Category: United Arab Emirates

Day 154: Dubai – Day 2

Our flight to Beijing wasn’t scheduled to leave Abu Dhabi until 9:30PM, so we requested a late check-out from our hotel to give us time to explore a few more sights in Dubai. While we were up and ready to go early in the morning, we discovered that the souks (traditional marketplaces) in Old Dubai don’t open until 10AM, so it was unfortunately already ridiculously hot and humid when we exited the subway and started wandering around the open-air markets. After an hour of trudging through the heat and constant shouting of the pashmina & jewelry hawkers, we escaped to the creek, hoping for a cool ride along the water. We paid 100 dirham (USD $27) for a 45min private boat ride up and down the creek, which was a bit too slow to be refreshing and a bit too dull to be much fun. By then it was noon, and we decided to call it a day, returning to the hotel for much needed showers and fresh clothes before hitting the highway back to Abu Dhabi where we were looking forward to pigging out and raising a few glasses of wine at the *international* terminal lounge.

 

We bravely leave the comfortable air-conditioning of the ultra-modern Dubai subway to take a walk in the blistering heat of the Old Dubai Gold Souk – a marketplace full of…GOLD

 

Window-shopping in the Gold Souk in Old Dubai

 

A fast-talking salesman quickly lures us into his shop as soon as we enter the Spice Souk, and rapidly guides us through the dozens of spices he has for sale

 

Beautiful potpourri, a fortune in saffron threads, and aromatic menthol shavings. When the salesman put some menthol on a hot incense holder and literally blew medicinal smoke in our faces, Igor was hooked and promptly bought a small jar of menthol for 50 dirham (USD $13.00)

 

Wandering through the many outdoor souks in Old Dubai, where aggressive salesmen keep shouting, “Where are you from? Germany? England? Australia?” Surprisingly, they never guess the USA.

 

Exotic atmosphere in Old Dubai

 

Taking a slow boat ride up and down the Dubai Creek

Old fishing boats moored next to modern high-rises along the Dubai Creek

 

Retreating back to the fancy, air-conditioned subway. The cars are packed during the lunch rush-hour, so Lindsay rides in the relatively empty women-only car while Igor suffers sandwiched between a crowd of sweaty men.

 

Driving back to Abu Dhabi

 

Flavors of Dubai: mosques every few miles, and we saw billboards of this guy everywhere. Unfortunately, the signs never had English translation so we still don’t know who he is. The Prime Minister maybe?

 

You’d think in a country where 85% of the economy is dependent on oil, it would be easy to find a gas station to fill up your rental car before returning it to the airport, right? It took us a good hour and a half to finally find the nearest state-run gas station, which was 20min away from the Dhabi Airport, which had a half an hour line. Guys, you’re doing it wrong.

 

Relaxing (a bit too much) at the executive lounge in Terminal 1 – a good 15min walk (and 3min sprint!) to our gate in Terminal 3

We were glad we left Dubai so early – even though we had over 7 hours before our flight and traffic was good, finding gas was a nightmare and killed a good 2 hours of our extra time. Still, check-in and Immigration went smoothly, and we arrived at the executive lounge with several hours to spare. When we presented our boarding passes to the lounge manager, she warned us to keep an eye on the time as our gate was in a different terminal and there would be no announcements. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Lady, we’ve been on the road for almost half a year now, we know what we are doing.

Famous last words.

Did you know that the time difference between Nairobi and Abu Dhabi is only 1 hour? Since we had been so busy in the last 2 days, we had barely opened our computers and had forgotten to update the time zone. Since we knew we had “plenty of time,” we didn’t think it suspicious when we reached for our third glass of wine and the clock still read 7:50PM. At 8:15PM, about 10min before we planned to get up and walk to our gate, Igor got a phone call from a UAE number. Normally he screens calls that he doesn’t recognize, but he couldn’t figure out how a UAE telemarketer could have gotten his number, so he picked up.

An annoyed voice on the other line asked him if he was Igor, and if he was in the airport. “Yes, why?” Igor asked suspiciously. “Because, sir, it’s *9:15PM* and your flight is closing. You need to RUN to the gate immediately.” FUCKFUCKSHITSHIT, HOW DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN? We frantically threw our laptops in our bags and ran like mad through the airport. When we arrived at 9:20PM (10 minutes before departure), the agent tells us the captain has already started deplanning us. “I’ll radio the captain and see if he will allow you on board, but already rejected that woman over there who arrived before you, so I doubt it.” Seriously?!? You knew we were in the airport, you called us and knew we were running over, and you couldn’t hold the plan for 3 passengers? Wouldn’t it take longer to find our baggage in the cargo area and remove it than to just let the three of us walk onto the plane that is SITTING RIGHT THERE? “You are adults, it’s not my job to babysit you and make sure you arrive at the gate in time.” Smug, useless asshat. Why bother calling us at all?

“I’m sorry, the captain has already deplanned you.” Our hearts fell. What the FUCK are we going to do now? “The next flight to Beijing is at the same time tomorrow – you have to go and collect you bags and rebook yourselves on the next flight.” Still in shock, we made our way back through the airport, and had to explain to the security agents why we needed to go back through Immigration and into the Arrivals area to collect our bag. When we arrived at Baggage Claim, the agent told us we could leave our bag there, since we were planning to take the next Eithad flight. So we exited and returned to the Departures area and starting going over our options with the Customer Service desk.

Unfortunately for us, the next flight didn’t have any Economy seats left – only Premium Economy which would require an additional $550pp charge – that’s the cost of another flight! We immediately started looking at alternative airlines, and found an Emirates flight departing at 4AM that morning for $500pp. If we’re going to be $1,000 in the hole, we may as well not kill an entire day. While Igor booked the flight and tried to contact Expedia to see if we could get a refund on the missed flight, Lindsay navigated her way back down to the Baggage Claim area to pick up our backpack.

We were able to save a small bit of money on the transfer back to Dubai, as Eithad let us take their complimentary shuttle, however, the guy sitting directly in front of us got motion-sick halfway there and puked on the bus floor. Tired, disgusted, and frustrated, we ran out of the bus as quickly as possible when we arrived at the Eithad office in Dubai around midnight. There were only 2 taxis nearby, and we dashed to the second one as if our lives depended on it – we are NOT missing a second flight!

Unfortunately, we had already exchanged all of our UAE dirhams for Chinese yuan in Abu Dhabi, and the taxi didn’t take credit cards. In our first stroke of good luck, the taxi driver allowed us to pay him with an American $20 bill, which was super nice as the exchange rate wasn’t really in his favor. We checked into our Emirates flight (the manager at the counter was very pleased to hear that they had stolen a customer from Eithad), and made our way to our gate. Only after we had carefully verified the correct time and confirmed that we had a full hour before boarding began, did we allow ourselves to go upstairs to the executive lounge, which was thankfully located directly next to our gate. We ate as much of the free food as we could – we now have a $1,000 deficit in our budget that we need to make up somewhere…

 

Checking in to our new Emirates flight in Dubai. We very carefully confirm the time and gate number of our flight, before cautiously allowing ourselves to grab a second dinner in the executive lounge, which was right next to our gate

 

Squeezing every penny of enjoyment out of our unexpected $1,000 flight to Beijing

Day 153: Dubai – Day 1

As we are on a tight budget for our Year Trip, we couldn’t afford to stay in one of the world’s most expensive cities for more than two nights, so we had only one full day and one half day to pack in all of our sight-seeing. After a big, egg-sandwich breakfast we headed out into the city to start checking off our list of must-do attractions. Our first stop was the Mall of the Emirates. As we rode the subway (although it wasn’t really a subway, as it was above ground), we marveled at the high-tech cleanliness of the city – we felt like we were visiting a glittering, futuristic New York. Just like in Kuala Lumper, the subway stop was (thankfully!) connected to the mall entrance via an air-conditioned walkway.

 

Waking up to a great view in our high-rise hotel room, while Igor cooks us breakfast

 

Exploring Dubai via subway

 

The Dubai subway is so clean, modern, and thankfully air-conditioned. Lindsay spotted a virtual grocery store in one of the stations – if only we had these in NYC!

When we got to the Mall of the Emirates, we headed straight for the #1 item on Igor’s bucket list: Ski Dubai – an indoor ski resort in the middle of the desert! It may be 38⁰C outside, but it’s a chilly -1⁰C inside! After looking at the price options, Lindsay decided to forgo the snowboarding as she’s very picky about her snow quality and didn’t feel the Dubai snow was powdery enough for her. So Igor took the GoPro and headed up the mountain solo for his 2hr time slot, while Lindsay wandered around the mall.

 

Dubai LOVES its malls – the AC is a sanctuary from the stifling heat! But it’s not all about shopping – the Mall of the Emirates is home to one of the fewer indoor ski resorts in the world – Ski Dubai

 

It’s 101⁰ outside in the desert, but Igor dons his snowcap and thermals to hit the slopes! Unfortunately, the website failed to mention that gloves are not included in the rental gear, so his poor hands were freezing by the end of the morning

 

It’s still morning, and the mountain is practically empty, so Igor has the snow to himself

 

Lindsay waits outside the theme park and waves as Igor goes up the chairlift, and catches a glimpse of him shredding the pow

 

While Igor was snowboarding, Lindsay explored the mall, doing some grocery shopping and thumbing through the new Harry Potter at the bookstore

Once Igor got out of the mountain, he and Lindsay hopped back on the subway and headed for the Palm Jumeirah – one of three man-made archipelagos in the shape of a palm-tree off the Dubai coast. The second Atlantis Resort is located at the top of the islands, and although we didn’t have time to visit the water-park, we did a quick walk-through of the aquarium and took a short break outside for lunch, before hopping in a cab to our next destination.

 

The heat was so intense when we exited the mall, the camera lens completely fogged up as Lindsay tried to snap a picture of Igor crossing the subway tracks!

 

No matter how tired we are, we’re going non-stop today – jumping on the monorail to visit the man-made archipelago, the Palm Jumeirah

 

Atlantis! Are we in the Bahamas? Nope – it’s the mega-resort’s second, lavish property in the Middle East

 

The Ambassador Lagoon is the largest open-air fish tank in the Middle East, with over 65K types of fish, rays and sharks

 

Admiring the fish in the Ambassador Lagoon, at the Palm Atlantis

 

Since we’re backpackers, we’re too poor to buy lunch at the Atlantis Resort, so we crawl miserably out into the oppressive heat, walk out of the hotel parking lot and find a tiny patch of shade on the empty boardwalk to eat our packed lunch

 

Cheapy, cheapy! Eating hard-boiled eggs and oranges for lunch outside the Atlantis Resort

We really wanted to visit the Burj Al Arab – the world’s most luxurious hotel – Igor even considered booking us a room, but at USD$1K+/night, it was WAY out of our price range. We tried to get as close as possible, hoping there was a way to walk onto the property to check out the lobby, but the hotel was on another private, man-made island which was only accessible to guests. So we snapped a picture from the nearby mall before heading back to the hotel for a short break.

 

More malls! Igor starts to lose steam as we visit the Souk Madinat Jumeriah – a small mall built to resemble a traditional “souk” or market-place, but with the added benefit of air-conditioning. After an ice-cream pick-me-up at Baskin-Robbins, he is ready for more walking

 

A gold-bar ATM?! Only in Dubai! We would have liked to buy one, but the machine was SOLD OUT

 

We had hoped to visit the Burj Al Arab – the world’s only “seven-star hotel”, but it is only open to registered guests, so we could only view its unique architecture from afar

 

Window-shopping in the Souk Madinat, we found so many lovely items – tea sets, chessboards, lamps and fabrics – once again, we found ourselves wishing we could buy souvenirs on our Year Trip

 

Catching a cab back to the Shangri-La Hotel where we had a 2hr break before heading out again. Lindsay took a dip in the nearly-empty hotel pool while Igor took advantage of the super-fast Wifi to upload the last of our Africa photos

Our hotel helped us book a 6PM ticket to the top of Burj Khalifa – at 2,700ft and 163 floors, it is the world’s tallest building. We usually don’t go in for this type of thing (we skipped the Petronas Towers in KL), but we figured once we’ve visited the tallest building in the world, we’d never have the desire to pay to go up another tall building again. We headed up with plenty of time to see the sunset, and since there was no time limit once you were at the top, we hung around to see the city lights at night.

After spending a good hour and a half at the top of the Burj Khalifa, we finally headed back down, caught the Shangri-La’s free shuttle bus from the mall back to the hotel, and retired for the night. Whew!

 

THE Dubai Mall – where guests can buy tickets to visit the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world

 

As we scanned our tickets, one of the guides points out the 125^th floor observation deck to us

 

The elevator to the top went dark and featured an LCD display on the walls during our 45sec ride to the 125^th floor – we traveled at 33ft/sec, but barely noticed we were moving!

 

With the hazy summer heat, the view of Dubai from the top of Burj Khalifa looked pretty smoggy

 

Beautiful chandeliers and fancy ceilings inside the Burj Khalifa

 

Igor standing by the window, and Lindsay on the observation deck, waiting for the sunset

 

Trying to snap a few pics on the crowded observation deck required some aggressive tactics as many selfie-snapping Millennials were hogging the windows – one girl was seriously sitting in front of one window pane for over an hour, taking multiple pictures of herself wearing a fedora!

 

Since the sun set at 6:45PM, we knew we wouldn’t make it down in time for the fountain show, which happens every hour on the hour. Since we were exhausted and hungry, we didn’t want to wait for the 8PM show, so we just stayed at the top and watched from above

 

Dubai night-scape, from the top of Burj Khalifa

 

After seeing the Burj Khalifa lit up for the night, we finally got into the elevator and made our way down to the ground

 

One final stop at the corner grocery store for some fresh cheese for our second pasta dinner in our hotel room