We met downstairs at 8:30ish and checked out. I left three of my four bags at the hotel for two days. We got a cab and headed to the bus station.
On the way I realized I had left my phone charging in the hotel we turned around and went back.
Got to the bus station at 9 sharp, hopped on the bus to Dubai, paid 15AED each and the bus left 2 minutes later, as soon as we sat down.
It was an uneventful bus ride. We passed a mosque here, a camel racetrack there. Most of it was desert.
At 10:20 we passed through Jumeira, a city in the Emirate of Dubai. The city is right on the border of the desert. Just desert, desert, then BAM! Skyscraper. We'll be back here tomorrow, when we go skiing and to Burj Al Arab -- speaking of which, as we passed through Jumeira, on the left we saw Burj Al Arab, and then on the right I got a perfect glimpse of the outside of the skiing place, Ski Dubai.
At 10:30 we passed Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. We would return later, but we got a few pictures nonetheless.
My first impression of Dubai - oasis. The desert sits right next to the city, and the city is incredibly colorful and vibrant. The buildings are brand new, and the grass (yes, there is grass) is a perfect green. The water in the fountains is crystal clear, the glass of the buildings shimmers in the sun. And then there's harsh desert terrain right next door.
We got off the bus at 10:55 in Dubai and the bus station. We got a cab and for 11.50AED we found our way to the Golden Sands Hotel Apartments.
We checked in at 11:30, and made our way to room 216. Walked in to the apartment. It was a good size apartment, with two sofas, a big bed, a bathroom, a tv, a washing machine, a fridge and freezer, a microwave, a stove, pots and pans, and a coffee pot. It was a mini house -- and this was the cheapest room I could find in Dubai.
We went to a supermarket nearby and got some snacks, and came back to the apartment for breakfast at 12.
We rested inside for the hottest time of day until 2:45, when we went to the Dubai Museum on Dubai Creek -- got there by a private taxi that the hotel has. Luxury mom-mobile at the same taxi cost.
The museum is built under an old fort, and costs 3AED apiece (less than $1). It wasn't worth much more than that. Just old pots and a little history of Dubai. The most interesting thing was the population increases. In 1969 the population was 59,000. In 1977, 207,000. Today, it's well over a million, maybe 2. Wow.
Next we walked towards the Bur Dubai Souq, a market next to the water taxi across to the other side of the creek. We wandered through some back streets and found the souq. Immediately it was like Morocco again. We were everyone's friend, until we walked out. Everyone wanted to talk to us.
The Dubai market was clothing-oriented, and Veronica spent the time trying to find a scarf. I got one too, as a present for a friend -only 20AED ($5.50) which, considering this is one of the most expensive places on earth, is pretty good.
We took a water taxi to the other side of the creek, into Deira. We wandered around for a while, through what we wanted to be the spice market, but what turned out to be more like the gold market. We saw the world's largest gold ring! Really, it was certified by Guinness.
I got two really miniature hookahs, one for me and one for a friend.
When 6pm rolled around we headed back. We got on a water taxi and went back to the scarf shop, to our friend Jalie, from, where I got another scarf, this time for my mom. Then Jalie spent a good 20 minutes talking to us about the differences between our cultures; about how children in the USA leave the home and don't come back, and in Afghanistan they stay with their parents and support them. How in the USA we have public displays of affection, but in Afghanistan they know that if you truly love someone you don't need to show it to the world, just to each other in the privacy of your own home.
At 6:30 we booked it back to the apartment to drop off our stuff and head to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (in fact, the tallest structure in the world).
7:04 we left for Burj Khalifa - we were going to take the metro, but we decided instead to take a cab, as it was going to be no more than 25 dirhams ($7).
We arrived at 7:15, and tried to get inside. We were turned away, being told that we were in a restricted area, and that the entrance to the top (which is aptly named "At The Top") is through the Dubai Mall, the worlds biggest mall, right next door.
We found our way to Dubai Mall, and got a quick snack to break our Ramadan fast to hold our stomachs for a while before dinner.
At 7:56 we arrived at Will Call for Burj Khalifa for our 8:00 reservation. We gave them our online receipts and they gave us tickets. We went inside.
The building is a self-guided tour, and everyone needs an appointment to go up so, unlike the Empire State Building, there were virtually no lines. We waited for maybe 15 minutes after a long leisurely walk before they let us into the elevator to the top. While we waited, we watched an educational video - 828 meters high, concrete weighing the equivalent of 100,000 elephants, elevators at 10 meters a second, etc.
We timed the elevator; 140 floors in 1 minute and 4 seconds.
The views were breathtaking. It was just after sunset and so you couldn't see forever -- and we couldn't see Burj Al Arab, the Palms, the World Islands, or Ski Dubai (though we could make out the outlines of all of them, and I could see pretty well if I strained my eyes). But the feeling of being that high up, in the tallest building in the world, of seeing the full expanse of the Dubai Mall from above, of seeing the Dubai Fountain, and the city skyline that didn't exist 20 years ago-- that was incredible.
We went down at 9. We walked for a bit through the mall, when we stumbled onto an aquarium. It was a huge aquarium, with sharks, stingrays, fish galore, and even a diver. It was incredible. There was even a tunnel where you could go under the water, but it was 25AED, so we opted out.
We left the mall before 10, and got a cab back to the hotel.
At 10:30 we went to grab dinner at Lebanese Village, a front-desk recommended restaurant, near the apartment.
The food was alright, the hummus was amazing, and the lamb tongue (yea, I had lamb tongue) was half decent. And it was a little too expensive.
We got back a little after midnight and hung out for a bit before we went to sleep.
I slept on the bed and Veronica on the couch. We went to bed at 1.
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