Dubai ExploredDubai Explored
Last Updated (Sunday, 25 January 2009 20:29) Written by Geir Wednesday, 14 January 2009 18:41
Dubai - hyper modern architecture and decadent luxury. After the opening of a direct flight route between Oslo and Dubai in 2008, we decided to take the opportunity to explore this part of the world a little. We spent four nights there, including one night in the world famous 7-start hotel Burj Al Arab.
Arrival.
We arrived at midnight the 23rd November after 6.5 hours flight. We expected the city to be pretty quiet at this time, but no, the streets were buzzing with traffic (most shopping malls close at midnight in fact). We took a taxi from the airport to Arabian Courtyard hotel, were we would stay for 3 nights. The drive was about 30min. Arabian Courtyard is a quite nice 4-star hotel very centrally located just opposite Dubai Museum and a few hundred meters from Khor Dubai, or the creek.
Day one
The first day we started off exploring the souqs at Deira. Dubai Old Souq is located at the Bur side of the creek, but it is mostly textiles sold there which are not too exciting for the average tourist. Small open water taxis, or abra as they are called, will take you across the creek for a dirham in 10min. On the other side it's a short walk to the Deira Old Souq and the famous Gold Souq. The Old souq was a bit 
disappointing; a few spice shops selling dried lemons and other typical spices and lots of small shops selling kitchen utensils, house kitsch etc. When there are more tourists than locals, it's always a bad sign when it comes to markets I think. Anyway, the Gold souq is much more interesting. Here you can buy anything from lavish gold jewelry (22-24 carat) to gold ingots in bulk quantities. Gold prices are supposed to be really low here, but we could not really tell, as gold prices have been soaring lately. Anyways, Joanna bought a golden bracelet as a souvenir.
Well saturated with gold shops we decided to take a taxi to the newly opened Dubai Mall. Getting hold of a taxi in Dubai can be rather difficult, as there are simply too few of them. Once we got hold of one it was only 16min drive to the Dubai Mall, which sits just below the 
world's tallest building, Burj Dubai, reaching over 800m. Dubai mall is huge, but when we visited only 40% of the shops had actually been opened, so we would walk along endless walls with big posters proclaiming that a shop is opening soon... Dubai Mall also sports its own gold souq with more than 100 shops, but come on - who has the patience for that? Now the biggest attraction of Dubai mall is the huge aquarium it has in the middle, which is worth a visit alone. The main tank is enormous with hundreds of sharks and other fish swimming around. It also has a glass tunnel through the middle offering great views. Access to the tunnel costs a few dirham but is well worth it. It can also be combined with entrance to the upstairs traditional styled aquarium.
Day two
There are many other things to do in Dubai besides shopping. We decided to spend the day at Wild Wadi, Dubai's aqua park, which is located between Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah beach. A 45min taxi ride through heavy traffic took us there. Wild Wadi has something for all desires when it comes to water activities, from a lazy river to an 80km/h water slide and two surf waves plus much more. Entry fee is AED 195, which is a reasonable price for such a good park. The wave pool produces impressive 1.5m waves and the dozen or so water slides are connected with each other so you can be propelled around the entire site without stepping out of the water. Great fun! Fast food is available at multiple restaurants, but don't expect gourmet food though.
Wild Wadi closes at 6pm, and be prepared for a taxi queue on your way home. Traffic and air pollution are probably the least desirable features of Dubai, but a metro system (on poles) is under construction and will hopefully provide a much more efficient way of transport around Dubai when finished. A note on construction: It seems that every sky scraper in Dubai is under construction, and the building frenzy is absolutely amazing. You can't look in any direction without spotting at least a few dozen construction cranes.
Day three
We were now leaving Arabian Courtyard and transferring to Burj Al Arab, which we had high expectations for. We got there around noon, planning to drop off our luggage before paying a visit to Mall of the Emirates. But we were actually checked in right away with excellent service. 
The hotel is located on its own artificial island, and access is strictly controlled - you won't get in without a reservation or appointment. Towering 315m tall, the hotel is a true landmark of architecture. Our suite was huge, covering two floors with living rooms downstairs and two bedrooms (with two full featured bathrooms) upstairs. The suites are so huge that you can easily loose each other in there, and not to mention spend time looking for some item left on a table somewhere (was it upstairs or downstairs?). The butler is very helpful. A degree in engineering comes in handy though when operating the room controls and the many plasma screens. After the initial state of amazement had settled, we decided to pay a visit to the Mall of Emirates which is close by.
The mall is huge (as all malls in Dubai are) and it is famous for its indoor ski slope. We didn't try it out, but it certainly looked impressive. We had lunch there (tip: stay clear of KFC, Subway and the international brands, and go for the local cuisine - much better!), before strolling though the shops. When it comes to prices, clothes are certainly cheap along with jewelry. Electronics and photo equipment was equal or slightly higher priced than in Norway (indeed!), so we did not buy any of that. After a couple of hours at the mall we took a taxi back to Burj.
It was Geir's birthday after all, and the butler along with three others came to the room with a chocolate cake and sang Happy Birthday! The chocolate cake was really delicious! And along with all the other dates and snacks in the room plus a complimentary bottle of wine, we were so stuffed that dinner was really out of the question. After enjoying the sunset from the beach, we paid a visit to the Sky bar at the top of the building. Here we had a beer and did some people watching. No famous celebrities were observed though. More snacks was served with compliments from the bar. The bar could offer the world's most expensive drink at a modest 28.000 dirham served in 18 carat gold glass, but not on our budget. Absolute top service! Finally we retired to the suite to enjoy the big jacuzzi and other room facilities. Next morning we had an early flight to Muscat, Oman.
Departure
After returning from a week in Oman, we had 10 hours to kill in Dubai waiting for our flight back to Norway. 
We first took a taxi from terminal 1 to terminal 2 thinking that we could leave our luggage there (optimistic hah!).Terminal 2 turned out to be under full evacuation due to heavy rainfall, and the terminal was flooded. There is no drainage system to speak of in Dubai, so a sudden rainfall wreaks havoc on buildings and roads... We didn't linger long among the thousand passengers stranded outside (luckily the rain had stopped). We grabbed a taxi again and headed for Deira City Center mall which is pretty close to the airport. To our pleasant surprise this mall had a luggage storage facility, so we could get rid of our suitcases. 
Being the national day in UAE, there was entertainment in the center, showing falconry and traditional music/dances. We had time to wander hundreds of shops again and having dinner at an Italian restaurant. A few hours before our flight was leaving we entered our last taxi queue on this trip, a record length of 40min waiting time before fighting traffic back to the airport. Terminal 2 is the low-price charter terminal, totally over-crowded, filthy and way too small for the number of passengers going through it. Definitely one of the worst, if not THE worst terminal I have ever been to.
Summary
Dubai has incredible shopping, amazing architecture and unlimited luxury hotels to choose from, making it a perfect long weekend destination. A week in Dubai would be too long I think, getting around through the heavy traffic simply takes too much time. It is better to combine Dubai with a trip to Oman as we did for a longer stay.