Dubai Part One

We have been in Abu Dhabi long enough now that we have visited many of the attractions and places to see. The kids are actually getting bored playing on the beach at the Corniche. We figured it was time to venture away from our new home and our first road trip was to Dubai a few days ago. It was just a day trip to see some of the sights and be able to plan out a more detailed visit in the future.

Dubai is a little over an hour away from our hotel and about 45 minutes from where our flat is. There is one main highway that connects Abu Dhabi and Dubai, called "E11" (see Wikipedia for an explanation of road numbering). It is also called Sheikh Zayed Road, but many roads around here either contain "Sheikh" or "Zayed" or both so the names don't stick too well. Most road signs include the route number, but they *all* say "Dubai this way" (at least the ones point to Dubai) which is what I look for:

Even technology-oriented me doesn't rely on GPS to get me around too often anymore. The built-in Apple maps on an iPhone is almost useless as I have driven across a peninsula on a road that very much exists, despite Apple maps saying there is nothing but water there. Google maps is spot on with locations and directions so it is there when I need it.

So we piled in the car filled up the tank and started following signed toward Dubai. First stop was one of the palm islands, called the Palm Jumeriah. As you could imagine, the island is shaped like a palm tree with the Atlantis resort at the top of the tree. The trunk is lined with hotels and residences and each frond is its own gated community. We drove the length of the trunk and down the outermost leaves for a ways until we could see the Burj Al Arab hotel which is it's own little island.

Megan, Katrina and the Burj Al Arab

We also stopped at some shops next to Atlantis but could not get in to take a look around. It is definitely on our must do list for later this spring.

We set out for the Burj Khalifa and tried to get there using sign navigation. I knew the general direction to go so we got back on the main road toward downtown Dubai. It also helped that you could see the building from several kilometers away (for you metric-challenged people, that's several miles away). The Dubai Mall is right next to the Burj Khalifa so we parked in the mall parking lot (level 9!) and spent some time seeing the sights in the mall which included the Dubai Aquarium with it's 3 story tall fish tank for visitors to gaze at while shopping. We ate dinner at a Rainforest Cafe next to the aquarium and could see the fish swimming along as we ate.

At the same area as the mall and Burj Khalifa is the Dubai Fountain. It is much the same as the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas and I believe designed by the same people. We got there just before the first show of the evening at 6pm and claimed a spot at the edge of the water. We got a front row spot and watched the lighted fountains dance around in time to an Arabic tune blasting through the speakers. After the show we wondered over near the base of the Burj Khalifa and did the obligatory pictures. We stuck around long enough (15 minutes) that we got to see the next show which was set to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".

Our evening ended there and we attempted to find our car in the car park ("parking garage"). We got part way through the mall and I downloaded the mall app which led us through the various arms until we found our car. Again, we just followed the signs toward Abu Dhabi and completed the day trip. And we now know what we want to see more of when we go back. Diana is now comfortable with the city and managed to run off to Dubai all by herself for a day-long shopping trip this past weekend, ostensibly for furniture, but ended up with a few bags of clothes and shoes.

You don't see this in the US