2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 91/105 - Dubai, UAE Day #4 - A Souk, A Burj, A Beach, Several Margaritas
Let me start out with something I forgot to mention yesterday. If you're an American and you're craving a taste of home, the Dubai Mall has you covered. Baskin & Robbins, Burger King, Caribou Coffee, Charley's Philly Steak, Cinnabon, Cold Stone Creamery, Dunkin', Five Guys, Gloria Jean's Coffee, Hardee's, KFC, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, P.F. Chang's, Papa John's, Peet's Coffee, Pizza Hut, Shake Shack, Starbucks, Subway, TGI Friday's, Texas Chicken, Texas Roadhouse, Texas de Brazil, The Cheesecake Factory, Tim Horton's (OK - that's Canadian), Wendy's - they're all here. But, what really got us wasn't a meal, but a snack straight from Chicago.
 |
| Nothing hit the Midwest home spot like a big back of Garrett's caramel corn, straight off Chicago's Miracle Mile |
Last night's late blogging session meant that we slept in a little longer this morning. After yesterday's marathon day, we decided to take it a little easier today. After breakfast, we hoofed it to the Dubai Mall to pick up our sightseeing bus for the ride west.
The Burj Al Arab is the third tallest building in the world that is used exclusively as a hotel. It sits 280m off the coast of the UAE on a man-made island. Access is via a private bridge and we didn't want to look into walking it.
We headed back to the Souk to catch the next bus. We were headed to Beach JBR, but first, the bus headed to Atlantis on Palm Jumeirah. If you're not familiar with the Palms project in Dubai, let me explain. Dubai started reclaiming land from the sea in the shape of palms. There are three with Palm Jumeirah being the only completed one. With all the palm fronds, Dubai has added roughly 50 miles of habitable coastline to the country. Crazy, right?
Atlantis, a hotel, waterpark, and amusement park sits at the tip of the palm. As soon as we turned onto the palm, the Burj Al Arab came into view.
 |
| This is all brand-new housing |
 |
| The palm is surrounded by new ring islands reachable via tunnel |
 |
| Atlantis |
 |
| This mosque on Palm Jumeirah is extremely modern - check out the minaret |
 |
| More new construction |
 |
| We also caught a glimpse of this gold Lamborghini - checking with Google, it looks like this might have just been sold in the last month for $7.5M making it the world's most expensive car ever |
Our next stop was at The Beach JBR - a beach and recreation area.
After lunch, we wandered down and took a quick look at the beach.
 |
| There is an additional cruise port here |
 |
| The world's largest Ferris wheel at 250M (820ft), but it isn't operating at the moment |
We decided that we'd had enough fun today and hopped the bus for the return to Dubai Mall.
 |
| New construction is happening all over |
 |
| This is a new mosque under construction - it will have two minarets |
 |
| The Westin is absolutely enormous |
 |
| Driving in pilings for another new building |
 |
| The Mall of the Emirates |
 |
| Ah...what a view from here! |
 |
| A three-story Bentley store |
 |
| A three-story Ferrari and Maserati shop |
 |
| The Burj Khalifa was absolutely glowing in the late afternoon sun |
 |
| On the walk back to the hotel - one more Ferrari |
It was a good day and nicely a little bit slower than yesterday. We will likely return to the beach area and continue exploring tomorrow.
The Mall of the Emirates has the indoor ski resort. FYI: Viking has opened up China next Fall on their China ship. Great itineraries including Tibet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the China tip. We also received the email and were made aware when we were on Orion. Our 2024 is already booked pretty solid or wed consider it.
Delete