We arrived in Abu Dhabi yesterday to a blast furnace of 45 deg hot air and dust haze from the desert. The airline limo service drove us to Dubai and the driver gave us a good running commentary of life in UAE as a "Guest worker". He said that overall he was treated very well, but for the 11 hour shifts 6 day weeks.
Today we met up with Will's friend Ron, who has purchased two apartments on the 45th floor overlooking the Palms. He had to do an inspection as the building will be finished in June and handed over to him. Well, they had the fire alarm going the entire time that we were there. We joked that after we leave they can turn it off until the next owner turns up for an inspection. Regardless, the views from the 45th floor were pretty spectacular.
We then went for a drive all through the Palms to look at lifestyles of the rich and famous who are now broke.
We went to the Mall of the Emirates where the internal ski field is.
This shopping centre was mostly designer shops and I didn't really think it had that much to offer. Robina on steriods - who needs it?
We then moved on to the Dubai Mall which is one of the largest shopping centres in the world, and largest in the Middle East. It was much nicer. It had an indoor ice skating rink and a 2 storey high aquarium, and 2 storey waterfall.
Over all shopping is cheaper here but I would say about 30% cheaper than Aus. The USA still beats it hands down, but I suspect that is because here they are really all designer shops and no Outlet shopping like USA. The taxi's are as cheap as anything, most rides $2.50 - $3.00.
We have travelled by the Metro because of the long distances between places - and so hot you can't really walk anywhere. The metro is about average 50c per ride.
We have found Dubai to be everything that we expected. It is very modern, sophisticated, clean, efficient and people are very well behaved. The ruling Arabs will not allow the "Guest workers" to ever become residents, even ones who have lived here for 35 years! This allows them to control the behaviour of people as they will take their visa off them if there is any trouble at all. People (guest workers that is - they are the vast majority) are very friendly, helpful and everyone speaks English very well. You hardly even notice that you are in an Arab country but for the Arab garb of the men and the burkas.
Today we met up with Will's friend Ron, who has purchased two apartments on the 45th floor overlooking the Palms. He had to do an inspection as the building will be finished in June and handed over to him. Well, they had the fire alarm going the entire time that we were there. We joked that after we leave they can turn it off until the next owner turns up for an inspection. Regardless, the views from the 45th floor were pretty spectacular.
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| Hotel at top of The Palms |
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| Ski field in Mall of the Emirates |
This shopping centre was mostly designer shops and I didn't really think it had that much to offer. Robina on steriods - who needs it?
We then moved on to the Dubai Mall which is one of the largest shopping centres in the world, and largest in the Middle East. It was much nicer. It had an indoor ice skating rink and a 2 storey high aquarium, and 2 storey waterfall.
Over all shopping is cheaper here but I would say about 30% cheaper than Aus. The USA still beats it hands down, but I suspect that is because here they are really all designer shops and no Outlet shopping like USA. The taxi's are as cheap as anything, most rides $2.50 - $3.00.
We have travelled by the Metro because of the long distances between places - and so hot you can't really walk anywhere. The metro is about average 50c per ride.
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| Will getting up close and personal with a camel in Dubai Mall |
