Currency:
United Arab Emirates Dirham (Dh or AED)

Highlights:
Seeing the tallest building in the world, catching up with more mates

Our Adventure:

Dubai is surreal - you really do feel like you've stepped into someone's man-made dream - and in a sense you have in that Dubai has become a reality of several sheiks' dreams. It has a reputation for being the city of superlatives - for the fastest, biggest, tallest, largest and highest, Dubai is the destination.

Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. It is rather like an independent city-state and is the most modern and progressive emirate in the UAE, developing at an unbelievable pace in the tourist and trade sectors especially. A relatively new tourist destination, Dubai has been gaining popularity in recent years trying to promote itself as the business and entertainment capital of the world until the global economic crash of 2009. It is essentially a desert city with superb infrastructure that has become popular for its excellent tourist amenities. Just 5 hrs from Europe and 3 hrs from most parts of the Middle East, the Near East, and the sub-continent of India, Dubai makes a great short break for shopping, partying, sunbathing, fine dining, sporting events, etc.

We arrived in Dubai bright and early after a long 11 hour journey from Perth (at least this time it was overnight). Our mates that we were staying with, Audrey and Ben, kindly came to pick us up from the airport and we set off for their apartment in their awesome big Ford Explorer. On the way there, they filled us in on life in Dubai (they have been living there for 2 years) with all its interesting customs and rules. Some of the ones they have said are a little harder to get used to are:
• Their weekends are Fridays and Saturdays (not so conducive for those Sunday footie games!).
• Although Dubai has somewhat liberal policies (by regional standards), there are still certain customs which need to be observed such as dressing appropriately, no public displays of affection, not living together until you are married (although a lot of them get away with this just pretending to be married) and a strict alcohol policy (more below). In some cases, disobeying some of these laws can result in imprisonment and deportation.
• Alcohol laws:
• Alcohol is available only at licensed premises, usually attached to hotels.
• Alcohol is not sold on religious holidays, nor during daylight hours in Ramadan (even to non-Muslims).
• It is illegal to drink alcohol in public places, and there is a zero-tolerance policy on drunk driving.
• Alcohol can be bought only for home consumption at certain outlets in Dubai, and an alcohol license is required. Supermarkets only stock non-alcoholic beers. Even food items containing alcohol are not sold in supermarkets.
• There are lots of ex-pats living in Dubai and a large portion of them are South Africans so they get around the above by stocking up on alcohol when coming through duty-free at the airport and driving over an hour to get to dodgy shabeen-type places that will see to them.
• Alcohol is also very expensive in Dubai (approx. GBP 6 / bottle of beer) and one of the ways that they deal with this is through some serious Friday brunch sessions where food and drink are all-inclusive.
• Expats living in Dubai also have to observe all the religious holidays. For example, eating in public during the holy month of Ramadan is prohibited from sunrise till sunset (don't think I would do so well with this one!).
• Dubai also has strict procedures for any long-term commitments such as renting an apartment or taking out car insurance. These usually have to be paid for for the whole year upfront and since not many people have this type of cash on hand, they have to take out a loan from the bank. This exasperated the credit crunch issue over recent years as so many ex-pats had these big debts to pay off and when they lost their jobs, many of them had no choice but to flee the country leaving behind un-paid rentals and cars. Audrey and Ben even showed us a big field where the police are keeping all the abandoned cars (although apparently the government still denies the existence of this issue despite the obvious evidence to the contrary).

Unfortunately we only had a day and night to cram in as much sightseeing as possible but Audrey and Ben did an excellent job as our tour guides as we managed to fit in the following sights:
• Old Dubai - we just drove past this area when coming from the airport but could see how different it is to modern Dubai. We also drove over the creek. The remaining sights we saw (listed below) were all found in new / modern Dubai.
• The Dubai Mall - the largest mall in the world which was opened in November 2008 and contains an indoor ice rink and indoor aquarium (which you can even go diving in). It is right next door to the Burj Khalifah. We think we may have jinxed the aquarium though as we were discussing what would happen if the mall were to spring a leak - and the day after we left Audrey told us that this is exactly what happened and the mall had to be evacuated - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/02/25/2010-02-25_massive_quarium_in_dubai_mall_springs_leak_causing_evacuation_of_shoppers.html.
• Burj Khalifa - this is the building world we were most excited about seeing as it is the tallest building and stands an incredible 160 floors and 828m high (making it over 300m taller than the previous contender in Taipei). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010 but unfortunately the viewing deck has since been closed for maintenance as they have had a few issues (such as some people getting stuck in the lift near the 124th floor - imagine!). It houses 1,044 luxury apartments, 49 floors of offices and a 160-room Armani-branded hotel and there is a Las Vegas-inspired fountain in front of the hotel. Interestingly, this building was originally called the Burj (meaning tower) Dubai but was renamed as Burj Khalifa after the emir of Abu Dhabi (and president of the United Emirates) who bailed the building out of its significant construction debt.
• The Dubai Fountain - at 900 ft in length and sporting a jet that shoots water up to 500 ft, the Dubai Fountain is the world's largest dancing fountain and we got to enjoy the show later that night (that comes on every half hour).
• Burj al-Arab hotel - this is the only 7 star hotel in the world (although not sure how much this counts as they did award it to themselves!). This striking sail-shaped building is a symbol of Dubai and rates start at over US $700 per night. There is a bit of a conspiracy theory surrounding the shape though as apparently it was designed by a Christian architect and from across the water, the shape appears to be more a cross than a sail which you can imagine does not go down well with the Muslim population. We had a lovely walk on the beach next to the hotel and were unfortunately just a little too early for sundowners at the 360 Degrees bar.
• Dubai Marina - this is one of the newer and more popular areas of Modern Dubai, both with residents and tourists. It offers numerous features such as a phenomenal skyline, world class hotels, a fabulous beach, a mall, and 2 different walkways (The Walk and Marina Walk) with coffee shops, restaurants, and shops. Marina Walk is right on the "Marina water", and there are many yachts there.
• Palms Islands - these three largest artificial islands in the world are located just off the coast of Dubai- a major urban development to add a significant amount of upscale beachfront property to the area. Each of the islands is shaped like a palm leaf, with a trunk connected to the mainland, fronds extending from the trunk, and a crescent (a breakwater encircling the trunk and fronds). Of the three planned, the Palm Jumeirah, at 5km square and near Dubai Marina, is the only one yet open, connected to the mainland by a freeway bridge and a monorail and sporting marinas, luxury resorts, and upscale shopping areas.
• Atlantis the Palm Jumeirah - an opulent hotel designed by South African Sol Kerzner in a similar design to Atlantis in the Bahamas. This hotel also contains a big impressive aquarium although it is somewhat shrouded in controversy due to one of its residents, Sammy the whale shark (the hotel has apparently agreed that the aquarium is too small for him though and should be releasing him soon). We had lunch at Nasimi Beach which was an awesome little spot at the hotel (wish we could be there for the full-moon party this weekend!) and I had some of the best sushi while Shaun had one of the biggest burgers ever.
• Mall of the Emirates -this used to be the largest shopping mall outside of North America until the Dubai Mall came along (and there is definitely a strong sense of competition between the malls with each trying to outdo the other with bigger and better facilities). We had a drink at the bar Apres overlooking the indoor snow skiiing centre where Audrey and Ben have been going for snowboarding lessons in -3 degrees Celsius!

After our action-packed day we headed back to Audrey and Ben's apartment in the Greens for a quick Portuguese shower before getting picked up by a taxi and collecting their friends Sam and Mike. We went to dinner at the Left Bank restaurant - a really vibey spot with a great view of the fountains - where we enjoyed a few beers and glasses of vino alongside a great meal and lots of laughs.

Our jet lag ensured we crashed into bed as soon as we got home - although only for a few hours as we had to be up early again the next morning to jump on our flight back to London.

You can check out our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=393999&id=713415257&l=729cfdb3d5

And so completed our incredible journey. One last blog is to follow shortly in the form of our final thoughts…

Cheers,
Lara + Leise