Month: January 2017

Hi Lovelies! Happy New Year from the beautiful city of Dubai. You may be thinking I am in Dubai right now. Actually, not really but one year ago to the day I was celebrating New Year from Dubai. I decided to wait till now to share my experience with you. Dubai is a beautiful place to visit and I was only there for a day but I want to share my experience my experience with you, my lovely and wonderful readers.

We left for Dubai on the mid-morning of December 31, 2015 for a close to 9 hours trip. We flew from Dulles International Airport. We flew by Emirates and went by Dubai timeline to celebrate New Year in the plane. At midnight UAE time, the flight attendants came by wearing the New Year hats wishing up Happy New Year. To be honest, this was the very first time in my life, I ushered in the new year above international water. My dear wonderful readers, during my visit to Dubai I have taken the time to take deep breath and take time to observe my surrounding. The result was to enjoy the moments even more and creating lasting memories.

I were in the hotel by 9:00 am. I took a little time to freshen up and relax after the long trip. After that we went to the lobby and booked one of those guide tour to show us around the city. We highly recommend this as it will allow you to enjoy various part of the city with guided tour. Each hotel have various package deal, you have the option from 2 to 6 hours tour and even a desert tour. We visited various part the city including: Burj Khalifa, Burj al-Arab, Dubai Business Central Twin Towers, Emirates Park Towers Hotel & Spa, Jumeirah Emirates Towers HoteI, Dubail Mall, Al-Farooq Mosque, Jumeirah Beach, Atlantis the Palm, Palm Island and so on. I am also glad that we took a guided tour because even on January 1^st it was in the mid to upper 90s in there.

Burj Khalifa: Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, standing tall at 829.8m (2,722ft). Burj Khalifa was designed by Adrian Smith, then of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), whose firm designed the Willis Tower and One World Trade Center. Hyder Consulting was chosen to be the supervising engineer with NORR Group Consultants International Limited chosen to supervise the architecture of the project. The design of Burj Khalifa is derived from patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture, incorporating cultural and historical elements particular to the region, such as in the Great Mosque of Samarra. The Y-shaped plan is designed for residential and hotel usage. A buttressed core structural system is used to support the height of the building, and the cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai’s summer temperatures. I was literally awestruck when I first saw the building ground up. It is humongous.  I tried to take picture of the entire structure from ground up and failed miserably. The building was too tall.  To me, the picture does not do justice.

Dubail Mall: This mall is located at the foot of the Burj Khalifa and stretches across 1.1 million sq/m, it is the world’s largest shopping, entertainment, and leisure destination. There are 1,200 retail outlets, from Armani to Zara, or visit the Dubai Aquarium, children’s theme parks and the Dubai Ice Rink.

Burj al-Arab: It is a luxury hotel. It is a five-star hotel, the highest official ranking. While the hotel is sometimes erroneously described as “the world’s only seven-star hotel”, the hotel management claims to never have done that themselves. It is also the fourth tallest hotel in the world. This beautiful architecture, designed to mimic the sail of a ship, is on an artificial island 280m (920 ft) from the Jumeirah Beach. The building stands tall talk 321m (1,053 ft).

Jumeirah Beach: The glorious Jumeirah Beach lies along Dubai’s coast, providing stretches of soft white sand on which to relax and play. Our tour bus dropped up off their for 20 minutes to enjoy the view of the ocean and take pictures. It was very hot. It was the dry heat that made it hard to stand there. I stood near the water to enjoy the water a bit but the sand was very hot. We took the time enjoy some beach time. I enjoyed every moment of it because I knew that I couldn’t have done that in the east coast on January 1^st, with temperature in the 30s.

Al Falrooq Omar Bin Al Khattab Mosque: The mosque is named after Umar bin Al Khattab, a companion of the Prophet Mohammed who became the second Caliph after Abu Bakr and was given the title Al Farooq, meaning someone who distinguished truth from falsehood. It was a very quiet and serene place to visit. I am always fascinated by the European and Islamic architecture. We stopped and spent 10 minutes absorbing the environment and taking picture.  It is a beautiful place to see and the mosque is so beautiful. There are inscription in the walls, which are Ottoman inscriptions inspired by the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and had an Andalusian touch.

Atlantis the Palm: Set on the iconic Palm Jumeirah island with views of the Arabian Gulf, this luxurious resort is 14 km from Wild Wadi Water Park and 15 km from Mall of the Emirates. The island is a man-made island in the shape of palm tree. The island consists of a tree trunk, a crown with 16 fronds, and a surrounding crescent island that forms an 11 kilometer-long breakwater. The island itself is five kilometers by five kilometers. It adds 78 kilometers to the Dubai coastline.

Gold Souk:  The souk is located in the heart of Dubai’s commercial business district in Deira, in the locality of Al Dhagaya. The souk consists of over 300 retailers that trade almost exclusively in jewelry. One thing that I have learned about buying gold from Dubai, if you really want to buy gold from Dubai from gold souk then you really to haggle to get the best deal.

Dubai Museum: Finally, we ended the trip with visit to the Dubai Museum. It is the main museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is located in the Al Fahidi Fort. When entering, one can see the fort constructed and the various displays that go along with it. From the fort, there is a path to the galleries, which display the general culture of the land, especially in the 1800s. It includes local antiquities as well as artifacts from African and Asian countries that traded with Dubai. We did not enter the museum but sat outside and enjoyed the outside view.

Overall, I always recommend to use guided tour to visit various places at Dubai. I know one day was not enough to visit Dubai. Next time, we will be there longer and enjoy more. Until then, we really enjoyed our day at Dubai. If you ever get a chance take a stop over at Dubai and take a guide tour of the city. A friend of mine did the same on her way to Australia.

I hope you enjoy the post as much as I loved writing this. Don’t forget to check out my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram @allaboutme3181.