Day 40: Dubai to Singapore

It was wonderful to turn the alarm off last night and allow ourselves to sleep until we woke up naturally. For me, that was around 7am, and I took advantage of my quiet time to write blog posts. By 9am or so we were at our final breakfast at The Palace Downtown, and that was truly a sad realization. Our breakfasts have been our biggest meals of the day, and kept us going right until dinner. 

Today, our three waiters surprised us with a slice of cake, big smiles and hugs to say goodbye. The service level at this property was the best we’ve ever experienced. We are so completely happy with how we spent our time in Dubai and also with where we stayed. If we ever go again, we’d stay at the same place, but since that was a once in a lifetime experience…well, I’m not holding my breath. 

One final Burj Khalifa view breakfast

Breakfast, round 1

Our wonderfully fantastic, attentive and very, very sweet team of waiters surprised us with a farewell cake. We’re totally spoiled, but it’s their fault! :-) 

Breakfast, round 2

Those weird fruits are passion fruit

We sat out by the pool until noon, then headed inside to pack. We had gotten late check out since our flight to Singapore wasn’t until 8pm. We also wanted to update apps and download videos before we lost our super high speed WiFi. So one of us at a time sat on the bed and did that, and the other packed, and then we switched.  

Surprise of surprises, there were fountain shows at 1pm and 2 pm. We didn’t expect that, and had never before been in our room at that time of day. It was a very nice last memory to have of the hotel and our Dubai adventure.

A fountain show in the afternoon. Who knew?

Packing up with a view. Life is good. :-)

At 2pm we stored our luggage at the bell desk and walked over to the Dubai Mall to use one last benefit of our HOHO bus experience: free admission to the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, both located at the mall. Since this was free with a 3-day City Sightseeing HOHO pass, I wasn’t expecting much, but it was quite good. The lighting was all wrong for photos (too many reflections on the glass), but aquarium tunnels are always cool and we saw several divers in the tanks, too. 

Aquarium tunnel

Spotted ray

Michigan colored coral. Some slight consolation after Saturday’s game. :-(

Whatever this is, it’s a big one!

Still, seeing the Aquarium was not without its challenges. We had walked by it at least once a day every day since we arrived in Dubai, and kept saying, “We’ll leave that for the last day after we check out of our room”. Do you think we could find it today?  It took us wandering at least 20 minutes and asking 3 people for assistance to finally reach it. Then, walking back to The Palace Downtown, we took a wrong turn in the Souk Al Bahar and ended up in an area we’d never before seen. Honestly, we asked security guards for directions to the hotel so many times over the days we were there that they would recognize us and simply point. “That way”. 

Lost again, we saw a part of the Souk Al Bahar we’d never before wandered through. 

It took awhile but we made it back to our hotel, reclaimed our luggage and were preparing to order an Uber when a waiting Lexus offered to take us to the airport for even less than Uber had cost us. We were in it and on our way in no time, and arrived at the airport with time to spare, which we filled with people watching. People watching in the International Terminal at Dubai’s airport is nothing short of fascinating. 

Finally we were through security, and I spent our last dirhams for mints for Singapore (no gum there) and snacks. The guys in the store were great, asking me how much I had to spend (45 dirhams, about $12) and then showing me different things to maximize their value. Finally, they threw in a candy bar that G ate on the plane, and the dirhams were gone. 

I took an Ambien before I got on the plane, took my contacts out, and I barely remember my meal. We had sprung for Economy Plus seats, because on Singapore Air, that gave us a special menu, a leg rest and a seat that reclines more. That, plus the Ambien did what I hoped, and I slept about 5 hours (the flight was about 7 hours long), giving me hope that I’d make it through the day without a nap. (Edited later: haha, I napped all day.)

Next stop:  Singapore!

Day 39: Dubai

G did get up with the alarm at 5am, but he didn’t wake me until closer to 6. Still, we were at breakfast well before 6:30am, sitting inside today because it was still pouring outside. Pouring!  Everyone we talked with said Dubai gets rain just three times a year, but that they hadn’t seen one like this in years. Lovely! Checking the weather on our iPhones, the forecast called for a rainy morning but a sunny afternoon. We could work with that. 

The reason we had set an alarm is that we had firm plans for the morning. The El Jumeirah Mosque, through its Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding’s ‘Open Doors, Open Minds’ program allows non-Muslims to enter the mosque for a 75 minute presentation and Q and A on the tenets of the Muslim religion and Emirati culture. This turned out to be, without a doubt, the highlight of our Dubai visit. We learned so much about things I had been very curious about, including the calls to prayer that we had heard twice yesterday while at the Dubai Mail (where there are five prayer rooms). 

The most photographed mosque in Dubai

We started with an Arabic continental breakfast 

We learned about the five pillars of Muslim, including Ramadan and the Hajj, the trip to Kabba (House of God) in the sacred city of Mecca, that they must do at least once in their lives.  We learned how they perform wudu, the symbolic cleansing before prayers, and then we actually got to watch our guide go through the prayer process and that was fascinating. They pray five times each day, for about 3 minutes each time, facing Mecca. 

Where the preparing ablutions, called wudu, are performed. 

There was proper attire available for men and women. 

I had worn slacks and a long sleeved T-shirt, and covered my head and shoulders with my hijab. G wore one of these robes. 

Every mosque has a dome...

...a Mihrab, which is a niche that designates the Qiblah, which faces the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca...

...and at least one minaret, from which the calls to prayer are sounded.   

We had removed our shoes before entering the mosque, but everything was covered with thick carpet, so “that foot” was quite happy. 

Showing us the Kaaba in Mecca 

The sacred city of Mecca

Muslim Prayers

I asked a lot of questions (because of course I did), and afterward, one on one, I asked one more, about the different types of clothing we had seen since we arrived in Dubai. I wasn’t certain if it was religious or cultural. For the men, it is definitely cultural, and he explained that what he was wearing was the equivalent of a Western suit, but pointed out someone else who was wearing more casual Arab dress. For women it is different, and the degree to which they cover up is a personal choice. We have seen everything from a simple hijab like I wore for our tour to full burkas covering everything but the eyes. 

Afterward, we reboarded our HOHO bus and went out to Palm Island for an included cruise. Luckily, the sun was out by then but it wasn’t as hot as yesterday, and we had a most pleasant hour-long cruise around Palm Island, which is the man-made island in the shape of a palm tree. I got better photos of the Burj Al Arab today because the sun was out, with the Jumeirah Wave hotel behind it and Downtown Dubai with the Burj Khalifa in the photo too. And, on the other side of Palm Island, we saw the Dubai Marina area, which is largely made up of high rise residential properties. 

The Burj Al Arab with the Jumeirah Wave Hotel on it’s right and Downtown Dubai, with the Burj Khalifa on its left.

The Dubai Marina area, largely residential high rises 

The Atlantis Resort on Palm Island

Everything on Palm Island and in the Dubai Marina was so different than what I had imagined it would be. Bigger, much bigger, with huge traffic and construction and, really, one afternoon was enough for me.  I’m very, very happy with where we stayed, in the Downtown Dubai area. The traffic is crazy there, too, but we could walk everywhere, and there were things right in that area to see and do all day and night. 

We were starting to fade, but took the HOHO bus to the Mall of the Emirates to see Ski Dubai. We had thought that at least G would ski, but the prices were crazy (nearly $50 for two very short runs), so instead we had lunch at a TGIFridays overlooking the top of the ski hill, and the chair lift and tow rope. We could tell how short the run was by how often the same skiers came up the tow rope and waved at us. 

These are in dirhams...and it’s still crazy expensive

A snow slide


The downhill run and chair lift




The tow rope


The tobaggon run

After we finished eating, we went down to a lower viewing area and saw the toboggan run.  G pointed out that, for many people, Ski Dubai was the first time they had ever seen snow. Lucky, lucky them!  I noticed they didn’t include the snow shoveling experience, nor the winter driving or slipping on ice experiences either. ;-) Hey, let them see what it’s really like!

We took a HOHO bus back to the Dubai Mall, arrived there just before 6pm when the City Lights tours begin on the HOHO bus. and hopped on that bus to see the city at night (which we had already done on our way from the airport, but we were half asleep then). I decided that by City Lights, they mean tail lights. I have never, ever seen such traffic. But it was highly entertaining, from our seats on the upper deck at the very front, watching our driver navigate through that mess. 

Dubai traffic is crazy

I loved this. Ace’s name is always slanted; Arabic reads from right to left. So the Arabic word for Ace is slanted, too...in the opposite direction. 

And that is how we came to arrive back at our room at 9pm, 13 hours after we had left it. We had just enough energy to watch a couple of light and fountain shows (the last ones from bed) before we hit the wall. G is asleep, and once I finish this post, I will be, too. 

We will miss this view!

One more partial day in Dubai, and an overnight flight to Singapore. In the words of Dora the Explorer, “Can we do it?  Yes we can!”

And then, once on the Sapphire, we will collapse.

Day 38: Dubai

We were a little slow getting started this morning. Actually, we were at breakfast by 8:30am or so (5:40am in Venice), but it was such a beautiful morning that we lingered and ate…and lingered and ate, all under a canopy by the pool with a view of the Burj Khalifa. It felt hot today, because it was…90F with about 95% humidity. The air was hazy, or cloudy, or something, and that was a little disappointing, given our evening plans.  

What a way to start a day!

Their breakfast buffet was a pescatarian’s delight

Relaxing by the pool

By 11am-ish, we were making the walk to the front of the Dubai Mall to board our City Sightseeing HOHO bus. Now, the Dubai Mall is five minutes from our hotel…from the front door of the front lobby to perhaps the closest reaches of the mall.  But, as I’ve said, it’s physically the second largest mall in the world, so we quickly learned to plan on 30 minutes of focused walking just to get to the HOHO bus. Our intention for the afternoon was to go to the beach just to say we waded in the Persian Gulf, then take photos of the Burj Al Arab, and then go to the Mall of the Emirates to see Ski Dubai, which was the world’s largest indoor ski resort until China topped it last year…but, no worries, Dubai has a huge expansion in the works (of course it does). 

We did the beach stop, and next went to another beach with views of the Burj Al Arab.  This was a huge thrill for me; I still remember when the hotel opened, seeing it on the cover of Condé Nast and thinking, “I’ve gotta see that some day!” It is located on its own private island, and, unless one is staying there, or paying a ridiculous amount for afternoon tea or a meal, one iskindly  requested to not sully their property. Therefore, my photos of it are all from an adjoining beach or (hopefully tomorrow) from a boat. 

El Jumeirah Beach

The Burj Al Arab Hotel

What we hadn’t counted on is that traffic in Dubai, and distances are both much greater than we had anticipated. Getting from one place to another, which we thought would be just a 15-20 minute trip, turned out to be 45-60 minutes. We had tickets for At The Top of the Burj Khalifa at 4:30pm, booked a month ago to optimize both daytime, sunset and nighttime viewing. We had to put off Ski Dubai to another day and head back to the Dubai Mall stop. 

Luckily, we had scoped this out yesterday afternoon, and knew exactly where to go for our At The Top experience. We actually arrived about 20 minutes early, and when I asked the representative what time we could up, he said, “What time do you want to go?”, and, naturally, we took advantage of that lull in the lines before the sunset crowd hit and very nearly walked directly to the elevator. And I was very, very happy we hadn’t paid an extra $50-ish each to purchase ‘Skip the line’ tickets, because that would have been wasted money.

On our walk to the elevator, we read some displays that told the history of the Burj Khalifa, which, at 160 stories high, was the tallest building in the world when it was opened in 2010 and remains so today. Though there is an outdoor observation deck on the 148th floor, it is considerably more expensive to go there compared to the outdoor observation deck on Floor 124 and indoor viewing from Floor 125, which are sold together. We had purchased tickets for those, and paid a premium for a sunset/nighttime experience. So our elevator ride from Floor 1 to 124 took just over a minute on the fastest elevator in the world. Pretty cool.

An ear popping elevator ride

We first went out on the outdoor platform and took photos of the Dubai Fountain and our hotel, which required looking straight down.  Luckily, I am not one bit afraid of heights. We made our way around the circular platform and then went inside to climb the circular stairs up to Floor 125. We stayed there for sunset, such as it was (our only disappointment was that it was so cloudy, but we got a few good pics), and then watched as darkness fell and the city lights came on. That was so beautiful. 

The Downtown Dubai area

The Dubai Mall is on the left, the Souk Al Bahar in the middle and The Palace Downtown on the right, surrounding the Burj Khalifa Lake and the Dubai Fountain

The expressways are crazy. 

The outdoor viewing platform. 

A simulation of standing 125 floors high and looking down. Even though it’s just like standing on a photo, some people tried but couldn’t do it. Fear of heights is real!

 

Our only hint of the sunset 

Downtown Dubai area after dark

The 6pm fountain show from 124 floors above

The Dubai Mall. It’s massive. 

We stopped back to the outdoor platform before we went back down, and were shocked when the revolving door let us out to find gale force winds and rain. We had realized, when we were inside, that clouds were going by right outside the glass, but hadn’t felt the wind, which was notable, since the top sways 5 feet in a heavy wind. But being outside in that wind was kind of spooky.  It was actually pulling people’s shirts out of their waistbands and then blowing them up over their heads, so women were holding on to everything. 

Once we were back down we were starved. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was nearly 6:30pm, so we stopped in The Café at the bottom of the Burj Khalifa, and part of the Dubai Mall, and ate dinner at covered outdoor tables overlooking the Dubai Fountain. And just as we sat down, Andrea Boccelli singing Time to say Goodbye began playing and the 6:30pm fountain show was set to that. Chills!  We had certainly just heard that song a lot while we were in Italy.

Time to Say Goodbye

On our walk back to The Palace Downtown, it started to torrentially rain and we were shocked. This is the desert! We were soaked to the skin by the time we got to our hotel, but changed into robes and still sat outside until 11pm watching the light and fountain shows. It was so fun to see them while being so comfortable when we knew that crowds of people were standing outside the mall in the rain. 

Cozy on our lanai but still seeing the Dubai Fountain

We set an alarm for 5am (really) and fell into bed. Just one more full day in Dubai. Weep.