Farewell Brilliance~Hello Dubai

21 Nov Monday: We were docked when we got up and our first view of the day was the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. After breakfast and email we were off the ship quite fast. However, then things came to a sudden stop as we got to the “taxi line” such as it was, not really a line at all. It was a mass of slightly irritated people descending upon the few taxis that quickly whisked in and then just as quickly back out with their new found fares. Soon, as is human nature the mass pressed forward to the small gate and the taxis were stopped by those people who overtook them for departure. Needless to say there was some turmoil and heated comments. John got forward and secured us a taxi but I so wonder about those elderly people waiting in the sun, for who knows how long, to get a taxi. It is a shame there was no organization with that aspect of things. I suspect more taxis were on the way for the lucrative business of the day.

We were to our hotel (US$14+plus tip+bags), checked in, and on our way by free shuttle to the Dubai Mall to catch the HOHO bus by 10:30am. Our hotel is nice and seems large to us since we have been on the ship for 18 days!  We were checked in early without even asking.  Unfortunately, Wi-Fi is not free as I thought, but it is reasonably priced.  On our little shuttle from the hotel we met 3 people from Laguna Beach, CA. They had vacationed in India (I believe they were from India) and the flight home routed them through Dubai so they stayed 3 days as well to see things here. On to the mall, and the HOHO (known here as the Big Bus). We bought a two day pass and a night pass as well to see the various points at night with the fountains at one of the malls. It was not too hot to be outside under the canvas top for the tour. There was a nice breeze as we went along past the various sites on the blue route. The Persian (Arabian) Gulf waters are a beautiful turquoise color and the white sand beaches of the Jumeirah public beach looked quite inviting, despite the lack of trees. We had good photo opportunities at the Burj Al Arab Hotel (which is supposed to look like a sailing ship) along the route. We passed a really fun looking water park called Wild Wadi, if we had kids, we would go there and forget the views of the skyscrapers and malls, which the UAE seems very proud to promote. We passed the lovely Jumeirah Beach Park, which features one day of the week for women and children only. This route on the bus also took us out on the Palm Island, to the tip of the island where you find Atlantis on the Palm, a very posh place housing another water park, a dolphin experience, and Atlantis experience among other things. Since none of those things were included in our ticket we decided not to get off. We did get off at Mall of the Emirates to have some lunch at one of the food courts. Lots of choices, I am sad to say John had KFC, I had a Lebanese lunch of chicken and salad, with several extras that I didn’t eat because I was full. I didn’t know it came with soup, bread, and dessert when I asked for the chicken and salad. The soup was good, tasted like some sort of white bean soup but it was just too much food. The price of the food was very reasonable. I got this huge meal for around US$5 including a diet coke (the only sugar free drink I could recognize). We were stunned later when we bought an ice cream to pay US$7-8 dollars each! It was a learning experience anyway, This mall houses Ski Dubai and we wanted to take a look at that. The mall was huge but the ski area was not nearly as large as I thought it would be from any vantage point we had. They do have 3-4 ski runs but they are more or less side by side, complemented by the snow play area. It is impressive but does look rather artificial with formed and packed snow, not “fluffy” snow to make snowballs with. They way they have it organized one must decide to eat in one of the surrounding restaurants in order to get a really good view of the slopes and play area, but we managed to take a few photos. Back on the Big Bus to the starting point, the Dubai Mall.  We wanted to get some walking in so we did so in this mall.  There is a gold souk we wanted to take a look at but in reality it is simply one jewelry store after another, not a traditional souk.  As you can guess the my interested in a mall, and John’s as well, diminished rapidly.  We did walk quite a bit and then took a taxi back to our hotel.  The free shuttle for the hotel is apparently just once a day, 10:30am to the mall and 3pm back to the hotel from the mall. We didn’t attempt to make it on the shuttle but took a taxi back later. We were told the taxis are good and inexpensive, but we got a dishonest drive who took us in circles a but and then tweaked the exchange rate, US$5-6 so we know now.  John and I both sensed he was taking us in a couple circles! 

We are tired tonight and not hungry after our big lunch either.  John has a couple little boxes of cereal from the ship so he went to the restaurant downstairs and bought a glass of milk for us to share on the cereal in a coffee cup provided.  We miss Johnny and Joey our waiters on the ship!!!  I will post this sometime tomorrow.  Too tired to figure it out tonight.