Sun, Sea, Sand, Shopping, Souks and Skyscrapers

by Maxine Bates

I’d wanted to visit Dubai for a long time and having found a good deal via www.lowcostholidays.com I finally got there at the end of November 2012.

Having flown on an overnight Emirates flight - an airline I can highly recommend – we spent some of the day dozing by our hotel pool before deciding to use our metro pass and ride to the end of the red line to Dubai Marina. We had been expecting quaint fishing boats but what we found were newly built skyscrapers surrounding plush yachts and waterside restaurants. The Infinity Tower was most impressive with its 90 degree twist, although not yet occupied. It was interesting to note that the metro system is fully automated with no drivers, each train having five carriages with one reserved for women and children only.   

We had pre-booked a 48 hour ticket on the hop on/off Big Bus. Definitely a ‘must do’ if visiting Dubai. The ticket includes two routes – city and beach – plus an hour long dhow boat trip along Dubai Creek, entrance to Dubai Museum and Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, two walking tours and a discount voucher booklet. The hour long guided walk through the souks was one of the highlights as we visited places we may not have discovered on our own including the fabric souk, spice souk (where we also saw the world’s first camel milk ice cream) and gold souk (although selling silver too down the side streets). Mid walk we were treated to a traditional abra boat ride across the creek. The beach route returns along Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Road which is 16 lanes wide in places yet still prone to traffic jams.

One can’t visit Dubai without going up the Burj Khalifa which, on 4^th January 2010, entered the Guinness book of records as the world’s tallest building at 828 metres. The observation deck is on the 124^th floor and disappointingly only had an outside area facing in one direction and no signage about the views from the 360 degree inside deck. It also didn’t seem that high (having already been up the second tallest building Taipei 101) but probably due to the dozens of skyscrapers surrounding it. However, whatever the cost and whatever the view there is a definite demand as tickets sell out well in advance. We had pre-booked to visit at 11am and the next availability was not until 10pm. Pre-booked tickets cost 100 dirhams (approx. £17) whereas tickets purchased immediately before entry cost a whopping 400 dirhams (so approx. £68!). The dancing fountains on Burj Khalifa Lake perform on the hour from 6pm to 11pm though personally I’ve seen lengthier and better displays.

Jumeirah Mosque is the only mosque that tourists can visit and offers tours at 10am every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for 10 dirhams (approx. £2). However, it’s not actually a tour. A British woman who has been volunteering there for over 20 years explains the washing ritual outside before an interesting talk about their religion, including a demonstration of the five-times-daily prayers, whilst guests are seated on the carpet flooring inside.  There is dressing up opportunity too as ladies can don headscarves and the traditional black robe regardless of what they are already wearing. 

Further along Beach Road from the mosque we passed Dubai Zoo and decided to visit as admission was only 2 dirhams (less than 40p!). Although only covering a small area there are around 60 cages and we spent a pleasant hour watching lots of monkeys and tortoises, which just happen to be my favourite animals. Excellent value for money!

Dubai is host to the ‘shopping festival’ each January. If you’re a shopping fanatic you’ll be in heaven with the dozen or so air-conditioned malls. Dubai Mall is the world’s largest shopping mall and also contains an ice rink and aquarium with the world’s largest fish tank. If you prefer skiing to skating then head to The Mall Of The Emirates and get kitted out to play on their real snow slope situated among the stores. The Egyptian themed Wafi Mall is the changeover point of the two Big Bus routes and seemed awfully quiet each time we visited. We used our discount vouchers for lunch and dinner there and stayed to watch the free sound and light show projected in their courtyard at 8pm. There must have been only a dozen spectators and I can only imagine the 7pm and 9pm shows to be even quieter. Mercato Mall is Italian themed and looked even more so draped in the flag of Dubai to celebrate their forthcoming national day on 2^nd December as their flag contains the same colours as the Italian flag! Times Square Mall is not near any metro station but we made an effort to get there purely to visit the Chill Out bar. At 60 dirhams (approx. £11) it was an expensive hot chocolate but drinkers are really paying for the novelty factor of dressing up in fur lined coats, gloves and boots and sitting in a fridge with temperatures of -6C. The tables and seats (covered in fur skin) are made of blocks of ice and there are ice sculptures of animals and iconic Dubai landmarks.

We visited Vu Bar on the 51^st floor of Emirates Towers to enjoy a cocktail with panoramic views. However, the design of the building meant that steelwork obscured some of the view so not that impressive. We were handed a flyer for ‘ladies night’ on Tuesdays offering two free glasses of bubbly and a bowl of strawberries along with a female DJ. Had we known about this in advance we would have visited a day later and saved ourselves over £25 buying cocktails! Note, alcohol in Dubai is only served in hotels and not cheap. We saw the famous seven star Burj Al Arab hotel but thought their cheapest meal of afternoon tea rather overpriced. Although at a lower level I’d recommend the Al Duwaar revolving restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel for the best view. Their evening buffet costs 235 dirham (approx. £42) with the cheapest glass of wine costing 40 dirhams, but our Big Bus voucher booklet offered 25% discount on food. The menu was amazing with a huge choice of soup, salad, Chinese and Indian dishes, chefs carving racks of ribs and salmon, every type of dessert imaginable plus cheeses. Do go, but go hungry! It was the perfect end to our trip.    

First published in VISA 108 (April 2013)