Carbonara (me)

Pasta Boulanaise (Arlona)

After chow, we wandered out by the Dubai Fountain,

By that time, it was approaching 5:30 p.m. so we headed back to the front of the mall. 

Got a full-sized ice rink in the mall complete with a Zamboni? Check!

How about a dinosaur skeleton? Check!

The men's and women's restrooms are down separate halls - that middle icon is for a prayer room - there are separate men's and women's prayer rooms since Muslims are required to pray five times per day

Another of those blue animal pairs

Also inside the mall

Our bus tickets also included a two-hour night tour at 6 p.m. and since it was a beautiful night tonight, and we were already here, it seemed like a good night for the tour.

The tour took us through the financial district and then west through a row of the most amazing car dealers we have ever seen. Bugattis, Lambos, Ferraris, McLarens, gull-wing Mercedes, Porches, you name it, it was there. We headed west to the Palm Jumeirah and Atlantis and then back past the Burj Al Arab, Mall of the Emirates, and back to the Dubai Mall. Here are the sights.

The only glimpse we got of the Museum of the Future - it is so cool at night

Atlantis at the tip of the Palm Jumeirah

These looked like mini Chrysler Buildings to me

Burj Al Arab

One of the many palaces for the royal family

We really only saw the parking garage

When we got back, since it was still so pleasant, we went back into the mall and back to the Dubai Fountain. They do a five-minute water and music show every 30 minutes from 6-11 each evening. 

The Burj Khalifa twinkles at night.

Right at 8:30, the show started. The music was Adele's Skyfall. YouTube was complaining about copyrights on my video so if it doesn't play, I might have to edit out the sound.

It was time to head back to the hotel. We walked back through the mall to head back.

Of course, there was a convertible Lamborghini parked out front

The entry is pretty

We made the walk back and I started putting this together. It is approaching midnight and this has been a long day. Tomorrow, we plan to take a different route on the bus, back to some of the areas we drove past tonight.