Dubai Malls

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Dubai Visit - Introduction


The Gulf Countries invoke an image of oil-rich, arid, desert countries populated by traditional, Muslim people. Mostly this image is true, but Dubai is an exception. It is NOT oil-rich and the society is the most cosmopolitan that I have seen, and the desert is enlivened not only by the short date palms but also by tall, chrome-and-glass skyscraper buildings which are tantamount to Prosperity.


(Dubai is clean but not very green. I could not find a single tree more that 20 feet in height, whereas in India, trees more that 50-60 feet high are fairly common. The world’s tallest trees are, of course, the Redwood trees of California.)


This prosperity is the result of the ruling Maktoum family’s unbroken bloodline of capable leaders. They had the vision and the ability to convert this arid country into what Dubai is today.


Incidentally, the Gulf is called Persian Gulf. The Arabian Sea stretches right up to the India’s west coast. (BTW, how are the different bodies of water named? By whom? Why?)


In fact, Dubai was just a pearling village. The discovery of Japanese ‘cultured’ pearls in 1930’s spelt a doom to the pearling industry in this region. The pearl-divers were without a livelihood.


Some people can turn adversity into opportunity.


The Ruler of Dubai wanted to build a castle. He employed the former pearl-divers to build the castle of Shindagha. It was a win-win situation. He was happy and they were happy.


Dubai was a “nine days’ wonder” for me because I spent nine wonderful days there. It is a good thing that I came back before it became boring.


I suppose this is enough of an introduction to Dubai. Now Iwill write about Dubai malls because that is what Dubai is famous for.

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Festival City Mall


The Festival City is one of the swanky malls in Dubai, though it is not a ‘themed’ one. You can see for yourself how swanky the place is from our photos.


It is quite a pleasant mall. It is going to be a ‘city within a city’ when fully developed.


They also organize ‘Promotions and Events’ frequently, basically Sales tricks played upon the unsuspecting public.


We were the gullible victims of such an Event at the Festival city. The link below will give you more information about it.


http://www.dubaifestivalcity.com/news_eventdetails.aspx?eid=20


We wandered into an aisle and came across a very beautiful display of silver cutlery and tableware. However, the most beautiful object among all that clutter was the decorative, dark blue velvet tea-cozy.


Other bright red or golden yellow or sparkling white-and-green dish-covers adorned the table.


“Oh, just look at that blue tea-cozy!! Isn’t it a darling?” I said to Avi. “And oh, how lovely those covers are! Come to think of it, they look fit to be the crowns of the kings.”


Avi was reading the descriptions of the display on the placards.


“They ARE crowns of the kings” he said with a straight face.


“Now, now, don’t you go on pulling my leg. What the crowns would be doing on a dining table amongst all this cutlery? Would the kings eat the crowns in times of dire necessity a la Charlie Chaplin in ‘Gold rush’?” I asked sarcastically.


That particular scene from the movie Gold Rush, where a starving Charlie Chaplin eats his boot ceremoniously is a classic tragi-comic scene -- never forgotten if you see it once.


“You are too vain to wear your spectacles in public and then you can’t read and also don’t believe me when I read something aloud to you.” he said vexedly. “So, take out your glasses and read.”


Well, he is, sort of, right. I do NOT like to wear glasses in public and so, most of the times I just pretend that I am able to read without the specs.


However, now I had no alternative but to take out my specs from my handbag and put them on. Reluctantly I did it and read the descriptions.


Avi was not pulling my leg. They WERE crowns of the kings, some were original and some were replicas.


Unhappily I took off my specs and remembered my first blurred vision of a dark blue, velvety, sequined tea-cozy, which I had almost decided to buy.


Sometimes, clear vision is not a blessing.

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Ibn Battuta Mall


“‘Themed malls” is something Dubai had to invent because the competition between the malls is so fierce.


The first thing we did as soon as we entered the Mall was to purchase a handicam at the ‘Jackey’s, which Avi used extensively later.


I am giving below the link which gives a good idea about the mall.


http://www.ibnbattutamall.com/


Ibn Battuta was a great traveler. He traveled an incredible 75,000 miles in 14th Century. (Several journeys starting from 1325 A.D. till 1355 A.D.) He traveled by camels, ships and perhaps by horses.


Just imagine how many frequent flier miles he would have got if he had the means to travel by plane.


The Ibn Battuta Mall has paid homage to this great traveler by building a mall of six pavilions, reminiscent of 14th century Royal Courts of the major countries that he visited.


Mind you, these were not the only countries that he visited. For example, there is no ‘Timbuctoo Court’, which he had visited.


Thus we have China Court, India Court, Persia Court, Egypt Court, Tunisia Court and the Andalusia Court in the mall with matching décors.


Let me correct that sentence. It should read as ‘matching decors as imagined by the builders’, because in India Court, the ‘Houda’ or the ‘Ambari’ on the elephant has two dragons supporting it.


Dragons are decidedly NOT a part of our folklore or mythology. They are associated with China, not India.


There might be such anomalies in other courts too.


However, a mall does not have to be very authentic. In fact, it can’t. How else would you place Starbucks coffee shop right below the Persian Court’s dome or a McDonald’s or KFC in the food-court ?


Once I decided that authenticity is not the strong point of the mall, I started enjoying its beauty.


It IS a beautiful mall, and the architecture and the décor of the Courts is breathtaking.


Some of the Courts are larger than ‘Lifesize’. I am giving below the link to the famous ‘Court of Lions’ at Alhambra in Granada, which Avi had visited and you can see for yourself how much better the copy looks than the original.


http://www.udel.edu/ArtHistory/CourseGallery/images/NeesW18Rulers06.jpg


All the courts are beautiful, but I liked most the China Court with its lifesize model of a Chinese junk. Unfortunately for me, there was some promotion going on in that court called ‘Fitness First’ and the decibel level was beyond my tolerance, so we beat a hasty retreat and came out of the mall.


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Madinat Mall is another ‘themed’ mall, the ‘theme’ this time being the Arabian Souk.


The location of the Madinat Mall is its plus point. It is situated very near the shore of the Gulf, though the beach (being private) is not accessible unless you are staying in one of their hotels.


You also get fantastic view of the 7-starred ‘Burj-al-Arab’ hotel from the Madinat Mall.


Madinat Mall is built around an artificial creek and the atmosphere of old Dubai is faithfully created. Again, it is not ‘authentic’ but you are thankful that you don’t have to depend upon the ‘wind-towers’ to cool you but the air-conditioning does the job.


Inside, it is a big ‘Souk’ with its typical ‘covered’ walkways and Aladdin’s treasures spilling out of the chests of the shops everywhere - carpets, crystal, leather goods, textiles, silks, wooden carvings you name it.


The atmosphere of the medieval Arabian Nights is so real that I could see a slave-auction in my imagination at the end of the alley.


“Look at this magnificent specimen, fresh from Africa. He can lift an ox. Going at five thousand Dinars. Do I hear six thousand Dinars there?”

Five Thousand Dirham (same as Dinar) ? Wow!!! This kind of sum is not be to sneezed at.


I looked speculatively at Avi. How much will he fetch if I decided to auction him off? He BELONGS to me after all, right?


But the thought of parting with Avi was so painful that I decided not to sell him. Moreover, he earns more than 5000 Dirham per month, so it was not a financial viable proposal anyway.


I dropped the idea.


As we were roaming in the mall, we came across a man doing calligraphic paintings of names for a fee. He was such an expert and doing it so fast that Avi took a video of him painting our names ‘CHARUAVI’, which we had ordered.


It is one of my prized possessions now.


Later we also visited the ‘real’ malls like Deira City Center and Festival City as well as ‘real’ Souk like the Gold Souk but did not find anything worth buying.


About the Gold Souk : Dubai is also known as ‘The city of Gold’ and the Gold Souk has a great variety of very attractive designs, but you are expected to bargain there.


Bargains put me off. I can never bargain to my satisfaction, because I always have a sneaking suspicion (no, conviction) I have been taken for a ride.


So, only those who have confidence in their bargaining power, should buy at the Gold Souk.


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The Mall of Emirates (Ski Dubai)


We do not associate snow, ice or sleet with a desert. In fact, we think that finding ordinary water in the desert would itself be a miracle.


However, money can do anything. It can even create an artificial ski-resort inside a mall.


The Mall of the Emirates in Dubai has performed this miracle.


In Dubai, there are more than 36 large shopping malls and innumerable small shops, selling everything from pins to planes. Truly it is a shoppers’ paradise.


So, the malls really have to vie with each other to attract customers. They have to introduce some distinctive feature to claim the attention of the customers.


Otherwise, one mall is just like another and when you have seen one, you have seen them all.


So, there are ‘honest-to-goodness’ malls in Dubai and there are ‘themed’ malls, which have décor according to the theme, but all the same, sell everything at slightly higher prices.


The Mall of the Emirates has one distinctive feature i.e. Ski Dubai.


The opportunity to experience snow as well as to ski, snowboard, Toboggan and in general, wallow in the snow, is such a novelty in this region that hordes of customers (tourists as well as locals)

make a beeline to the mall, though it is situated a bit far.


The entry fee is rather steep, but includes the rental of clothing and the equipment.

The socks become your property once you have used them, but gloves you have to buy separately.


I would advice visitors to buy the gloves because the jackets that are provided do not have any pockets. You cannot warm your hands by putting them in the pockets.


I, personally, had no great attraction for the snow. I have had too much of it in the six months that I had spent in Detroit last year. So, I started to grumble that why we should PAY for walking in the snow when we can do it for free in Detroit.


“Just chill” said Avi with a grin.


So, that is what I did. I chilled, literally and figuratively.


So, equipped with socks, boots, jackets, gloves and cap for Avi and scarf for me, we stepped inside the Ski Dubai.


My grumbling changed to admiration when we saw a majestic dragon sculpted in ice. It kept on changing colors from red to green to blue due to the clever lighting.


I have always liked the ice-sculptures, even the ones that we see at every wedding in Mumbai.


There was an ice-bar with sculptures of bears, squirrels, birds and penguins adorning it, where we drank hot chocolate. A very enjoyable experience indeed!


We took a general round of the facilities and had a general ‘dekko’ at ski-runs and toboggans.


There were skiers skiing expertly down the five runs. At the baby-slope, some people were learning to snowboard and toppling in the snow in the effort.


The ice-slides were enjoyed by the children to the maximum extent. They were in the queue for the next run as soon as they finished one.


“Do you want to toboggan?” I asked Avi.


“No.” he said decisively.


“Oh, have you got cold feet?” I teased him.


Thus challenged by me, he had no alternative but to prove his masculinity and toboggan down the slope. However, he put one proviso: he would do it if I did it.


I WAS scared, but I did it and to my surprise, even enjoyed it.


My biggest fear was that I will not be able to get out of the tire-tube that the toboggan consists of, so I had asked Avi to be ready at the bottom of the slide to give me a hand. He did it but not alone. He was ably assisted by the operator.


We were quite ‘chilled’ by this time. Avi was rubbing his ears every now and then because his cap did not cover the ears. My scarf too was thin, so we decided to call it quits.

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