Exotic Dubai and Abu Dhabi

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Friday, 21 March 2014 - Arrived in Dubai after a long flight and 8-hour time difference, settled into our hotel with views of the Burj Al Arab and Palm Island, photographed the Atlantis Hotel and its giant aquarium, explored the beach and water taxi ride to downtown, toured the Deira and Bur Dubai Souks including gold, spice, and textile markets, practiced bartering, and visited Al Fahidi Fort museum while soaking in the vibrant city atmosphere.

dubai2014 — A long travel day because of the 8-hour time zone difference and a 14-hour flight we left at 10:00 pm and landed (non-stop) at 8:00 pm the next day. Fortunately the hotel room was ready. Cal was pretty excited to see the view - immediately getting out the tripod and taking this picture of the famous Burj Al Arab on the coast.

The hotel was a "no alcohol" hotel - none. Fortunately all the dining places we went served drinks.

dubai2014 — In the morning the view revealed the Palm Island and a small boat of the ruling sheik parked is not far away from the hotel. As we were on the 36th floor we had a very nice view.

While we were in Dubai the yacht left for two days and then returned.

dubai2014 — Another photograph from the hotel balcony - this is a long shot of the Atlantis hotel which is located at the top of The Palm island. Even at 36 floors up you cannot see The Palm features. You can only see the buildings on the fronds.

The Atlantis was the first stop on our tour by Malic who lives in Dubai and works at TSYS.

dubai2014 — The front of the Atlantis Hotel - pretty big hotel. Love the big hole through the middle. At the top of the hole is the Royal Bridge Suite - that is a single room. There are also two rooms 3 stories high under the water looking into the hotel lagoon.

dubai2014 — In the main lobby of the Atlantis hotel is a giant Chihuly commissioned for the Atlantis.

dubai2014 — A very large aquarium inside the Atlantis - large enough for a shark to swim lazily along. Hard to comprehend the size of this display. But the fish were beautiful.

dubai2014 — Looking into the aquarium at the Atlantis - up toward the top of the structure.

dubai2014 — The Atlantis is a 5 star hotel with a beach on the lagoon side. In addition to the beach are almost 50 acres of water park. Inside there are over 20 restaurants.

dubai2014 — Virginia Ann and Cal posing on the beach of the Atlantis hotel. This is on a small pier/dock where we will board a water taxi for a 40 minute trip to downtown Dubai.

dubai2014 — As the water taxi left the dock the Atlantis from the water. First we had to get out of The Palm - yes with all that water we are inside the Palm.

dubai2014 — This is a very large house at the end of one of the fronds with the skyscrapers from the Dubai Marina suburb - yes that is not downtown but a suburb 45-60 minutes from downtown. A better picture of the Dubai Marina and it's skyscrapers is coming in a day or two.

dubai2014 — On the left is the Jumeirah hotel and on the right is the Burj Al Arab. Interestingly from the water the famous landmark reveals a cross - not something appreciated in the Arab world. It was very hazy on this day so many of the pictures have a poor background sky or haze to them.

dubai2014 — In the old part of the city where the Arabian Gulf enters a bay called the Creek. The Creek splits the old town into north and south. It is in the creek where much of the old commerce took place and still today there are many docks with small ships from India and Packastan moving all kinds of goods - mostly air conditioners and TVs on the day we were there.

We started on the north side in the district of Deira founded in 1841.

dubai2014 — To move from shore to shore on the creek there are many water taxis that are a very inexpensive way to get about. You are able to rent the taxi for personal transportation or a tour of the old part of town.

dubai2014 — One of the boats headed out to sea - with consumer goods. Very colorful boats but not looking very seaworthy.

dubai2014 — Another water taxi loaded with people crossing the Creek.

dubai2014 — Once we had our bearings from the water we headed into the Deira Souks (markets). There are specialty markets based on the product - our goal was the Gold Souk. This is a picture of the many small souvenirs for sale wherever you look.

Little camels lined up in a shop window.

dubai2014 — The Grand Souk Deira seemed to go on forever small shops everywhere selling just about everything.

A small stall selling rugs. Amazing how stall after stall had so much variety.

dubai2014 — Of course Virginia Ann was having a great time shopping for herself and friends. Fortunately we did not purchase a rug - not even a small one.

dubai2014 — We wandered into the Spice Souk - and area specializing in spices, spices of all kinds. We had to learn that no price was final - you were not expected to pay the asking price but barter for a better price. Maleck was the best at this process so we were happy to let him take the lead in the bartering.

dubai2014 — Run pretty much by Iranian merchants it was very fragrant. The stores were so small you were engulfed in the aromas. There were hundreds of different spices in each store.

More colorful spices - cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, saffron....

dubai2014 — Finally the gold market - Gold Souk. Here the gold is very inexpensive and the girls were so excited.

There are over 300 shops selling mostly gold but several shops with jewels - diamonds, opals, rubies...

dubai2014 — Stall and store after store of gold. Gold here is the cheapest in the world - although checking some of the items Virginia Ann was interested in they seemed high enough.

Very popular are the Emirati Bracelets which are solid gold

dubai2014 — It is estimated that there are typically 10 tons of gold in the market at any one time. So much gold that it is just too much - very hard to make a decision on which earrings or bracelet to purchase.

Neither of the girls purchased anything even after trying on many earrings and bracelets.

dubai2014 — We then crossed the Creek to the very oldest part of Dubai the district of Bur Dubai. Right into the Textile Souk - more shopping.

Into a store with thousands of pasmina - here Malak told the women that if the store did not agree to his price they would need to put down their treasured pashmins and walk out. Fortunately the owner agreed to the price and everyone left happy.

dubai2014 — We spent quite a lot of time trying on scarfs of various cloth quickly learning that the girls liked the most expensive.

Virginia Ann in the pasmina store

dubai2014 — The old Al Fahidi Fort which used to stand on the shore of the Creek has been refurbished and turned into a museum. The fort was built around 1800 and is the oldest building in Dubai. It was built to protect the town from attack by rival Bedouin tribes over the land approach to the city.

dubai2014 — Dubai has remade an old city called the Bastakiya quarter. Originally developed in the early 1900s by Iranian merchants the area had become run down. Now it is a very nice area with shops and open plazas used as a place for art and entertainment venues. There was a small concert going on while we were there.

This is a picture in front of the old town with a mock bedouin camp - complete with the camel.

dubai2014 — Close up of the camel - used for tourist photos.

dubai2014 — Pretty door in Bastakiya

dubai2014 — Calligraphy in one of the stores in Bastakiya

dubai2014 — We returned from the old city to Atlantis via the subway and taxi. As we drove from Atlantis the sun was setting and Cal grabbed this picture from the car of the Dubai Marina skyscrapers.

dubai2014 — Dubai has hundreds of skyscrapers - you could spend a year photographing all the buildings.

dubai2014 — Yet another skyscraper or two - this pair is near the financial district.

dubai2014 — The next attraction we visited was the largest mall in the world - The Dubai Mall. 1200 stores, 120 restaurants, 22 screen theater, and two hotels in four stories!!!!

After walking through the mall, which required a map, we arrived at the giant aquarium. It is hard to describe how large this sheet of acrylic is holding back all the water.

dubai2014 — As to underline the size of the aquarium a diver moves through the fish. You can pay to "dive" in the aquarium - also you can pay to walk through a tunnel at the base of the aquarium.

dubai2014 — From the clear tunnel in the aquariums looking up as fish - including this shark - swim overhead.

dubai2014 — The fish were all very fun to watch but the manta rays were special. There were several and they gave a good show.

dubai2014 — There are over 33,000 fish in the aquarium, 70 species, and 10 million litres of water. The largest fish tank in the world.

dubai2014 — Underwater Zoo was part of the ticket. It is a very nice set of tanks with unique fish. Here is one of hundreds of Piranha in a tank near the entrance - very popular with the children as it was viewable down to the floor.

dubai2014 — Some exotic fish as well as dangerous - here is a Lionfish fish.

dubai2014 — A small coral fish nested in a sea anemone

dubai2014 — Very difficult to photograph were the jelly fish in a dark tank - the aquarium varied the lighting to increase the interest in the pale translucent creatures.

dubai2014 — There is also the ability to walk on top of the aquarium - here Cal stands on top looking into the tank.

dubai2014 — From the top a shark swims in the aquarium

dubai2014 — Next to the Dubai Mall is the tallest building in the world - the Burj Khalifa. It was very hard to photograph as it was so tall and at the Dubie Mall you are very close to the base of the giant structure.

163 floors and then another 43 floors to the top which are not used for offices but are "maintenance" floors. It has the highest mosque on the 158 floor and highest swimming pool on the 76th floor.

dubai2014 — In the tradition of copying everything in Las Vegas there is a water fountain show to music - touted as larger than the similar fountain display in Las Vegas. We ate dinner at Sammach on a patio overlooking the fountain and the Burj Khalifa skyscraper.

The Dubai Fountain is, of course, the largest in the world. 275 meters long and 6000 lights. The fountain can shoot water 150m into the air.

dubai2014 — The The Address hotel on one side of the Dubai Mall lagoon. It is a five star hotel and apartment building. There are 63 floors - about 200 hotel rooms and 630 apartments.

dubai2014 — A two story chandelier inside the Dubai Mall - everything is over the top.

dubai2014 — As we left the Dubai Mall we stopped by a 4 story waterfall with larger than life size figures diving down the slope.

dubai2014 — This was a long day but we saw quite a bit of Dubai. The sun sets over the Arabian Gulf on the beach of the Atlantis hotel.

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