Dubai, UAE

Dec 7 - 11, 2019

Dubai, a city of extravagance and extremes. The development over the past 50 years is absolutely mind-blowing. The government took big risks with massive investments in city development and it paid off. We were in awe of everything Dubai had to offer. There is still tons of construction happening; Dubai is not done with its development, there’s a lot more to come. The World Expo 2020 should be spectacular. I hope clean air is part of Dubai’s development plan. Currently, the air quality is really poor.

Day 0 - Arrive in Dubai

Day 1 - Dubai Mall

Day 2 - Desert Safari

Day 3 - Dubai Neighborhoods

Day 4 - KidZania & Fly Out

Voyagers tips: Minimal cash needed for tips, credit cards are accepted in almost all places. Rent a car to get around. Driving is easy and the roads are wide. Parking in malls is free with validations.

Day 0 - Fly to dubai

Uber X was discontinued in September, only Uber Select and up is allowed. So Uber cars are mainly Lexus ES.

Staying at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort with my Marriott points. The lounge serves up good breakfast and dinner.

The view from our balcony. We look out to the ocean, but see lots of buildings built on man-made islands.

Got to find time to enjoy our beach.

We can see Palm Jumeira from here. Can't quite make out the palm tree shape from this angle though.

We made it to Dubai!

Day 1 - dubai mall

dubai mall

dubai fountain

burj khalifa

The Dubai Mall is more than just the world’s biggest mall at 1.3 million square feet. The area includes the world’s tallest building, largest shoe store, the largest indoor gold market, and an indoor skating rink to boot. Never been so excited about visiting a mall!

dubai mall

The grand entrance to the mall.

Indoor aquarium, right inside the mall. We just admired it from outside.

Candyliscious. The girls’ eyes lit up like... well, like kids in a candy store.

The food court is massive.

Indoor ice skating rink, full size, right in the mall.

The iconic Dubai Waterfall in the mall. We added a diver to the mix.

We went to Logma on third floor to try Emirati food and enjoy the view of the fountain.

The lamb was delicious. The sweet vermicelli (balaleet) wasn’t my cup of tea.

The view from our table was great. It’d be even better during fountain shows.

Level, it’s more like a shoe district than a shoe store. You can find all kinds of fancy name brand shoes here.

We found Megan's next pair of shoes.

My niece Alyssa Lai loves her moon boots. These $3000 limited edition boots with Swarovski crystals would be nice stocking stuffers. I provide the pictures, her bf can do the rest.

How do you pronounce this? Ass-hole-line??

Mall taxis to take people around in the massive mall... for a fee.

Gold Souk, the largest indoor gold market in the world. Lots of bling here.

This 150-million years old dinosaur from Wyoming is surprisingly complete. They bought it and brought it here to display right in the gold souk area. Is this a mall or a museum? Yes.

Plenty of GIA-certified diamonds to choose from.

Huge nutcrackers. Decorations in this mall are impressive.

Borders, they still exist? Is this the last Borders store in the world? They seem to sell mainly souvenirs.

The food court underground isn't as massive as the one on 2nd floor.

Din Tai Fung, right by the fountain. Good location.

This mall really is massive!

Voyagers tips: Download the free Dubai Mall app to help you navigate through the mall. For the mobility challenged, they also have “taxis” inside the mall. For those using Uber, be careful — The drop-off area and pick-up area are far apart, don’t assume the pickup area is where you got dropped off. You can easily spend a whole day here, visiting the mall, the fountain and Burj Khalifa all in one day. The entrance to Burj Khalifa is inside the mall. The stores from ground level and up are upscale, whereas the stores on “underground” floor are much more affordable. Naturally, the underground floor is also the most crowded.

dubai fountain

The fountain show is spectacular. Day and night shows have different feels to them, it's definitely worth seeing both.

The outside of the mall, starting with the fountain, is a nice place for a stroll.

Burj Khalifa is lit up at night.

Dubai Fountain is located right next to the mall. There are two fountain shows during the day, and many more at night. The light show on Burj Khalifa is only shown at night, of course, and can be seen from the same places where you can see the fountain show. Both the fountain shows and light shows are amazing.

Voyagers tips: Download the Dubai Fountain app to easily see the next show time. There are alternating light and fountain shows in the evening, the app also clearly indicates which one is which.

burj khalifa

Walking towards the elevator

Nice views from up here.

Many people here on the 124th & 125th floors.

An angel got her wings.

We each tried the VR experience on Burj Khalifa 125th floor. It’s a mission-impossible-style game where you climb up Burj Khalifa on the outside then jump down. A cool addition to the experience.

Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, is a work of art and an engineering marvel.

Voyagers tip: The base price gets you to 124-125th floor for roughly $40 USD. The next level is $100USD and gets you to 148th floor and includes afternoon tea. The high price means exclusivity and less crowd. The highest accessible level, 154th floor, costs around $165 USD and gets you VIP treatment. Groupon offers skip-the-line passes but don’t offer kids prices as discount, so it ends up costing more if you have kids in your party. Many reviews complain about the long line. Sunset time costs more. Here’s a tip — Book the earliest cheap price time slot right after sunset and show up 15-20 minutes early. No one is willing to pay the premium price for the last slot after sunset, so that last premium sunset slot is usually empty. If you show up 15-20 minutes early, they’ll let you up. Viola, no line going up. The VR experience is worth the extra $6 USD if you buy the combo ticket. Last tip — There are two ticket kiosks to the right of the ticket counter. Order tickets online and go to the kiosks to collect your tickets, allowing you to bypass the ticket line. Most people don’t know about the kiosks or can’t find them and end up waiting for the ticket line in addition to the entry line. Don’t make this mistake.

Day 2 - desert safari

The head wrap, or ghutra, keep the sand out of your hair. It can also cover your face in a pinch.

We head off to our desert safari.

Can you tell who’s who?

Arabian oryx in the desert reserve.

Cartwheel time!

We cruised around in a classic Landrover.

This falcon trainer shows us how people used to capture wild falcons and used them to hunt in the winter. They now breed them and keep them year-round.

Once the falcon’s eyes are covered, they no longer avoid things around them.

The camp site where we settled in for dinner, entertainment and a few activities.

Brewing Arabic coffee the traditional way. The entire dinner is prepared the traditional ancient way.

The big pot where they cooked rice.

Bread, made like crepes.

Camel time.

Camel ride! It was getting dark.

The girls join in for some music fun.

The meal was great. We had lamb, camel meat, chicken kebab, traditional bread, wheat cream, and many other dishes.

The lamb was delicious and tender. Camel meat was tough.

The girls got some henna tattoo.

Warm camel milk. It was different from cow milk but I can’t quite describe what made it different.

Arabic shisha. Had to smoke some just to try it out.

Henna tattoo after they washed off the paint.

They have overnight tours where you can sleep in these cabins. We didn’t stay overnight though.

We went on a desert safari with Platinum Heritage. It was great seeing the desert reserve, experiencing Arabic food and performances, and enjoying a falcon show. We had a great time!

Day 3 - Dubai neighborhoods

old dubai

burj al arab

the palm jumeira

dubai marina

We explored the other must-sees in Dubai, the old and the new.

old dubai

There are several markets (souq) in Old Dubai.

The sand art here is amazing.

Many spices available. I just wonder if tourists really buy spices while they’re traveling.

A big gold souq. All the jewelry is guaranteed by the UAE government, smart move on the government's part to instill buyer confidence.

Gold dresses!

Old Dubai is notably less glitzy than new Dubai.

The Dubai Creek separates Old Dubai (north) from new Dubai (south). These boats shuttle people back and forth.

We got a glimpse of what Dubai was like before the glitzy new developments.

burj al arab

Burj Al Arab, self-proclaimed 7-star hotel, is the most famous and most expensive hotel in Dubai. Shaped like a sail boat and built on a man-made island, only guests can go onto the island to visit. We could have shelled out $1,700/night for a basic room or $24,000/night for the presidential suite. The $160/pp afternoon tea is another way to see the inside. We decided to admire it from afar... for free! Sunset Beach is a great place to see Burj Al Arab.

the palm jumeirah

The main road feels just like a regular road, with impressive buildings on both sides.

The palm tree island is enclosed by an "outer crescent", which also houses many hotels, restaurants and shops.

This nice walkway spans along the entire length of the outer crescent and is a great pedestrian path for walking and jogging.

You can see the main Dubai land from the edges of the outer crescent.

Palm Jumeirah is filled with mainly hotels, shops, restaurants and private residences.

The very end of the right side of the outer crescent.

Doing some acrobatics.

you can see Burj al Arab and Jumeirah Hotel from here.

Construction is still very much ongoing on Palm Jumeirah.

Atlantis hotel, on the outer crescent, is the largest one on Palm Jumeirah.

The rocks are breakwaters protecting the island from large waves. They’re also fun to hop around on.

Help! I’m falling and I can’t get up!

Trying to prove to the kids Ivan is not too old.

The tunnel that connects the outer crescent to the main island.

Palm Jumeirah is part of a larger series of developments called the Palm Islands, including Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, which, when completed, will together increase Dubai's shoreline by a total of 520 kilometres (320 mi). Unfortunately, due to the financial downturn back in 2009 time frame, construction of other palm islands were halted indefinitely, and Palm Jumeirah is the only island that’s completed. It is a real engineering marvel.

Voyagers tips: There’s a bridge that leads to Palm Jumeirah. Everyone can get onto the island, but you really need a car to navigate through and truly appreciate it. The island is big!

dubai marina

A was really craving popcorn and we finally found the popcorn stand. Of everything we did and saw today, the popcorn was her favorite part of the day!

Does it look like Ivan's kicking the palm tree?

Dubai Marina is an entirely man-made marina. In order to create the man-made marina, the developers channeled the waters of the Persian Gulf into the site of Dubai marina, creating a new waterfront. We just saw it as a great place for an evening stroll.

Voyagers tips: If arriving by car, you can park in the Marina Mall parking lot. The mall itself is fairly small by Dubai standard and isn’t that special. The marina is where the you should spend your time. Dinner cruise around the marina is also popular here.

Day 4 - kidzania

kidzania

fly to taiwan

It was going to be a long day… we checked out in the morning, and our plane wasn’t until 3:40am the following morning. We had a leisurely morning with a late check-out, then went to KidZania in Dubai Mall where the kids could have fun. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner in the food court and headed to the airport for our 8hr flight to Taiwan, followed by a 2hr bus ride to Taichung, and a taxi ride to our airbnb. Yup, long day.

kidzania

The concept of kids trying out various professions is fantastic. The execution could be improved, however, as it felt a bit disorganized for visitors.

Firefighters. I suppose it would've been too risky to actually let them fight fire. Bummer.

Learning how to be ambulance first responders.

Riding around in an ambulance.

Dentists in training.

Chocolate factory. Where's Willy Wonka?

Ashlyn the DJ.

Delivering packages.

Using the day's earnings to buy some toys. The toys were crappy, but the kids got their sense of pride spending the money they earned.

KidZania, where the girls tried out various occupations. They tried out being a firefighter, dentist, DJ, hotel cleaner, pilot, ambulance responder, package delivery, etc. they even made yogurt and ate it. Cool place! Wish they had more realistic pay scales though… hotel cleaners, DHL delivery people, pilots and dentists all make the same amount of money…really??

Voyagers tips: Save money on tickets by buying them online at places like Groupon UAE.

fly to taiwan

We had dinner at the mall and headed to the airport. Found this mall taxi on our way out. Too bad it had no power.

A Pinocchio store that sells only Pinocchio products. Cool!

We've been taking full advantage of our PriorityPass membership at all the airport lounges. This one in Dubai airport is no exception.

Going to Taiwan, YEAH!!!