Dubai has some new, luxurious hotels. Designed in the shape of a dhow sail and set on its own man-made island, the 7 star Burj Al Arab ("Tower of the Arabs") hotel is the city's architectural icon. The grey tint is due to dust in the air (common in a desert area).
We went up to the observatory level of the Marriott hotel for a view over the city. The Dubai marina can be seen in the view below. The blue tint is due to the glass.
From the Marriott observatory, we could see the Palm Jumeirah (island in the shape of a palm frond on the coast). Like the Great Wall of China, it is a man-made marvel so large it can be seen from space. Although still under construction, it will eventually be home to no less than 30 luxury hotels. The main attraction on Palm Jumeirah now is the luxurious Atlantis Hotel, which reminded us of the casino hotels in Las Vegas. Below are pics of the entrance, the ornate lobby and the aquarium inside the Atlantis.
Dubai is known for its huge entertainment shopping malls. Dubai Mall is the newest and lrgest in the Middle east, with over 600 international retail luxury stores. The pics below show the Dubai Mall entrance and Fashion Avenue, lined with stores selling the world's most desirable luxury brands.
Dubai Mall has an aquarium with the largest viewing window on earth and an Olympic size ice skating rink, seen in the pic below.
We found some very artistically decorated, mouth watering cakes at Brunetti's in Dubai Mall. We have been to the Brunetti outlet in Melbourne, so we have sampled the company products.
The Mall of the Emirates is another huge entertainment shopping centre featuring luxury brands. It also has a huge artificial ski centre, complete with chair lifts.
One evening we visited the Gold Souk (a souk is a traditional Arab market), which was quite a contrast to the modern shopping malls. It has about 700 shops on a cluster of streets shaded by a high roof. Vendors continually hassle you to buy their goods (annoying after a while) and you are expected to haggle over prices. We looked but did not buy.
We decided to do a desert safari tour in a 4 wheel drive. We knew we would be driving over sand dunes, but did not realise we would be "dune bashing", which is more like a roller coaster ride with twists and turns (supposed to be exciting but made us feel queasy). We were then taken to a desert camp site for a buffet dinner and entertainment (with optional camel rides, dune buggy rides and hookah smoking, none of which we did). The pics below show Don on the sand dunes, and the camel rides.
The entertainment was very good, with a male dancer doing touristy Las Vegas imitations of traditional whirling dervish dances (but very dexterous and entertaining nevertheless). A female belly dancer also performed.
The next morning, feeling quite tired after 7 weeks away, we departed on a direct flight to Brisbane.
So ends this trip. Goodbye until next time - wherever and whenever that might be.
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