We had a lot planned for the day; “hop on hop off” bus tour (which has two routes: City & Beach), trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa and many other points of interest. Notice I said planned… our day started out with a shuttle ride to the Dubai Mall where we would pick up the “hop on hop off” bus tour then come back to the mall for our 12:00 entry into the Burj Khalifa. When we got to the Mall, we were dropped off at a different location and no one new where to get the bus… tried to put us on some cable car tour. The guy that was with us took us into the mall and explained where to go, we grabbed a map off the mall and we were off… well not so fast… first thing we see on the map… “out of respect knees and shoulders should be covered” luckily we had long shorts on and light jackets in our back pack… clothing adjustments and now we are off. “Well this should be easy a couple of left turns down an escalator, then a couple right turns and we will be at the bus stop… uh NO! Did I mention that the Dubai Mall is the largest Mall over 1000 shops on 4 different levels and who knows how many different entrances. We finally make it to the tour bus, but not enough time to do the route and make it back for our entrance to the Burj. No worries, we’ll walk back through the mall to the Burj and walk around the fountain outside until it’s time to go to the top… Holy Crap it was hot! We could only be outside long enough to take a few pictures of the Burj Khalifa.
Selfie at the top...
Going to the top of the Burj was a trip, the Burj is the tallest building in the world at 2,038 feet and it has the fastest elevator in the world, 40 mph to reach the top in 35 seconds 124 floors to the observation deck and there is more above this floor! Standing in the elevator if your ears weren’t popping you would have no idea that you were even moving! Those of you that know me know that I am VERY afraid of heights, but I did it, I got off the elevator and walked around the observation deck and even managed to walk up to the glass and look down a couple of times… Yikes The day was hazy so the view wasn’t the best, but we could see plenty. Looking down was something else!
We spent the rest of the day on the “hop on hop off” bus tour, learned some interesting facts… due to the heat the government of Dubai established a policy that all bus stops need to be air conditioned so the residents and tourists would be comfortable while waiting for a bus. (otherwise no one would take public transportation)
Some of Dubai skyline
Jumeirah Mosque
The famous Burj Al Arab Hotel was something to see, we could only see it from the outside, it is extremely private and exclusive, you are only allowed on the man-made island if you are staying in the hotel. This hotel is the only hotel that claims to be a 7 star hotel, they have a tennis court at the top of the hotel… outside of the hotel… on a round platform that sticks out from the building… no fence along the edge, who in their right mind would play tennis up there!
Burj Al Arab from Burj Khalifa observation deck
The tennis court at the top... borrowed from Google images
The wealth in Dubai is obvious, but especially at the Dubai Mall, Lamborghini’s and Ferrari’s line the valet parking at the mall and is packed with people shopping in Cartier and other incredibly expensive shops.
People at the mall
After a very busy day it’s back to the airport to catch our flight to Cape Town - South Africa.
Cheryl and I are deliriously tired, our bodies have no idea what time zone we are in… since leaving our house on Saturday afternoon we have only slept one night in a hotel room
Just, wow!
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