Oldies On Tour

After an exhausting and weary evening yesterday trying to sort out our route for our trip up the tallest building in the world, we were up early again and down for breakfast about 0650 hrs. having packed our bags as we were also checking.

We left the hotel, walked to the Metro Station, bought our all day travel card, caught the train which was “heaving”, got out at the Burj Khalifa station and started our trek to the Mall.  About 15 minutes later we walked into this very empty mall but as we knew where to go we

The Entrance into Burj Khalifa

arrived at the entrance to the tower lifts about half an hour before our appointed time.  Too early we were told and had to sit out and enjoy a coffee, what a shame!!!

Back to the entrance at the right time, we decided to hire their audio systems, and at the same time handed in Christine’s bag (security) and then we were off, through very strict security as

A Plaque on the way in

you can imagine, belts off, empty pockets etc., then  the walk to the lifts which took about 10 minutes but along the way there were all the facts about the towers construction and the associated time lines.

A Plaque on the way in

The speed of the lift was incredable, it travels at 60 KPH, we were at the 124th floor in about 60 seconds, wow!!! and whats more we didn’t feel a thing, amazing.  Mind you everything about this tower is amazing, here are just a few of the headline records:     Tallest structure ever

The Outside Observation Deck Floor 124

built at 829.8 meters (2,722ft);

Building with most floors;    Worlds highest lift

Looking down onto the Dancing Water Fountains with Dubai Creek in the Background

installation;    Worlds longest lift travel;    Worlds highest Night Club;    163 floors and the list goes on and on.  It is worth looking on their web site    www.burjkhalifa.ae    for more fascinating details.

The only blot on the landscape today was that it was raining and overcast but fortunartly the clouds were higher than we were when we went to the observation deck so had a reasonably good

One of their Many “Spagetti” Junctions

view.  The commentry was excellent but we think the gift shop

The Expensive Gift Shop

only catered for the wealthy, to collect the ‘photo taken at the bottom was about £60 and if one had a “funny”

Inside Observation Deck After the Clouds Arrived

‘photo with an exciting background it was more like £100, we declined and took our own pictures instead.

Inside Observation Corridor

After filling our boots with the views

and watching the clouds come in and block out the views we decided to go

More from the Top with Beach Sea in the Background

back down.  Again this lift, which is a double decker though we didn’t know that until we arrived at the top, was another record as it serves two floors at once!  About an hour and a half after we went up, we returned back on terra firma after a thoroughly

The Clouds Arriving

entertaining experience, worth every penny to go up.

A cup of coffee was called for now whilst we checked our e mails, yes there was Wi Fi in the

The Fountain Lake in the Rain

coffee shop below, naturally! then back out to watch the dancing fountains to music, this time

Waiting for the 1 o’clock show in the rain

in daylight.  It was  still raining so we sheltered until 1300hrs when the show started.  This time we had a oriental music and the fountains danced as if they were ballet dancers, again very spectactular, well worth this third visit.

A Model of the Burj Khalifa with a Fireworks display

Now we headed off for the moment we had been waiting for, well I had anyway!  When we were here back in December with Jane and Dave we ate at an American Texas Steak House next to the fountains lake, below the Burj Khalifa tower, where we enjoyed a superb steak. Now we were back again and whats more we were remembered.  Why you may ask, why were we remembered; well the first time we were there we wanted a certain table away from

The Exit Corridor

the smokers but the chairs around that particular table were hard and we wanted the soft ones, so we went about swapping all the chairs around, much to the anxiety of the waiters, but we accomplisehed it and had comfortable chairs for our meal!  Today we sat inside but again,  the 2 of us had a table for 6, this also confused them as they wanted to give us a table for 2, still we did have very good steaks but of course no alcholol.  This is not an oasis where it is available and it is the second time I have

Christine’s Raspberry Mocktail

enjoyed a steak with water, not wine, but Christine had a Raspberry Mocktail, different!!!! We don’t want to make a habit of this!!!!!! Again we couldn’t manage a pudding so paid the bill and started the long trek back to the Metro though we did have to

Some of the Fish Behind the Glass

make a few detours to see the Ice Skating rink ,

The Olympic Sized Ice Rink in the Mall

the aquarium and the waterfall, all inside this big mall;  also I had to buy a new pair of sandles, old ones have seen better days!!  On our way through the Mall we came accross a Cinnabon Outlet, these are some of our favourite “naughties”, we were introduced to them in Bahrain and though there is an outlet for these at

Cinnabon Counter

“Lakeside” the only good ones seem to be here in the Middle East; but guess what, we were so full from out steaks we could only ‘photograph the outlet, we walked straight by, thats a first! We then set off back to the hotel to collect our cases and on our way through the Mall we came accross a Mall Taxi, that telss us

One of the Mall’s Taxis

how big the Mall is and no, we wailked!!!

The aquarium in the Mall

When we walked out of the hotel it started to rain and naturally

The Inside Waterfall with Divers

we had neither umbrella or rain coat so got a taxi to the local Metro station, then caught the Metro to the Airport.  We knew there was a shuttle bus between Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports so thought we would catch that, after all we had an Emerates ticket for a flight back to UK and a return Etihad ticket to Sri Lanka but unfortunatly we did not have any boarding cards, also it turns out we should have booked the bus seat 6 hours before using the bus, oh dear!  At this stage we could get an other bus, but that meant going back into Dubai on the Metro, picking up a taxi to get to the bus station, and had we done that, the bus would have taken us inbto the middle of Adu Dhabi and we would then have to get another taxi back out. to Jane and Dave’s house!  Isn’t it always the way, when you try to do things on the cheap, something bites you up the behind and it eventually costs more!!!!!  Now we jumped into a taxi and told the driver to take us to Abu Dhabi International Airport and we then arranged for Jane to collect us from there; The airport is fairly close to their home and a lot easier, we should have just done it fom our hotel, as it was nearer to Abu Dhabi than the Dubai Airport!!!!!!

We had an exciting day, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and now we are looking forward to a lie in tomorrow.

We Were There

We were there

Up early as we were told to be ready between 8 – 8.30am, we were waiting, but as usual they did not arrive until 9am.  We were in a Land cruiser! and sadly others had booked the best seats, so I was right in the back! either Geoff in front of me, we were sharing the trip with Russians who did not wish to be friendly! or speak to us! except to say hello and goodbye!

We drove for miles, stopping on route for coffee at a seedy looking place, in the middle of nowhere, I chose water, back in the car, onto another market place which was selling carpets and pots, I fancied one of the clay pots, but as it was three foot high, not sure how I would get it home, then onto Hatta, the landscape has changed now, we are going through the dessert, then we can see mountains in the distance, it makes a change to see trees growing naturally!  We passed camels roaming, donkeys and sheep.

We left Dubai, and entered Oman passing through the checkpoints, and back again, before we finally arrived in Hatta.  First stop was an old restored village, which had all the normal things, that you see in a heritage village, having already been to one in Bahrain, and Dubai we strolled around, and up to the top of a fort, which had a good views of the valley below. It was fascinating seeing how the buildings were made years ago, and the heavy use of the palm trees in their construction.  Dates were and still are very important out here, as they used to be the staple diet, and are still relied on very heavily today, making honey, milk and many other things.

We then drove up into the mountains of Hatta, where we found a huge reservoir with a dam, set into the mountains, it was very peaceful there, but the water seemed very low! Not sure it would ever get as high as the dam, and need the overflow, but guess they would know best!

Now onto the bit we had been waiting for, driving through Waddies, and the off road experience, which was advertised as being exhilarating!  We drove for a few minutes, through a waddy! basically a puddle! then round a sharp bend! down a hill, and then stopped.  We walked through and over the next waddy, where the Russians decided to have a swim we could not be bothered! as there was not that much water! and it was cold. It was interesting seeing how the water had moulded the rocks, they were very smooth, in places.

Back into the car, and we were hoping for more of the off-road experience, but sadly that was it, so we had driven for five hours basically to do ten minutes off roading, I think that could be classed as a CON!!!! We were both very disappointed.

On the way back, I took a photo of the police at the border, suddenly we were being chased by an Arab, who made us go back to the checkpoint, a nasty officer came out carrying an AK45 and started questioning the driver, apparently we were not allowed to take photos!  Still it made the trip a bit more exciting!

Tired, hungry, and fed up, we decided to go to buffet lunch at the hotel, which turned out to be very nice, mainly curries, but it was good tasting the different dishes.

After lunch we went for a swim in the Hotels heated pool, which was lovely, very refreshing, then back to room, for a shower before going out.

We walked to the metro, and headed for the Dubai Mall, we have to get our tickets for the morning, and as it is an early start we wanted to see where and how we get there, good job we did, as it took us ages, for a start you have to walk a good mile from the metro to the Mall, it is all covered, with walking escalators, but it went on and on.  We have to allow 1 hour from leaving the hotel to get to the At the Top, desk, there are lifts, but these go into shops, which would not be open at 8am! So we had to plan a route via escalators, we have to negotiate four floors, with escalators in different parts of the building. Having worked it out, we then went outside to watch the fountains.

Every half an hour the fountains play, to different tunes, they are amazing, we came in on the Three tenors! they then played some Irish music, and the last was Japanese, the fountains have been choreographed to play to the music, they were amazing.

Time to go home, my feet are killing me, as I have done all this walking in high heels, so back along the Mall, up four flights, along to the Metro and a slow walk home, absolutely shattered, the evening had made up for the morning trip!

Yes, big bus tour today. Around Dubai,  in fact 2 bus routes and a boat trip along the Dubai Creek, that’s their river!!!!

Dubai Big Bus

Up early, down for breakfast before 0800 hrs as we had a 10-15 minute walk to the bus stop.  We got our directions on how to get to the bus stop from the tourist “chap” in the hotel and off we went, thinking it was a simple as walking to the end of the road, turn left and we would see the bus stop opposite, near the lights;  ha ha.  Arriving at this very big and very busy crossroads, controlled by lights, we couldn’t see anything resembling a Big Bus Stop and they are distinctive, very colourful. We then had our normal debate as to what the chap said and who heard what!!!!! We went along one of the roads for about 800 metres and decided we were wrong so, back to the aforementioned crossroads when we decided to go down to the “below ground” metro station and ask.  We were told to go up “that” particular escalator and turn, fine but that just brought us to the traffic lights again! So we walked along another road but as this seemed to only pass building sites we turned back. I then asked in a coffee shop, by which time we were quite fraught, especially as time was running out!  The lady behind the counter sent us back the same way, pass all building sites and you will find the bus stop; hooray, we did and fortunately the bus was running late, so we made it!!!!

WAFI Mall Entrance

There were two routes, the red one which goes around the centre of Dubai and the blue route which goes out of town to the beaches and Palm Island. These two routes meet for change over at the WAFI shopping Mall, our first stop.  To be able to maximise the day, get everything in etc., we had to change now, so we did.

The blue route we were told takes about two and a half hours and

The Dubai Mosque

headed straight out towards “Jumeirah” passing the Jumeirah Mosque, the only one in Dubai where non Muslems could enter, “Mercato” an Italian themed Shopping Mall, Jumeirah theme park and public beach and of course, the “Burj Al Arab 7 star hotel rising from the sea.  This hotel, built in 2001 was just a stub sticking out of the sea when I came here in 1999, how they build here is quite amazing.

Burj Al Arab Hotel

Naturally we were given numerous facts about the hotel, too many to remember but apparently Tiger Woods drove a golf ball from the heli pad at the top of this very tall hotel,built to represent a dhow’s sail.

Next up was Palm Island and the Atlantis hotel at the end or head of the palm.  I suspect the developers

Atlantis Hotel, Dubai

thought that this Atlantis Hotel would superseed the Burj Al Arab hotel, but I don’t think so, after all there are two Atlantis hotels, both built the same, one here and one in the Bahamas, but there is only one Burj Al Arab. Up until now, one would assume this man-made island, shaped like a palm tree with huge numbers of houses and high rise apartment blocks not to mention the Atlantis, would have been the pinnacle of Dubai’s achievement, but no.  Off shore, about 2 Kms out they are constructing loads of new islands clustered in the shape of a world map.  Everybody thought the property on Palm Island was expensive, but these new islands cost millions, and that is before anything is built on them!!!!!!

Next stop was the “Mall of the Emirates”, again another Mall but this one had indoor ski slopes and tabogan runs on real snow.  Is no expense spared here? We had to get off for calls of nature and it was well past coffee time!!!!  We  walked the length of this mall heading for the indoor ski slopes where we thought we could have coffee watching the skiers, but no, Costa coffee did not look over anything but the top of the ski lifts!!!

At this point I should mention just how green everything is and the grass on the side of the road, not to mention the hotel gardens, would be good enough to use for a bowling green;

How Green is your Grass?

however this does come at a cost.  Dubai has the highest consumption in the world, approxamatly 500 litres per capita  per day, around 82% above the global average consumption though now there is political intervention to try and reduce this; I wonder!!!!

Refreshed and back onto the next available blue bus we continued until we reached the WAFI mall again passing the Dubai Mall and Burj khalife (the tallest building in the world) swapped onto the red route again.  The theme of this mall seemed Greek, very attractive.

This was going to be a short bus trip, getting off at our second stop to catch the Dubai Creek boat trip, unfortunately as our bus was running a little late and we missed the 1330 hrs “cruise” and had a 50 minute wait ’till the 1430 hrs one Along with a number of other people. These buses have a very tight and precise schedule to keep but the traffic here is un-predicable, hence being late.

We all wandered along the quayside to kill time but nothing was open.  There were a number of fast food outlets but all closed, we suspected things in this area only come to life at night.

Our Dhow on the Dubai Creek

The dhow duly arrived and when loaded, set off. This trip was exactly the same as the one we went on when we last visited Dubai in 2009, so most of our time was spent people watching and in particular a lady, on her own, taking pictures of anything and everything but more importantly (in her eyes), getting anybody she could find to photograph her in various poses!!!!!  We think. She had ideas of grandeur and thought herself a top model, “in you dreams lady”!!!! Still that and an ice cream and the trip was soon over.  Additionally we didn’t think the waterway was so busy as it was on our last visit, perhaps that has something to do with

A Working Dhow on the Dubai Creek

the new container facility built at the mouth of the. Creek.

Off the boat and a sprint to catch the bus that was about to leave and we were on our way again, this time travelling along the Main Street where one can get any type of clothes made, past the Dubai Museum and to our next stop, the Heritage village with a 1 hour guided tour included.  Unfortunately our timing was out again and it meant waiting about for about 45 minutes so we did it without a guide.  This turned out to be a good decision as after going all around this Heritage, we had seen all there was to be

Christine resting in the Heritage Village

At Last I Have Seen a Camal!!!

seen and were outside waiting for our bus within the 45 minutes! Within this 45 minutes we visited the Heritage farm where at long last Christine saw camels munching away on their hay.

It was now time to consider all our options as the last bus leaving the start was at 1700 hrs and the bus we were about to catch didn’t complete the route until approx 1710 hrs!!!   After a debate where Christine said she wanted to wander around the Spice

The Spice Souk

Souk, we decided to leave the bus at this Souk, buy what we wanted then take our lives into our hands and cross Dubai Creek on one of their communal water buses.

I was a little disappointed with this spice Souk though Christine thoroughly enjoyed it but we did get the Cinnamon we wanted then off to the waterside to fight our way onto a water errr bus!  One is perched on, charged one dirham, and we are off, bumping the dock side and another bus whilst leaving the dock!  We

The Ferry Dock

managed to get across without incident but as soon as we tried to

A Dubai Ferry

dock, hit everything there was to hit, wow what an experience.

Fortunately I recognised the area and found our way to the Museum which I managed to get Christine into, I thought I might!  A quick tour around it then the 15 minute walk back to our

Christine Looking Brave on the Ferry!!

hotel.

We got back into our room and collapsed after a wonderful but exhausting day.  We had a fabulous day, saw virtually everything there was to see in this city and would recommend the Big Bus Tour to anyone.

After a cuppa, Christine cooked the Salmon for dinner, which we had bought the day before, followed by Yogurt, 2 games of Crib and bed, though the last piece of good news came as a e mail just before I went to bed.

After having such a good time at the Dubai Sevens, I had been considering a trip to Hong Kong but finding a kindred spirit was difficult but good old Martin, he agreed to join me, what a good result.

Up early tomorrow for an excursion out of town.

Awoke at a respectable hour and after showers we ventured into the unknown for breakfast.  Arriving late last evening, tired, we wondered if we had made a mistake booking here at “Oasis Court Hotel Apartments”, after a prolonged booking in procedure, a long walk along a busy corridor and eventually into our very spacious 2 bedroom apartment that looked very tired and no free Wi Fi, hmmmm!!!!!  Anyway I went to reception and we eventually got free Wi Fi, so things were looking up.

Breakfast surprised us as our expectations were quite low, very nice, glad we had included Breakfast with our booking.

Part of the Courtyard

After breakfast we had a chat with the chap at the tourist desk about what we wanted to do.  We then walked to check out the nearest Metro Station for later, visited a Pharmacy and super market, back to the tourist desk where we booked a Safari into the desert and would have booked the Big Bus”, but their credit card machine wasn’t working!!!  Then back to the room for coffee and then we split up.  I went off to the Dubai Museum and Christine off for a

The Museum Entrance

swim and sunbathe.   15 minutes from the hotel I arrived at the Museum which is housed in an old Castle, the oldest building in Dubai. I knew where it was as I stayed in the hotel opposite it when I went to the Dubai Sevens.

The history of this area can be traced back to 5000 BC though the the fort was built in the 1700s to protect those living  each side of

Building a Dhow

the creek.  At that time their main source of income was from

Outside the Museum

Pearl Diving, today it is oil , though the Tourist industry is very important!  This museum traces their history in a very user friendly way with wax models and tabloid scenes, I think Christine will enjoy it, maybe tomorrow, on our “Big Bus Tour”  we can jump off and do a quick tour!!!!!

Transport as it was before Oil!!!

One of the interesting things, before Air Conditioning, was that

A Typical Turn of the Century Home with “AC” Tower

each home had an open tower at the top of their houses and inside this tower there were cloth baffels so that whichever way the wind blew, they could always have a draught to keep the inside of the

From Below, Their Air Conditioning System

dwelling cool  during the long hot summers.

Whilst I was away, Christine stared her training routine up; she

Part of the Courtyard

did 10 lengths of the pool, well done.

Returning back to the hotel we enjoyed a cuppa with a Mince Pie before heading out to the “Irish Village” where I had been told it was a lively place to go; we hope so as we need something to liven us up, Abu Dhabi is not a place to live it up unless you have plenty of money.

Tableau of a Beduin Camp

Entrance to Irish Village

A taxi ride to the Irish Village, all of £3, this is the cheapest thing we have found!!! We decided to eat in the Irish Pub, there’s a surprise, and in my case enjoy a pint or two of Guinness. Thoroughly enjoyed our meal and after sorting out the bill had a walk about, looking at the various restaurants, enjoying the ambiance  and water features.  We then returned to the Irish Pub

The Pub in Dubai!!

to enjoy a further pint or two and listen to the music, very relaxing and nice to be out and about and to be somewhere we can do that!!!  Eventually we got another Taxi back to the Oasis where we made our way to bed, after-all we have to be up tomorrow to catch the Big Bus

An Unexpected Find in an Muslem Country

This Irish village reminds me of the Dubai Sevens Stadium, it was self contained, guarded, not to check people in but more to ensure no one took alcohol out, it was an oasis.

Inside the Irish Village

Inside the Irish Village

Jane is on a fitness campaign, so Dave and Jane went for a long run with the dogs, she looked shattered when they got back, so did the dogs! Dave is very fit, so he was ok.

Next they went to see Herbie, whilst we had a leisurely breakfast, and planned what we were going to do next, we have decided to go home a week early, so that we can spend sometime with our friends etc in England! we are Abu Dhabi out! There is not much to do here, unless you want to go shopping, which neither of us do!

Showered and changed, a quick lunch, we all set of for Dubai, first stop Eileen’s, where we had a superb tea of cold turkey, cheese, mince pies, trifles, fruit etc., etc it was a fantastic spread, with a couple of glasses of red wine to wash it down, shame we had to rush away.

Back into the cars, and following Eileen, we found the theatre where Chicago was on, it was massive! with two tv screens either side of the stage to enable you to see it, which was just as well, as we were in the upper circle, so could not see the stage very well. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, although both Geoff and I had seen it before, Jane was disappointed there wasn’t more dancing, but it made a change.

Jane then dropped us at our Hotel/apartment, they went back home, and we are staying for four days, just for a change.