24 05 2010

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24 05 2010

Slept really well and went down for a delicious breakfast. Our first day proper in Dubai began. Unsurprisingly it was a hot dry clear day about 40 degrees.

We went to the air conditioned Dubai Mall where we had unfinished business. Apparently this is the biggest mall in the world. After 7 minutes of walking from the hotel we were there. The place has every shop and brand from around the world you can name.

We found ourselves buying a ticket for the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. We found out it was started in 2004 and finished this January. The lift to the viewing gallery takes 60 seconds and my ears popped twice on the way up. Once at the top you have a panoramic view of the city below and can see it from outside (very hot) and inside. Even nearby tall buildings were dwarfed by the Burj. People looked like ants and you could see for miles except for the heat haze. It is obvious more building work is being done around the city which will be stunning when all done.

On our return to earth we began looking round the shops, every top designer was there and a few that surprised me, e.g. Hamleys, Marks and Spencers, Debenhams, Bloomingdales, Harley Davidson, etc. Even took a few photos of Dubai accessorize for Sam. Hope you like?

It was amazing to see so many shops. There was also the famous gold souk with rows of jewellers, watch manufacturers, a lot of the items cost a big fortune. There was an amazing waterfall with sculptures of men diving into the water. On one of the floors was a full size ice rink, the place was literally stunning.

We ended up getting Wendy some pearls for her birthday and had a go at bartering. I started off by saying I am a poor man with 6 hungry children to feed, I am out of work and a wife with an appetite for the finer things in life…. They laughed and I got discount for amusing them.

We were in need of a sit down so looked at the 22 cinemas to see if there was a film that appealed. We settled on Robin Hood with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, an entertaining enough film which whiled away a couple of hours.

After that we found ourselves in the aquarium. We had a go in a glass bottom boat and got to feed the fish. Then we had a look round at the amazing range of fish, this also included penguins, otters and small crocs.

There were some pretty fish and some scary sharks with rows of teeth a variety of rays, catfish, and a whole load of fish I didn’t know.

We realised we were starving by now so grabbed a Nandos to sustain us before we headed home and had a restorative cool drink of something we had put by.

What a busy day but great fun. Oh no tomorrow is the penultimate day aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

What a wonderful place Dubai is.

Wendy and Phil.

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