KATE'S TRAVELS: The richness of Dubai does not stop at the Gold Souk

My second day of touring started slightly later than the first. I was continuing on the Big Red Bus (BRB)…but moving to the “blue” line which included the beaches, fabulous buildings and lastly, Atlantis…the copy resort of the one in the Caribbean…a pink palace with an aquarium, dolphin experience, waterpark …all perched on the edge of Dubai’s “Palm” A man made land fill shaped like…yes…a palm tree.

Once again the Big Red Bus departed from WAFI…same things applied:

Pick a language and

Sit the heck down!

Well, I remembered so off we went.

The tour today was all beach and mall venues.

While yesterday’s tour was “old” Dubai, today would show the wealth and growth and newness. Being a history major…I can’t say today’s tour would be as “interesting” but it sure would be beautiful.

The whole bus ride today was to make our way toward "The Palm” I was happy because the winds died down and the “chill” was this made it tolerable to sit outside.

This is Saks Fifth Avenue. I just like how it looked written in another language…like it’s not pretty enough in English!

Next, we come to one of the 8 zillion 5 star hotels in Dubai. Trust me…there are tons:

Here are a few:

This is the Burj Al Arab. It is designed to look like a sail. The prices on these rooms go from $1,000 to $27,000 USD per night. Rumour has it that this is really the only 7 star hotel in the world!

If you look at the helipad at the top of the building (the round thing)…you will see where Tiger Woods drove a golf ball off the top of the building and 2 tennis stars actually played a game!

Incoming helicopter…this is an optional way to the hotel from the airport. I’m sure there is an extra charge!

If you don’t want to be in the “Sail” hotel….you can be in this one that has the “Sail” hotel as a backdrop! This is Al Qasr. Stupid gorgeous.

Al Qasr takes a page from Venice…canals and all! Each of these hotels have beautiful beaches within a stone’s throw!

This is Jumeirah Beach: The water has the loveliest shades of green and blue. I really do not have the words to describe it. Well, I have one word: Breathtaking!

The bus continued on to Atlantis: I was going to Atlantis to see their Aquarium. It is called The Lost Chambers. I’m really not sure why…it’s not big enough to get lost in…but it was a good visit.

I was greeted by “river” rays. They are tiny…and very cute.

This is a catfish! HUGE!

I was most impressed by the jellyfish! I was really working to get some great shots of them…but the little suckers just kept moving…here’s what I got:

I have actually flipped these…see the first picture? They are normally bulbous side down… If my camera had not had a low battery…I would have tons more shots.

I am forever looking for the next “best” shot. This is what I think is my best shot…2 days after I got my camera:

I love this picture…I framed this picture…I want another “untouched” picture that looks like this! I keep snapping. Thank you digital cameras! Snap, delete, repeat!

ANYWAY…I finished my tour and headed back to the bus.

We toured more malls. Ok..here’s the deal. I live in a city where we have malls. LOTS of malls. Too many malls to count. You can bet that if there is an MTR station, there is a mall close by, so I wasn’t SO impressed with the malls. I did NOT get out to see the ski slope at the Mall of Emirates. THAT might have been something.

We made more stops…and then…the bus “voice” told us to ready our cameras for what is a great photo “opportunity”

This is the Burj Khalifa…the tallest tower in Dubai…and one of the tallest in the world.

I always have my camera out…so as we moved by I zoomed in:

This is what I came up with:
I feel pretty lucky to have gotten this shot.

Take a second and open this one up. The sunlight reflecting off of the top…natural. I’m sure some camera guru would tell me all that is wrong with it…but I don’t care. I think it really speaks to what Dubai is. A desert that has been converted to an oasis and the Burj Khalifa is the centerpiece, almost the spokes-building for all things Dubai.

As part of the tour, we also got a boat tour of The Creek. I can’t say how much I think the BRB was a good value.

The tour was on an older boat, used at night for dinner cruises. I’m glad our tour only lasts an hour because quite honestly, due to the tours I had taken over the two days, I had seen a lot of the waterfront:

If you look in the bottom part of this building, you can see the reflection of our boat…it is the kind of dark line right at the top of the reflection of the water in the building.