Dubai - Saturday 10th August

My last full day in Dubai and we thought we would have a cultural day today!  We had a bit of a lie in as we felt we had been rushing around all week so we left late morning to visit the Jumeriah Mosque - which is one of the most photographed Mosques in Dubai. We took a taxi there and it was interesting driving through the residential area in Dubai - there are some very nice houses in that area!

The Jumeriah Mosque

We then went to a local cafe for lunch,and then grabbed another taxi to the Heritage House Museum which was very interesting  - The renovated 1890 courtyard house once belonged to Sheik Ahmed bin Dalmouk, who founded the Al-Ahmadiya School next door to the house, and it shows you the type of home a wealthy pearl merchants would have had at that time.

Outside the Heritage House

The main courtyard of the house

Peter in the kitchen of the heritage house - he couldn't resist could he!

In the storeroom of the house

 We then visited the Al Ahmadiya School next door - it was OK but not as interesting as the house but it was free to enter (I can see why).  The school was established in 1912 and was the first regular school in Dubai.

Outside the Al Ahmadiya School

The courtyard inside the school

He couldn't help himself here either!

Dubai - Friday 9th August

Today was the first day of our weekend so we planned to go down to Dubai Marina.  We thought we would go on to Metro as you get a good view of Dubai as it is suspended on a rail above the road so you get a good view.

View of the Burj Al Arab from the Metro

At the marina 

We got off at the Marina stop but soon found out that the Metro station isn't actually next to the Marina so we jumped on a bus that was marked Dubai Marina - of course, we weren't sure where to get off, and where we did was still not the Marina (apparently it was the yacht club!) and we had to walk along the Promenade to get there - of course, in most places having a wander round is not a problem, but it is in Dubai in August!  I asked for directions and it wasn't to far a walk (about 10 mins) but by the time we got there we were dripping with sweat!

 

Panorama view of the Marina

Our plan was to take a boat around the Palm, and then to have a look around the Marina Mall.  The boat trip, which was an hour long, went along side the Palm, which is made up of a group of artificial islands which consist of a trunk and a crown of 16 branches, and up to the Atlantis Hotel at the top of the Palm. We enjoyed the trip but I think I was outside on the deck to long taking photos and felt quite sick when I went back in the air conditioned seating area but at least I got my photos!

View from the boat looking at the skyscrapers at the Marina

The Atlantis Hotel on the Palm

 After the boat trip we went to the Madinat Jumeirah hotel resort which is supposed to be an authentic recreation of ancient Arabia, with waterways and landscaped gardens. We went there for 2 reasons - the first reason was that it had an indoor souk and it was the closest we were going to get to a proper souk with the weather being so hot so we thought we would go and have a look - it was OK but a bit on the pricey side and we didn't buy anything.

The indoor Souk

One of the waterways at the Madinat Jumeriah Resort

The second reason was the great views of the Burj Al Arab Hotel! We went in to an area which was only for residents of the hotel to get a good photo and had a security guard shouting at us but I suddenly went deaf and just carried on snapping away - ha ha!

Views of the Burj Al Arab

In the evening we travelling down to the Creek in the Old Dubai to watch the fireworks celebrations - even in the evening it was very humid and by the time we had walked from the Metro to the creek (about 10 min walk), watched the fireworks and then walked back to the Metro we were very happy to be back in the air-conditioning - it was worth it though! Click the link below to see the fireworks display.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OfhDQy3Jg

One of the boats on the creek

Dubai - the Working Week: Sunday 4th - Thursday 8th August

I was working out of our Dubai office, which is in Dubai Media City, 12 miles away from where we were staying.  The easiest way to get there was by taxi and it took about 20 mins straight down Sheik Zayed Road (which is pretty much a 6 carriage motorway) - the journey was pretty straight forward although none of the taxi drivers knew the Thomson Reuters building (even though it had it written in massive words on the building!) but they knew the CNN building next door so I took to telling them to drop me off there.

Luckily it wasn't too daunting when I arrived at the office as I know Cherry, one of the ladies who works there, and had been in touch with her before my visit - I shared a small office with Cherry and her assistant Kay and they were both very welcoming.  It was a good opportunity to get to know them both better.

Kay, me and Cherry in their office

In the picture above, Cherry's desk is behind us in the corner, and I was sitting at the desk to the left of us (you can see my cardie on the chair!) and Kay sat opposite me. Even through it was sweltering outside I had to take a cardie with me as the office got quite cold, especially in the afternoon!

Most evenings we went to the Dubai Mall for dinner after work, but on one occasion poor Peter didn't finish work to 8:30pm so I ordered spaghetti bolognese from room service to have that evening when he got in - it arrived in a big bowl and as I was trying to get the cling film off the bowl I dropped it on to the counter and the bowl broke!!  The cling film was the only thing holding it all together so I carefully unwrapped it and was able to put the food in to another bowl before it collapsed on the counter - there was no way I was going to waste a lovely spag bol!

On another evening we decided to go to the Emirates Tower which was 1 metro stop away from us - you would think that the Emirates Tower would be close to the Emirates Tower Metro stop but oh no - we wandered around (in the heat!) trying to find it and in the end went back to the Metro and I asked where it was - we were given directions and it was about a 5 min walk away!  We found the tower but then couldn't find the entrance and, of course, in Jeannine and Peter style, then walked round the wrong way so walked further than we had to to get in to the tower - we were very glad to get in to the air con!

Emirates Tower

Other towers close by

Trees outside the tower

On Wednesday evening, we went to an Iftar buffet at the Palace Hotel - This is traditionally the first meal fasting Muslims can eat after sunset during Ramadan and it was nice to take part in the tradition and eat some lovely local food! Everyone was seated between 6:30-7pm and then a cannon went off at dusk which signalled everyone that they could eat.  You traditionally start off with water and dates, and then you can tuck in to all the lovely food.

Traditional decorations for Ramadan

Sitting down for Iftar - water and dates at the ready!

The lobby of the Palace Hotel - very Arabic!

The Palace Hotel is part of the Dubai Mall complex so after dinner we walked back to the Mall to watch a fountain show before going back to the apartment - it was definitely one of the best shows we have seen - click on the link below to watch the video and wait for the crescendo at the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCBPFHCkABA&feature=youtu.be

On Thursday, the offices were closed because it was Eid al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan) which is a big deal as it is like what Christmas it to us.  As we were still working Peter and I had a makeshift office in our apartment!  

Our makeshift office

 In the evening, we went to Dubai Mall (again!) to have dinner and, because it is the start of a 3 day holiday to celebrate Eid in Dubai I think the whole of Dubai was at Dubai Mall - our first hint that it was going to be busy was that the road outside our hotel was grid-locked - bearing in mind this is essentially a 6 lane motorway this takes some doing and usually the traffic flows freely. The metro wasn't too crowded but when we got off at Dubai Mall it was bedlam - you have never seen so many people.  We thought that the restaurants would be really busy but actually they seemed quieter than usually - everyone was there to SHOP!

The crowds flocking from the Metro station in to Dubai mall!

Dubai - Saturday 3rd August

Today we ventured away from the skyscrapers and went to old Dubai where it all began!  We jumped on the Metro to get there and had to walk about 5 minutes to get to our first stop and we were sweltering by the time we got there!!

Firstly we went to the Dubai Museum which is located inside the City's oldest building - the Al Fahidi Fort which was built in 1787.  The Museum was very interesting and gave you a good history of Dubai - the first part of the Museum was outside where it showed you the types of houses the Dubai natives lived in many years ago.

Outside the Dubai Museum

One of the old houses that they used to live in - I am squinting as the sun was so bright!

 After looking outside you go down in the basement of the fort where it is nice and cool!  Firstly you enter a video room which depicts Dubai from before the discovery of oil in the 1960s to the current day.  You then move on to different galleries which show you how life was like in the pre-oil era including a bustling souk.

Showing a souk in the pre-oil days

Life-like models showing how life used to be in Dubai (man nearest the camera looks deranged!)

The latest fashion in Dubai - not sure if it will suit me

After looking around the museum we jumped in a taxi to the Heritage House which shows you a renovated 1890 house which belonged to a wealthy pearl merchant but it was closed when we got there!  So we wandered around the streets and took in the sights of people going about their everyday business which was interesting, and we ended up walking down one of the streets that sell spices and the smell was lovely!

One of the streets in Old Dubai - you can see a tower of one of the mosques

After that we went back to the apartment for some lunch (as we couldn't have anything to eat or drink whilst out because of Ramadan) and then relaxed in the afternoon.  This evening we had tickets booked to go up the Burj Khalifa Tower so we jumped on the Metro back to Dubai Mall.  As we were walking from the Dubai Mall Metro Station to the Dubai Mall (which is about a 15/20 minute walk although thankfully inside!) we could see our hotel.

Our hotel in in the middle of the picture with the big square and spike on the top

You have to book in advance as it gets full up very quickly and unfortunately today was a little bit hazy so although the views from the 124th floor observation gallery were amazing we couldn't see in the distance but it was definitely worth going up.

Views from the observation gallery on the 124th Floor of the Burg Khalifa

Looking up from the 124th floor - there is another 40 floors above us!

As we had booked the 7pm slot we were all provided with Iftar boxes which contained water, a biscuit with some dates in, and chocolate covered dates.  This is for those people who have been fasting all day - Iftar is the time when they can break their fast and traditionally they do this with dates and water (followed by a proper meal afterwards!). Of course we hadn't been fasting but were happy to join in with tradition!

Our Iftar box

After our visit we stopped off at a local restaurant for a steak dinner and then back home to bed for the working day tomorrow (on a Sunday!).

Dubai - Friday 2nd August

I have finally joined Peter in Dubai!  It is very good to see him after 3 weeks apart - he met me at the airport but we were very careful not to show any affection in public as we didn't want to get in trouble with the police!

I had a night flight from London, arriving in Dubai at 7:30am, and hadn't had hardly any sleep so we went back to the hotel, had some breakfast and chatted for a while and then I zonked out and went to sleep for a couple of hours!

When I woke up we jumped in a taxi to Dubai Mall - the worlds largest shopping mall - which is a 5 minute taxi ride from the hotel (and it only cost £2!).

Just outside our hotel - with the Burj Khalifa tower in the background

Dubai Aquarium in the middle of the shopping mall

Made a new friend in the Mall!

Huge waterfall sculpture in the Mall

We browsed round the shops but, because of Ramadan, all the restaurants and cafes were shut and the mall was pretty quiet - after we had looked round, we went to Waitrose to get some shopping and something for our lunch to eat back at the hotel.  In the afternoon we just stayed at the hotel - Peter had to do some work, and I had another nap and checked some emails and then we went out to dinner.  We decided to go back to Dubai Mall as there are lots of restaurants there to chose from, and opted for Noodle House where I had Singapore Noodles and Peter had Nasi Goren. The mall was a lot busier and there was a really good buzzy atmosphere - after dinner we walked round again and had another look round the shops - the place is massive!

We then went outside to admire the Burj Khalifa tower which is right next door to the Dubai Mall - when you look at it you can't quite believe what you are looking at as it is so tall - 2722 ft to be exact, and is the tallest man made structure in the world.  We then watched the dancing fountains which were really lovely to watch - with everyone gathered around the lake - but very similar to the fountains at Bellagio in Las Vegas (I think they nicked the idea from there).  

View of the Burj Khalifa by day 

View of the Burj Khalifa at night

The dancing fountains

I have enjoyed my first day in Dubai - it has been hot but bearable today - although standing around for 10 mins to watch the fountains did make us feel quite hot and sweaty!