Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 18 - Friday May 27th 2016 - Dubai, UAE

So today was busy, seriously busy and as I write this blog up we are both shattered but really glad with what we have seen and done today and I just hope that I am able to convey some of that excitement on the blog to look back on one day.

It all started with a bit of a rush! We set the alarm for 08:00 this morning but after taking too long over a leisurely coffee up in the room the clock suddenly seemed to have forwarded at the speed of light and before we knew it we needed to really start motoring.

We headed down to breakfast eating hardly anything and we certainly did not take in what was on offer, next it was a speed walk across the mall to the metro station to catch the metro to The Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world and we were going to the top (well as high as you can go).

Rushing to the metro everything seemed eerily quiet at the station, we were greeted at the ticket barriers with a tensator pole blocking access (seriously in London you have floor to ceiling grids of steel, in Dubai a retractable tensator pole….that’s it. Its presence was significant though as it meant that there were no trains! After about five minutes of doubting this whole situation thinking really/ no trains? Why? All became clear…..today is Friday and this is like a Sunday, in other words it’s the most religious day of the week and things don’t get going until later and the first train into the station was not going to be until around 10:36 we were told. As we had to be at the Burj by 10:45 this was not going to work so we took to the streets (after having already bought a gold pass for the metro all day, this means that you get to travel in the posh seats with two armrests!!). Luckily the first taxi that we stuck our arm out for stopped and sped us across the bridges and seven lane carriage ways to the Dubai Mall in all of about five minutes flat. Suddenly we had caught back all the time that we needed and at 09:50 we were sat in Starbucks , latte in hand in The Dubai Mall……phew.

We walked down to the access point for the Burj and we were greeted by an Arab man decked out in traditional dress, the whole white sheet suit and red headscarf with the black band around with regimented facial hair to match. At our allotted time of 1100 we were ushered into a most luxurious waiting room and offered dates with various coatings of sugar and such like and a beaker of traditional Arabic coffee. We declined both having just had a Starbucks and waited to be ushered once more put of this room. We had booked sky access for this trip which meant that we would be going up to the 148th floor. Most people only go up to the 124th floor (it is a lot cheaper to do) but as this is our first time it felt right to go up as far as we could even though the ticket cost more than out hotel stay here in Dubai.

As you head out into the tunnels and bridges towards the Burj, pass through security having everything scanned it hits you just how stylish this whole experience is. The finish and the décor and the promotional stuff is A1 quality and laden with style. The corridors are all finishes of black from matt to gloss with really clever lighting details and graphics showing the architects initial thoughts on how they might build this amazing tower. As we waited to catch the first lift to the 124th floor the progress of the lift is projected on the mirrored stainless steel lift doors like a countdown really building the drama. These Otis lifts are the fastest in the world to taking less than 60 seconds to get to the first viewing platform.

The motif of the burj is its footprint, like three leaves dissecting each other and they use this symbol everywhere. Once inside the first lift the jet black theme continued with cut outs of this symbol used from floor to ceiling. Beads of light would shine through this pattern from floor to ceiling with cut in video screens playing back Arabic images, so hard to describe but the lift was more Dr. Who Tardis than lift, just totally different.

Once we were on the 124th floor we were taken straight to another lift that would take us up as high as we could go. This lift did not have all the craziness going on inside but before we knew it we were there, at the top, the sky floor as it is known and wow…. wow, wow, wow.

What hits you first before the view is something that looks like an airport first class lounge, all designer seating and sofas and handmade rugs. The ceiling detail was magnificent, cave like but with manmade contours, this was style on overload. We were offered a complimentary drink and handmade chocolate then we made our way to the floor to ceiling windows and drank in the scale of the city of Dubai that unfolded below us.

As you walk around and look at Dubai from the towers 360 degree vantage point what hits you the most it how close it is to nothing but sand and sea. Dubai looked so narrow from up here, as if you could cross ten roads from the Gulf and find yourself in the dessert just like in Las Vegas. As you are up in the tower of the building you can walk all the way round the building seeing as far as he Mall of the Emirates and Palm Island. There is even a small balcony that lets you take in the outside air; you certainly don’t need to suffer with vertigo as you look over the edge straight down to the toy town below you.

We have talked about the amount of building going on in Dubai in a previous blog and from up here in the Burg you really get a sense of the scale of the ambition of this city. Along with all the buildings that are going up everywhere you can also make out all the potential building plots in the sand waiting for the cranes and predominantly Indian builders to arrive on site and send another towering wall of glass towards the skies.

Having filled up on the views from up high we got back in the lift and went down to floors 125 and 124. The same views just a little closer to the ground and with a much bigger external balcony to stand out on as you are now in the wider part of the Burj. We posed for some green screen photos that make us look like we are walking along a steel construction beam and losing our balance, all good fun and we bought them as a little bit of tack from our trip. As we made our way down back to floor level and into the mall once again we walked past the story of the Burg. Three of the floors have no function other that providing a place for all the services to go such as electrical supply power bases and water distribution tanks etc. The rest of the floors are made out of the Armani Hotel (seven stars apparently), private residencies and offices, be they cost a few quid!

Back down on Terra Firma we walked around the mall for a bit killing some time as we were waiting for our friend Matt Baron to arrive from Abu Dhabi. Amazingly we actually bumped into him just as he arrived into the mall and we headed to the food court for a bite to eat and a catch up. Matt was not alone, he bought a new friend with him that he had met on his travels in the Lebanon. We talked about his plans on finding a job out here, our travel plans, all the normal stuff and we could have done this all afternoon but time was pressing as we still had more of Dubai to see on the short time that we have here so we said goodbye and went on our way…. Matt if you ever read this sorry our time was so short, especially as you came all that way to see us. Hope you enjoyed your day in Disney Dubai!

It was back on the Metro system for us as we made our way out to Dubai Marina. It’s quite a distance from the Burj to the marina and it makes you wonder why it’s so far out. The Marina area is just as striking as the centre, all modern and high rise with waterways cut in between the tall buildings full of moorings for very very expensive boats. Firstly, the one thing that you notice is that they all have a motors…no one sails here so yes they all are floating gin palaces as the saying goes. The promenade is lined with cafes and restaurants and there is a real mix of architecture. We walked for a good hour or so in the burning sun and we were drenched so we had to take some solace in yet another mall for a drink and just to cool down for a bit. We found ourselves drawn to the Waitrose that was in this mall and walked up and down the aisles auditing their stocks. You could really live home from home here food wise (well if you shop at Waitrose). Makes you sick when you think of the choices on Gran Canaria.

Refreshed and hydrated we walked some more of the marina taking in the shapeshifting skyline, the boats, the ferries and the ambiance of the place. If we had more time I think it would be great to come down here in the evenings with all the restaurants around the place. It’s the first time since being in Dubai that we have stumbled across anything remotely residential as this does feel lived in, a community space that people actually live in full time, average price for a two bedroomed flat overlooking the marina? It will set you back around £500,000.00

As we came to the end of the inland waterway and rows of parked super boats we headed for the tram to take us along to Palm Island. The man made structure built out of sand in the shape of a palm tree and at its head the famous Atlantis hotel.

You have to change trams to get onto Palm Island and I have to say that they do not do themselves any favours in appearances (very undubai) as the way to the monorail station that travels onto Palm island is through a multi-storey carpark, hardly impressive at all. Whilst we waited for the monorail to come in we had views along the beautiful white sandy beaches back to the marina and up to the Burj Arap Hotel (looks like the spinnaker tower in Portsmouth but without the legs). The shallow waters around the beaches were littered with crazy jet skiers and leisure craft all parked up, literally about thirty boats bobbing up and down in the gulf showing off their boys toys to the world.

Finally, it was time for our monorail to leave the station and we set off onto Palm Island. The Island itself is a real mixture of private residencies that are flats then top end luxury houses all complete with their own private piece of beach and then the hotels that are also located on the island. It’s still very much a work in progress. Some arms of the palm were still completely empty whilst others had part constructions of million dollar houses that might not ever be lived in. Dubai is a tax free country on personal wealth so an address here is worth it.

As I said the head of the island takes you to the Atlantis hotel and its world famous waterpark where you can slide through tunnels into aquariums full of sharks and fish and coral reefs, very impressive indeed. The hotel is like a big pink Moorish Architectural Disney Castle with a big arch right through the middle of the hotel.

We walked along the boulevard and nosed around the hotel a little but to be honest and quite rightly unless you are a hotel guest you are not allowed into too many of the areas. One thing we did gawp at was a GOLD vending machine, yes you read that right an actual gold vending machine that dispensed real gold bullion bars……Dubai crazy yet again.

It was back on the monorail and ultimately the red metro line to the Dubai Mall once again for us as we had a date with a fountain! On the way back on the metro we watched the most incredible sunset, the sky really did glow orange and it was quite mesmerising. Next time we shall come and watch it at the Burj Arap as Michael and Martin (our friends form the ship) had suggested as I’m sure it would be absolutely stunning.

We arrived back at the Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall and went for something to eat (Mexican tonight) but just a main course this time as what with walking a lot today and the heat our appetites have defiantly levelled out again which is a very good thing indeed.

The reason we were back here again though was because we wanted to see The Burg Khalifa at night and to watch the dancing fountain show at night as well so at 20:30 we along with another few thousand people all gazed out to the lake to watch the show. We were really lucky actually because as we exited the mall the whole Burj was lit up with LED lights showing the name of the developer and owner of the mall from top to bottom. Now that sounds crass when you write it down but honestly it really was quite beautiful. We only caught it for about ten seconds as then it changed to twinkling lights and never came back on again but we managed to capture the moment in a photograph so I think we were actually quite lucky.

The fountains danced tonight to Whitney Houston singing ‘I will always love you”. Honestly it is beautifully done, and a great example of what computers can do. The backdrop to the show is the many other skyscrapers of Dubai and it’s as if everything you look at is a twinkling light, honestly maybe you have to be there but it really is quite beautiful.

So one observation and its certainly not intended to be racist in the slightest but today you could of thought that you were travelling in India. Not because of the architecture or the sense of space or any feeling of place but because of race. Dubai is really full of Indians, and I do mean full of Indians. As today was a religious day there was a serious lack of Arabs around the place but the Indians were like ants. Please don’t judge me for stating this, it’s not a race thing just an observation and one that you could not escape.

Show over and we headed back to the hotel via the metro, there was still work to be done.

As soon as we got back to the hotel we headed to the concierge desk and asked for a box, a cardboard box so we could pack up our dinner suits and Trevor’s casualty shirts (yes those ones that don’t fit him anymore) and send them back to England. I was also after a softer pillow as I had a really bad sleep last night and needed my cuddle pillow.

Luckily the hotel came up trumps with both and we set about going through our suitcases to see what we could send back and be sure that we would not need them again this whole trip.

Job done and we were really tired. It had been such a long day out in the heat since we dashed through breakfast and now we both needed sleep. I’m sure that the zzzzzzzz were coming from both of us within seconds of turning the light out.