The day after the Madonna concert we had been planning to rent a car and drive out to Dubai. Luckily, however, in our usual laid back, lazy fashion, we had neglected to bother renting the aforementioned car. I say luckily because the next day we were both EXHAUSTED! We barely got up on time to make it to the 10:30 AM cutoff for the breakfast buffet.
Part of the reason we were so tired was because after the concert it was impossible to get a taxi out of there. If you could find a taxi, they wouldn't let you in the cab because they were all looking for fares back to Dubai.
There were, however, a bunch of guys in regular cars offering rides to people (for an elevated price of course) in their own cars. After about 40 minutes of walking around trying to find a taxi we ended up getting in the car with some dodgy looking guy who said he would take us back to our hotel for 100 dirham. (This is about $27 US and about 45 dirham more than a taxi.) Fine, whatever! We got in.
The only problem was that he kept driving up and down the strip trying to get more people to get in so he could make more money. When it became clear that he wasn't going anywhere until he got more people in the car we started to become a bit more concerned. Especially since every time he got someone even remotely interested in getting in, he would tell them some ridiculous price. (Like 300 dirham.) Naturally they would wave him away.
Eventually, he got 3 young women to get into the car with us. Obviously the only reason they got in, was because we were already in there and we looked pretty normal. Unlike everyone else though, they didn't ask the price. They told us they were teachers living in Abu Dhabi and they lived near where our hotel was. While we were driving down the street I mentioned to the one sitting next to me that they might want to establish a price with the guy before we got on the road. I told her that we had agreed to pay 100 dirham. So they asked the price and the guy wanted each of them to pay 200 dirham apiece, which was ridiculous. So they laughed and insisted that he let them out, which he did very reluctantly. Then he proceeded again to drive around very slowly yelling at people to get into the car. (Picture some greasy looking guy yelling "Come.... COME! ... COOOOOME!!!" at people and you can see why no one went anywhere near that guy.) So at this point we had been in the back of his car for at least 20 minutes and we decided we had better get out. So we demanded he let us out. Which he very reluctantly did... eventually, and then proceeded to follow us along the street trying to convince us to get back in. Finally we yelled something like "GET THE ---- AWAY FROM US!" and he finally drove off in a huff leaving the many people still milling around wondering (and asking) "What the heck happened?"
Then we saw an empty cab so we ran up and asked if he would take us to our hotel. Again, he said "No!" and then he drove off. So I said to Matt, "You know, I think we are going about this the wrong way. We need to say, we will give you $100 dirham if you take us to our hotel." So we tried this with the next cab we saw and the guy did a quick tabulation in his head, and said, "OK." And that is the story of how we finally made it back to our hotel and how we are not always all that smart when we are traveling and tired.
So the next day we lazed around the beach and pool all day and did absolutely nothing except rest, eat, and swim. The following day we felt ready to visit Dubai. So we rented a car and drove off.
Dubai is about 80 kilometers away from Abu Dhabi and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. We had also rented a GPS so that we wouldn't waste time getting lost. First stop, the Burj Khalifa, which is currently the tallest building in the world. It is 160 floors and 828 meters tall. I must say that it was quite impressive. Much more impressive than Taipei 101. (A previous tallest building.)
I couldn't fit the whole thing into a picture so here is a quick video.
As with pretty much everything in the middle east, it is attached to a mall. So we went in to make an appointment to go up. Unfortunately, all the appointments for the day were taken and they only had immediate entry available. (This means about 4 times the usual price.) But, what is the point of going without going up? (Tip- Call ahead and make an appointment if you want to see it!!)
So up we went. Here are some views of downtown Dubai from the top of the Burj Khalifa.
All in all I would say the Burj Khalifa is a must see if you are ever in Dubai. In fact, my friend's son has a blog that is all about the Burj Khalifa and legos. So if you want some more Burj Khalifa facts check out his blog. (Or if you really like Legos.) It's called:
Burj Khalego
After our trip up to the top we had lunch at PF Changs, followed by a stroll around the attached mall where we came across this HUGE aquarium inside the mall! I love a good aquarium.
It had a tunnel that you could walk through (for a price) and also you could go diving inside. It was really cool.
After that mall, we went off to another mall because I wanted to see the indoor ski slopes that I had heard about. Yes, you can go skiing in Dubai!
So first off, here is what it looks like from the outside.
Also, somewhere in there are some penguins. We didn't pay to see them but I'm sure that kids would love this place. And all inside a mall.
After that we drove out to the palm, but unless you are in a huge tall building looking down on it, or cruising above in an airplane, (a la Flo Rida) there is really not much to see. This is a building at the tip of the palm. Everyone else was taking pictures of it so I did too.
Then the sun went down and we went back to Abu Dhabi. A very good day indeed!
Also if you want to see some much better pictures of Dubai that I didn't take you can look here:
http://totallycoolpix.com/2012/01/dubai-from-above/
Part of the reason we were so tired was because after the concert it was impossible to get a taxi out of there. If you could find a taxi, they wouldn't let you in the cab because they were all looking for fares back to Dubai.
There were, however, a bunch of guys in regular cars offering rides to people (for an elevated price of course) in their own cars. After about 40 minutes of walking around trying to find a taxi we ended up getting in the car with some dodgy looking guy who said he would take us back to our hotel for 100 dirham. (This is about $27 US and about 45 dirham more than a taxi.) Fine, whatever! We got in.
The only problem was that he kept driving up and down the strip trying to get more people to get in so he could make more money. When it became clear that he wasn't going anywhere until he got more people in the car we started to become a bit more concerned. Especially since every time he got someone even remotely interested in getting in, he would tell them some ridiculous price. (Like 300 dirham.) Naturally they would wave him away.
Eventually, he got 3 young women to get into the car with us. Obviously the only reason they got in, was because we were already in there and we looked pretty normal. Unlike everyone else though, they didn't ask the price. They told us they were teachers living in Abu Dhabi and they lived near where our hotel was. While we were driving down the street I mentioned to the one sitting next to me that they might want to establish a price with the guy before we got on the road. I told her that we had agreed to pay 100 dirham. So they asked the price and the guy wanted each of them to pay 200 dirham apiece, which was ridiculous. So they laughed and insisted that he let them out, which he did very reluctantly. Then he proceeded again to drive around very slowly yelling at people to get into the car. (Picture some greasy looking guy yelling "Come.... COME! ... COOOOOME!!!" at people and you can see why no one went anywhere near that guy.) So at this point we had been in the back of his car for at least 20 minutes and we decided we had better get out. So we demanded he let us out. Which he very reluctantly did... eventually, and then proceeded to follow us along the street trying to convince us to get back in. Finally we yelled something like "GET THE ---- AWAY FROM US!" and he finally drove off in a huff leaving the many people still milling around wondering (and asking) "What the heck happened?"
Then we saw an empty cab so we ran up and asked if he would take us to our hotel. Again, he said "No!" and then he drove off. So I said to Matt, "You know, I think we are going about this the wrong way. We need to say, we will give you $100 dirham if you take us to our hotel." So we tried this with the next cab we saw and the guy did a quick tabulation in his head, and said, "OK." And that is the story of how we finally made it back to our hotel and how we are not always all that smart when we are traveling and tired.
So the next day we lazed around the beach and pool all day and did absolutely nothing except rest, eat, and swim. The following day we felt ready to visit Dubai. So we rented a car and drove off.
Dubai is about 80 kilometers away from Abu Dhabi and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. We had also rented a GPS so that we wouldn't waste time getting lost. First stop, the Burj Khalifa, which is currently the tallest building in the world. It is 160 floors and 828 meters tall. I must say that it was quite impressive. Much more impressive than Taipei 101. (A previous tallest building.)
I couldn't fit the whole thing into a picture so here is a quick video.
As with pretty much everything in the middle east, it is attached to a mall. So we went in to make an appointment to go up. Unfortunately, all the appointments for the day were taken and they only had immediate entry available. (This means about 4 times the usual price.) But, what is the point of going without going up? (Tip- Call ahead and make an appointment if you want to see it!!)
So up we went. Here are some views of downtown Dubai from the top of the Burj Khalifa.
Burj Khalego
After our trip up to the top we had lunch at PF Changs, followed by a stroll around the attached mall where we came across this HUGE aquarium inside the mall! I love a good aquarium.
You can see the shops on the other side of the aquarium through the glass.
It had a tunnel that you could walk through (for a price) and also you could go diving inside. It was really cool.
After that mall, we went off to another mall because I wanted to see the indoor ski slopes that I had heard about. Yes, you can go skiing in Dubai!
So first off, here is what it looks like from the outside.
The metal thing at the top is the ski slope.
Here is another view from the highway.
Clearly this isn't a double diamond run but it is kinda cool.
Inside it looks like this:
Basically the ski slope is up above and down below are other activities.
My apologies for the bad pictures. There is some glare off the windows as we didn't go inside, we just looked through the windows.
The whole area is surrounded by restaurants so you can eat and look in at the skiing and sledding going on. We stopped and had a coffee outside the ski area and this was the view:
And, some more views from all around:
After that we drove out to the palm, but unless you are in a huge tall building looking down on it, or cruising above in an airplane, (a la Flo Rida) there is really not much to see. This is a building at the tip of the palm. Everyone else was taking pictures of it so I did too.
Also if you want to see some much better pictures of Dubai that I didn't take you can look here:
http://totallycoolpix.com/2012/01/dubai-from-above/
I saw that ice place on the Travel Channel. I can't believe that guy in the fake taxi!
ReplyDelete