If you build it…

Remember the whisper that convinced Kevin Costner to turn his cornfield into a baseball field so the ghosts of a bunch of dead baseball players who were banned during the Black Sox Scandal could play ball again? Well, I do. It was, “If you build it, they will come.” And, I’m fairly certain that same creepy little boy was whispering into Sheikh Mohammed’s ear as he rode his camel across the desert. But, instead of a baseball field, he was told to build a crazy city with a skyline full of some amazing architecture, an indoor ski slope & aquarium, the world’s tallest building and some islands shaped like stuff. And instead of a bunch of old broke ass ghosts, this place was made to impress and entertain anybody with excess time and money.

Thanks to my boss, who gave me the opportunity to stay an extra day for a work thing, I had the excess time. And since I figured I may never be in Dubai again, I just pretended like I had the excess money. The city is really spread out, and I only had one full day to explore. So, I did something else I never thought I would do in my life – I bought a ticket for one of those double-decker Big Red Bus tours. It was actually perfect, and if you ever go to Dubai, I would recommend it. It takes you to all the touristy destinations. You can hop on and off at any point. And, your retired bus-mates will make you feel really young 🙂 Just be sure to adjust the volume when you plug your headphones in for the audio tour.

The first day I took the beautiful beach & giant mall tour. I was anxious to see the more authentic and original parts of Dubai but it was Friday which is the Islamic Holy Day. I was forewarned that most of the shops would be shut down so I decided to explore this part of town Saturday morning before I left.

Fun Fact: Did you know Dubai starts their weekend on Thursday and go back to work on Sunday? I didn’t. I learned something new and now so have you. Let’s reward ourselves by giving our brain a break and looking at some pretty pictures.

This is Jumeirah beach, a public beach with pretty amazing water and a nice view of the Burj Al Arab hotel.

These are surfboards. I just thought they were pretty.

This is a closer shot of the Burj. You may remember the building from when Roger Federer and Andre Agassi played tennis on top of it’s helipad.

I could’ve spent all day at this beach but I didn’t have sunscreen or my suit, so I hopped back on the bus and ventured on.

Below is a picture of the Jumeirah Mosque. It’s the only mosque in Dubai that is open to the public and non-Muslim guests. They do it as part of this “Open Doors. Open Minds” program to help people learn about Emirati culture and the religion. I think that’s really cool and would’ve loved to have gone in, but it was Friday, the Islamic Holy Day. So, I just snapped this as we drove by on the bus.

The next stop was The Atlantis, which is a crazy hotel sometimes known as the adult Disneyland. It was built on one of those artificial islands that were made in the shape of a palm tree. I think several of those islands are still available for sale, to people from any country, if you’re interested.

Then, I headed to the infamous in-door ski slope in the Mall of Emirates. I sat in a ski-lodge themed bar at the bottom of the hill and watched the kids play. After a few ciders, I considered giving it a try but it was so damned cozy next to that fake fire.

Then, I found myself in yet another mall, the Dubai Mall, where I saw this giant aquarium. See the scuba divers? Pretty cool.

And the tallest building made out of Ferrero Rocher Chocolates.

And this dancing lighted fountain. I actually didn’t get a very good picture of that so I stole this one off the Internet – just for you.

That night, I went to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, pictured below. It’s sturdier than it looks.Thank god.

And here’s a couple pictures of the skyline from the top.  

Day 2, I hit up Diera, the old part of Dubai. It was pretty cool, but very overwhelming. Honestly, I didn’t last long. Salesmen were throwing scarves and gold at me as I walked past, and trying everything they could to get me to stop and look at their stuff.

This part of town is home to the gold sauk and spice sauk. A “sauk” is just another word for “market”. And it’s called the Gold Sauk because they’re selling yep, you guessed it, gold. Wait, did you just learn something else!? More pretty pictures for you.

Notice, I barely got any pictures of gold in a place called the gold sauk. But every time I stopped long enough to take a picture, I was confronted by at least 3 more men trying to sell me something. I just couldn’t handle it on an empty stomach.

So, before heading out, I enjoyed one last taste of middle-eastern food at Red Lobster. Yes, I did. Go ahead and judge me. I don’t care. I love those cheesy biscuits and they helped me pay my way through grad school.

I leave you with my last Dubai sunset from the cab on the way to the airport. Goodbye, Dubai. Hey, that rhymes!

Goodnight, friends.