The final destination of our trip was to internationally acclaimed Dubai, a city famous for its glitz, its glamour–and its man-made, palm-tree-shaped islands. I was expecting to see lots of money on dispaly and I sure did.
The palm-tree-shaped island
Like the other Arabian cities we visited, Dubai has some wonderful, beautiful, free beaches. Unlike the other cities, it is also home to some of the world’s most ridiculous buildings and landmarks–all built, of course, amid the city’s booming times before the global financial crisis hit. It is home to the Burj Al Arab, the sailboat-looking building that is the world’s only seven-star hotel, where rooms start at around $2,000 per night. (Um, no, we didn’t stay there.)
The sailboat-looking Burj al Arab, the world's only seven-star hotel
Another landmark Dubai building is the Burj Khalifa, at 160 stories, the world’s tallest building (50 stories higher than New York’s twin World Trade Center towers were when they were still standing). It’s actually so tall it kind of made me queasy just to look at it and think about being at the top. Though you can inside the building and go pretty high up, we simply looked at it from the outside instead.
The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 160 stories
At the base of the Burj Khalifa is one of Dubai’s many giant, malls. This one, on the outside, features a immaculately landscaped courtyard, with pools and an entertaining fountain show every 30 minutes or hour beginning at 6 p.m.
The fountain show at the base of the Khalifa
Dubai is a shopping-lover’s dream come true. The malls really are something else. They’re all brand new with floor upon floor of stores. Though we’ve got a lot of shopping like this in Hong Kong, one thing that’s especially nice about the shopping in Dubai is that the malls contain a whole spectrum of stores — from lower-end (read: afforable for me) retailers like Forever 21, Gap and H&M to the upscale high-end likes of Tiffany’s, Gucci and Oscar de la Renta. (In Hong Kong, it seems, the malls are filled with shops, but they’re all higher-end and there’s nary a sign of quality, afforable stuff.) But it’s not only stores in these malls. In Dubai Mall — the world’s largest mall by area, with over 1,200 stores — you can go ice skating or visit an aquarium, and in the Emirates Mall, which has nearly 500 stores, you can hit the (indoor) slopes at Ski Dubai. The malls also have something I personally love: Horrible, fatty American-style food. Yes, of course, I snuck some nacho cheese-covered french fries.
We also went for a drive on the palm-tree-shaped island to visit Atlantis the Palm, the famous hotel that lies at the heart of the island. Pretending to be guests, we slipped in to the hotel, which is very family-friendly with an aquarium inside its grounds that you can see walking by. On the grounds of the Atlantis is a water park that our hosts said is well worth the visit (we simply ran out of time).
The aquarium inside Atlantis the Palm, the infamous hotel on the palm-tree-shaped island
But Dubai isn’t all bright lights, big city. There is also an older part of town with more traditional souqs (markets) selling vats full of loose spices, perfumes, teas, trinkets and about anything else you could imagine. The area of Dubai near the market is bisected by Dubai Creek, which you can get across by taking one of the dhows, small wooden boats, for just 27 cents a person per ride.
Dhows, small wooden boats that you can take across Dubai Creek for just 27 cents
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