The weekend before the Qatar Masters, the Taylor clan decided to hop across the Persian Gulf on a short 40 minute flight to escape Doha for a few days and enjoy some time in Dubai. For those of you on Facebook, these pictures are old news. But considering this was technically our first trip since we moved here, and this is "Tripping With The Taylors", I couldn't pass up this opportunity to share our adventure.
As we approached landing, we flew over The World islands off of the coast of Dubai. As you can see from the empty islands below, this is evidence of the financial crisis that hit back in 2008 and still hasn't completely rebounded.
We're lucky enough to have family from the Taylor side that very graciously hosted us for the weekend (Thank you Mike and Carol!!!). We arrived around 10 am on Thursday morning and after we exchanged our Riyals for Dirhams, we took a taxi to the Mall of the Emirates. Among the malls 6,500,000 square feet you will find a fourteen-screen movie theatre, a gaming arena, a drama theatre, and the largest assortment of shopping I've ever seen in my life. Although believe it or not, the biggest claim to fame isn't even the shopping. The Mall of the Emirates is the location of the Middle East's first indoor ski slope, Ski Dubai. Kris was very tempted to rent a snowboard and take a few runs down the slope, but we opted to save that for another trip since we were only there for a few days.
The indoor resort features a 60-meter high indoor mountain with 5 slopes of varying steepness and difficulty, including a 400-meter-long run, the world's first indoor black run, and a 90-meter-long quarter pipe for snowboarders. A quad lift and a tow lift carry skiers and snowboarders up the mountain. Adjoining the slopes is a 3,000-square-meter Snow Park play area comprising sled and toboggan runs, an icy body slide, climbing towers, a snowball shooting gallery, an ice cave and a 3D theater.
Ever since my first trip to the Doha, I fell in love with the gorgeous lanterns that you can find all over the Middle East. I couldn't pass up this shot of the colorful display filling the ceiling of this little shop. This is also the shop where Kris purchased a pouffe for his big feet (which is an ottoman of sorts) traditionally made from camels leather. Ken and Kate have 2 which we use to prop our feet on when watching TV. But lately, Little Girl (our kitty) has decided to claim one as her own.
After we took in the sites at the mall, we decided to head over Souk Madinat Jumeirah. The Souk is an impressive marketplace featuring tons of traditional boutique shops, cafe's, bars and restaurants. It was a nice change of pace to be able to sit at a restaurant and enjoy a cold beer (or cider for me) out in public. Lucky for us, we had some time to kill before dinner and we were able to indulge in a few more beers and ciders.
View of the Burj Al Arab, the worlds only 7 Star Hotel!
Water taxi anyone? If you're staying at the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel the water taxi is the only way to get to/from your room.
Gorgeous blue skies framed the traditional motif of the souk's.
After some shopping we had a delicious dinner at The Noodle House where we dined on crispy duck and discovered our new favorite soup, curry laksa with chicken and prawns! I highly recommend trying this soup if you have a Noodle House in your area. After dinner we headed back to the Smith household for a few more drinks and lots more reminiscing.
The next day we had booked a trip with Seawings for an aerial tour of Dubai on a 9 passenger plane. But mother nature had another plan in mind. We had just finished getting ready and were about to call a taxi. Out of no where, a sand storm popped up and swept over Dubai. Right before our eyes the view transformed from clear blue skies to sand filled winds which provided practically zero visibility. Palm trees were swaying and almost reached horizontal positions... debris filled the air.... and our big plans were immediately canceled as Seawings grounded all planes for the rest of the day.
(Photo courtesy of www.seawings.ae)
This would have been the view from our Seawings adventure, but we had to postpone it until we can make it back to Dubai.
Here is the view from our taxi during the sand storm. Mind you... this is after it had calmed down a bit. We decided to head to Dubai Mall since it was an indoor activity that we could enjoy without feeling the wrath of the sand storm.
One of my favorite spots in the Dubai Mall had to be the Gold Souk. For all those jewelry lovers out there, this is the place to be. We spent most of our time wandering around doing some window shopping. The selection is endless and so are the diamonds!
I loved these fountains. They reminded me of my diving days!
Kris and I are standing in front of the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. Since Dubai does everything big, it's no wonder that the aquarium has officially earned the Guinness World Record for the world's "Largest Acrylic Panel" (32.88 m wide × 8.3 m high × 750 mm thick and weighing 245,614 kg).
If just walking through the aquarium isn't enough, you even have the opportunity to go scuba diving in the tank. Dubai Aquarium has more than 33,000 living animals, representing more than 85 species including over 400 sharks and rays combined.
The Burj Khalifa - The tallest building in the world at over 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories. After a day of staring at this monstrosity you're sure to have a crick in your neck.
While we were in Dubai, we also had the opportunity to meet up with the Shaver sisters, Katie and Lisa, who lived in the same neighborhood as the Sinapi's growing up.
Katie and her husband Matt invited us to their apartment for some pre-dinner wine. They enjoy a gorgeous view from their balcony which we immediately took advantage of upon arriving.
We decided to eat dinner at The Mango Tree, a delicious Thai restaurant which has one of the best views in the city overlooking the Dubai Fountains. I can't help but describe these fountains as the "Bellagio Fountains on steroids". There happened to be an event going on that night in the general vicinity. So instead of the traditional display that runs about every 20 minutes, we were entertained non-stop throughout the night. The fountains typically run with a set schedule of songs, but that night they threw in a few extras including my personal favorite "Thriller".
Before heading to the airport (with a short stop at IKEA), we posed for a few more photos with this picturesque background.
Until next time Dubai!
