Dubai

Dubai is one of the 7 states that makes up the United Arab Emerates, a country formed in 1971 from individual sheikhdoms. Here is a bit of historical background before we share about the activities, sights and experiences we had in our 2 day Dubai stop over.

Officially, Dubai  was founded on June 9, 1833by Sheikh Maktoum Bin Bvti Maktoum and 800 followers of the Bani Yas Tribe who travelled from Abu Dhabi to establish rule in this area.  Dubai has been ruled by the Al Maktoum family since 1833.

However, reference to the desert creek area are found as early as 1095 and Dubai's legacy as a centre of trade reaches back 50 centuries when the Magan civilisation sailed between  the Mediteranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, trading in copper. During the 6th and 7th centuries, Dubai flourished as an important caravan route, supported by pearl diving.

In the 15th century Europe tried to takeover the trade route, but in 1820 Britain successfully negotiated the first of many maritime truces and Dubai became the main port on the Gulf coast, with pearling continuing to be the main stay of the city's prosperity.

When oil was discovered in 1960, Dubai exploded into one of the world's most modern and affluent cities. Today Dubai continues to reinvent itself by constructing and developing big, bigger, biggest infrastructures: from man-made islands, skyscrapers, dams, super highways, efficient metro systems, competitively successful airline and vast opulent shopping malls which cover hundreds of square kilometres across the city.

When we docked at one of the cruise ship terminals the temperature was 40+ but visibility of the skyline was dusty, misty ( throughout our whole stay) due to a combination of heat haze, dust storm activity in the desert and from the numerous 24 hour-excavations and construction sites dotted throughout Dubai. Before setting off to explore Dubai we dressed in an appropriate manner: for heat reasons and for Dubai's dress code rules, we covered up. We wore our trusty cool neck towels for extra comfort and carried bottled water.

We caught a shopping mall free bus from the port and visited a small mall (still massive irt Figtree Grove) all we did was  window shop and browse and enjoyed the aircon in the 3 levelled mall.

We then decided to walk to another mall but soon had to take shelter from the heat in an airconditioned bus shelter. There were virtually NO people walking the streets so we flagged down a taxi to be driven to Dubai Mall: on the way we passed through the business areas with many banks, investment buildings, lavish hotels, mosques, overpasses, date palms and cranes. According to "Gulf News" one out of every 4 cranes on earth is located in Dubai. Massive building projects are taking place all over Dubai and that' s why the sky is grey rather than blue: excavation dust particles fill the air.

We spent the next several hours at the Dubai Mall which is mega-massive. Most shops were empty as we passed by but I guess they must make a profit with night sales (maybe it's too hot for the local Emiratis come out during the midday sun - Many work in high tech and business industries , shops are open 'til late at night too) Most stores Dubai Mall and other malls are very upmarket outlets with names like Gucci Amarni, Chanel and Givenchy The window displays were artistically and lavishly arranged and merchandise is far above our price range. Though to be honest we are in the decluttering phase of our life so we are usually not attracted or tempted to purchase the most intricate of goods. 

However on this occasion we did buy Ken 2 pairs of walking shoes: we spotted an Ecco Shoe Store which sells orthodic-designed shoes which assist with balance, hip alignment and arch support. This year I bought  women's sandals and walking shoes from the new shoe shop in Figtree Grove which sells Ecco and other orthodic shoes and they have made such a difference to my ankle and knee aches. Ken feels like he's walking on clouds as his shoes are so soft, supple and comfortable and made of yak leather. We also bought Joy's mum a pair of orthotic sandals like the ones she'd seen Joy wearing and desired to have for next summer.

We continued our trek of the multi-levelled Dubai Mall with its' many emporiums, open plazas and restaurants but rather than carry our 3 pairs of  shoes around with us, the Ecco store manager suggested we leave them stored until we were heading back to the ship. What a great idea - when we did pick them up we left the 3 shoeboxes behind as well to save packing space. 

One of the tourist  attractions in Dubai is its' 3 level high aquarium. It is given much hype on tourist brochures and whilst it is huge we were a little underwhelmed by it, because we have seen Sydneys' more impressive aquarium which whilst not multi-storied has a greater variety of marine life. Still we enjoyed watching the sharks, some brightly coloured fish and several large stingrays with unusually shaped tails swimming alongside us as we walked around the outside walls of the massive tank which stands in one of the malls' many corridors. 

The Dubai Mall also has an ice scating rink, movie theatres and even a life-size aircraft cockpit where one can experience what it's like to pilot an A380 plane using a simulator. After a couple of hours we stopped to rest our mall-tramped feet at a Coffee Nook and ordered a medium sized (huge isn't it!) cup of coffee. It had excellent flavour and kept us satisfied until about 6.30 pm when we headed back to the ship. It's surprising that we were not hungry all day- probably because we kept hydrating with our bottled water. We were impressed with the coolness and construction of an inside Waterfall Display complete with athletic-figures " diving" down the 3 storey high waterfall within yet another side atrium of the Dubai Mall. In other beautifully designed atriums we saw a huge dinosaur skeleton, a camel statue and some clever icecream confection displays. We were amused by the slogan on an icream palour window so we took a photograph of it and some of the icecream-pops on display.

     

Behind the Dubai Mall is an beautiful open promenade area with wide marble walkingways, seating and outdoor restaurants which surround a man-made lake , complete with gondala-like open craft and quaint Venetian inspired carved stone bridges. It is a peaceful oasis in the jungle of high rise apartments and skyscrapers and commercial office buildings.  Workers and families gather here to relax and dine at various times throughout the day and evening time. Every hour the world's most powerful and biggest automated fountain presents a musical water display where water is spouted at various heights in time with the music. Some water spouts reach as high as a  50-storey building. We sat waiting for the water feature show to begin and relaxed in the shade of the shadows cast by the tall buildings surrounding the lake plaza area. 

Even as late as 6pm it was still at least 32C but we spent the time talking with a couple from Nepal about life in Dubai. 

They are working in Dubai and sending money home to their parents. Anis works as a baker and Premila works from 3pm to 1am as a cashier in a supermarket. They have accommodation provided by their employers and are managing to save a little each week to assist their families but they said it means sticking to a tight budget because living costs in Dubai are very high and their wages are low compared to the wages of Dubai citizens. Nearly all blue collar workers, taxi, bus, train drivers, gardeners, road workers, construction employees , maids, shop assistants  and restaurant staff are from the Phillipines, Nepal, India and Pakistan

 We watched the sun setting behind the Burj Khalifa tower which has 160 storeys, making it the highest tower in the world. However, at the Dubai Mall we also saw a model of a tower that is expected to be completed by 2020 for the World Expo and it is going to be even higher than "The Burj" as locals refer to their iconic tower. The model alone was mind boggling to see in a city which appears bent on outdoing itself in every way, except for what is eternal.

Our last Dubai experience was to navigate our way back to the ship via the Metro. It involved a rather long walk through a series of air-conditioned walkway corridors and moving pathways: it took about 20 minutes before we reachedtheticketstation we met a friendly local who chatted with us and showed us how to buy metro tickets. The trains were very modern, like the ones we used in Japan and China. We only had to follow the moving light on the train route displayed inside the train to work out where to get off . We flagged down a taxi and arrived back at the ship at about 8pm for dinner on board. The temperature on the dock was 33C. Dubai sure is a HOT place in summer!