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.