Welcome to Dubai

Want the largest shopping mall? Or how about the tallest free standing building? Or could you be in the mood for the biggest indoor ski hill? Welcome to Dubai – home to all of the above and more!





Dubai was our first warm weather location – something we were very excited about after a month of cold, wet weather! Although it did sprinkle rain one night we were there (we've decided we're cursed with some sort of bad weather/rain thing). The sun was shining almost all of the time, and we had over 30 degree weather each day… which made for a lovely, if warm mini break.

We stayed with a lady named Tricia, her daughter, and their housekeeper Cend in the Jermeria 2 location (just down from the Palm). She had a yard where we were able to eat breakfast in the garden surrounded by flowers and have a midnight swim in her pool.

My adorable husband enjoying a swim :)

When we were able to tear ourselves away, we saw:
Burj Kalifia: Tallest free standing building in the world. The observation deck is on the 124^th floor and has no roof – just thick glass with slats in it for picture taking. It was super cool (or terrifying if you thought about it too much) but because Dubai's skyline is already filled with very tall towers it did rob the Burj Kalifia of a bit of her glory.

Dubai Fountains: A large fountain show not unlike the Belagio's in Las Vagas – it was the best choreographed light show I've seen – and it was even better when you watch it from the top down from the observation deck at the Burj Kalifia!

From the Bottom

From the viewing deck (Top Down)

Spice Market: A large market in the old city of Dubai. It was here that we were able to try some ice cream made of various special ingredients… the Spice Market was nice though and I wished I could have brought some back, but it would have been very difficult.

Note: Yes, the middle left pile is Saffron – it was surreal, there must be thousands of dollars worth! It apparently takes 150 flowers to yield one gram of finished, dried saffron threads and it can cost betweem $2.50 – $9.00 CAD a gram.

Dubai Mall: The largest mall in the world.. and unlike the Balzac mall which cheats by making their stores insanely big inside, or even west edmonton mall were there are duplicates of several stores – there is honestly regular stores, regular sizes, and we didn't come across duplicate stores during our trek through the mall, since it really was a trek!

There is also a full size skating ring with jumbotron, themed markets (Souk), theme parks, a HUGE acquariam etc. It really is like West Ed, only better – and you have to wear long clothing and you aren't allowed to hold hands etc…

BUT FIRST:
Unlike the “eye candy” at Canadian malls which could get you thrown in jail – here there are nice cars..

This fountain (below) spanned three stories of the mall… it was HUGE

Burj Al Arab: This is the world's only 7 star hotel, and one of the most expensive! Normally you are not allowed to even approach the hotel as a regular tourist looking for a photo, nevermind getting inside to see the lobby.. so Matthew and I went for high tea on the top floor of the hotel over looking the Palm. It was delightful! (until we got the bill anyways) AND it let us see the lobby of the hotel.

There was so much to see in Dubai, we really just scratched the surface, but we really like it and hope to make it back there for a longer stay!

Me, atop the Burj Kalifia (Yeah, it was scary.. it had open air above my head…)