Here's my hotel in the daylight - nicer on the inside!
And the museum - used to be a fort.
As I'm in the old town, it starts there...
You get a map, vouchers with entries for little side trips - walking tours and boat rides, etc. I'm not doing these today - have something that covers that booked for tomorrow. You also get earphones that you plug in, choose your language and volume and it gives all sorts of information about the things we pass.
There's a couple who come up while I'm waiting and when the bus arrives they hurry to get on first. We all head upstairs (it's a double decker...) and they sit in one of the front seats each. I must have looked surprised coz she asked if I wanted one of the front ones - there are only three of us on the whole bus. She did move when I said yes, but she didn't sit with him - she sat behind me. And they only had one map and one earphone - which he used.
The date trees are everywhere and are very important - not just for food, but they use the leaves, fronds, bark and all to make all sorts of stuff.
We pass through the old town - all the old souks and waterways, alleys. I'm doing more of that tomorrow. Some great little shops.
Most of Dubai is reclaimed land. (Random note)
As we get further in, I notice what I think could be the famous Burj Khalifa - until I see the real thing and there's no mistaking it! On the left...
We pass the Creek (where Dubai was originally established) and the supposedly famous golf course - doesn't mean a lot that I haven't heard of it! And down the Main Street.
Then this section stops at the Dubai Mall. It's divided into three sections - red, old town. Green, beach side and blue for marina. I stop at the Dubai Mall to see the Burj Khalifa and to get some lunch in the mall. There's an aquarium right in there!
People here tend to walk together and won't move if you're passing them - like we would normally go into single file if it's crowded - not here. They just keep walking. And now so do I - my big bag with iPad, camera and heavy stuff works wonders at clearing a path!
And a note to anyone travelling to Dubai - carry a packet of tissues with you - not all the ladies rooms have toilet paper. They do have that hose thing though...
Next, onto the green section. This is the beach section and we drive down one of the main streets...
There are lots of mosques and temples. The most well known is the Jameirah temple...
The royal family have palaces along the water to use in the summer but we can't see those. We can see Jameirah beach - a popular place for locals and tourists alike.
I want to get off at the Burj al-Arab stop but the bus doesn't seem to have a stop there - I'm guessing the Burj moved them on! So the next stop is where I hop off. This whole stretch is luxury hotel after luxury hotel! This one is the Marinet (I think).
I walk towards the Al-Arab and this is as close as you can get if you're not a customer. I had thought of doing the afternoon tea here but decided against it - I could do about four other tours for the same price!
As I'm walking I see a family - he's taking four or five shots of the Burj, she's taking four or force shots of the baby - who is in the pram! Could be in a pram anywhere in the world!
That'll be a good slide night...!
Then I walked back to the Jameirah beach stop to get a look at the famous side view...
In the summer, the temperatures can reach upwards of 48 degrees so one of the governments established these air conditioned bus stops. How cool! (Literally!)
Hop back on and we're off to the third of my must-sees in Dubai - the Atlantis, Palms. You drive up what is the trunk of the Palm, managed to,score the monorail as I took the photo. Then around the top section, with the Gulf.
The fronds of the Palm (can only really see it from above and I couldn't get that shot!) are residential villas and apartments. Different fronds are different levels of opulence and prestige. I took my next hop off here and had a wander around.
They have guards along the paths of this garden. They look like Gardeners but as you approach they ask if you are staying and if not, please leave. But my guy asked if I was alone and then said I could go up if I was quick and quiet! So in I went, doing my best to look like I belonged in there. It was very speccy!
I tried to go up one of the towers to see 'the Palm' layout, but there was a guy on duty who asked me if I was a guest and I bailed! Back to wait for the bus...
Most times I have got on, the front seat up the top has been free so I've had good views all day. Our next drive is past the marina section. These are all residential apartments, very popular with expats...
And everywhere we go there is construction going on. Dubai is one of the cities developing really quickly. I almost got tired of hearing about 'this is going to be a multi-storey complex with apartments, a hotel, 375 shopping outlets and a marina...' Or whatever the figures are. It just seems so big and just too much. But if the people keep buying and coming in...
We get to the next changeover place and I'm thinking of doing the marina section but I am tired - it's been a long day - and it turns out I couldn't do that and get back to the red line to get back to my hotel in time. So I'm a bit relieved that I'm hopping on to the green bus to return to Dubai Mall to wait for the red bus.
When we get there, I've got 50 minutes so I think I might have a look at going to the top of the Burj Khalifa. So I head over there but you have to go to the bottom floor to get the lift to the top. And you can only get to LG in the lift and there are lots of people so it takes a while. And boy, can people be pushy! Once we got into the lift, there was a Japanese girl behind me who started barging through as soon as the doors opened. I actually told her to wait her turn and she looked very surprised.
There are too many people waiting to go to the top so I can't do that - secretly very happy! But I go outside and have a look and it's a lovely place, lights and great atmosphere.
Then it's on to the red bus to head home. The streets are all lit up and look lovely.
As I get off at my stop, I get handed a ticket by the bus driver. One of the extra tickets with this bus is for the museum that's just across from the hotel. So I think I may as well go in - it's 6:15 but they're open til 8:00. So I went in and it was great! The first part was an open area with boats and houses set up from olden times.
Bad light but you get the idea. The lights top right are my hotel. Downstairs is a whole timeline section of Dubai from the beginning and through the development of the '60s through til now - it is only a very big new development. And it's grown exponentially in the last decade.
The next section was a long 'road' with little vignettes of all the vendors that would have been working back in the day and a bit of information about each - like carpenters, spice sellers, potters, jewellers, cloth merchants. Really interesting.
That's not a real man...
And a good gift shop where I found this - love it. It's three dimensional, which the photo doesn't show.
I think I might mean two dimensional... Anyway...
I had been planning to eat at the hotel - a bit unsure about walking about at night. But then I spotted something from the bus that wasn't far and I thought I'd go for it. And thank goodness I did coz I found this...
Not great for vegetarian food - Emirati food so lots of barbecue - but great atmosphere! I did have this...
Some samosas, pita-type bread that I had one-eighth of and a salad that was like everything I love thrown into a bowl - haloumi, mushroom, asparagus, beans, tomato, lettuce. It was delicious!
Interesting walk back.
Went into a shop called Lucky Kids. I'm not so sure how lucky the kid that got these would be...
Dubai day one done!
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