Asia trip: 3 days in Dubai

And here it is! Our dream and well-planned 3 months trip around Asia is here. We stayed for a night in a bit shady Katowice hostel and in the morning headed off to the airport. Stepan seemed probably suspicious to a lady at the counter and got two unknown stamps on his boarding pass without any explanation. When we asked what it means, she just said “control” and it really happened. Luckily everything was alright, only Stepan’s bag must have been packed again.

We survived 5 hours in a plane and didn’t know that a journey from the Dubai airport will be almost the same exhausting. The United Arab Emirates must show their richness in the beginning so even the clocks in a hall are a Rolex brand with a very significant logo. We found a bus even though we were confused and got in. After 30 minutes we had to get off and change for a metro that hadn’t been already operated 😀 and all tourists from the airport didn’t know where to go. Fortunately, we met Tonda from Ostrava who flies through Dubai very often and he knew what bus to take. After 2 hours in a crowded bus (people were just getting in on 99% of the stops and the rest were going to the final stop) we got to our final destination. Tonda offered us a little tour and even though it was 2 am we gladly accepted it. Later he took us to a local bistro because all of us were hungry after a difficult journey. What else to try than local food – kebab. And we did eat well, we thanked for valuable advice and said bye. To our booked Al Khoory Inn Hotel we got around 3 am, but we were falling asleep during pray announcement after 5 am.

Day 1

We are going to stay 3 days in Dubai and so logically we divided our stay into 3 parts. Our first day was in the sing of the highest buildings, the largest shopping centres, dancing fountains and driverless metro. To see Burj Khalifa in real is beautiful. We still can’t believe how big the building is even after seeing it from almost every angle. It is really giant. We felt like in a dream, sitting on a bench and watching the highest building in a world turning all of its lights on. One of the moment we will remember for a long long time.

When we were not admiring Burj Khalifa we wandered around the world’s biggest shopping centre. You can find an aquarium with sharks and rays there, beautiful “waterfall” and in case you fancy ice skating this option is also here. There is everything you can imagine. No wonder that the whole shopping mall is as large as 18 football fields.

Right in front of the shopping mall, you can enjoy a dancing fountain. The show is every half an hour, starting at 6 pm. You don’t have to worry about being able to see the show properly, there is plenty of space to watch it. But if you want to be reeeeally sure there is an option to buy a ticket to see the show from floating panels. We didn’t need to. On our way to the hotel, we just bought some kebab as a takeaway and were really pleased with our day.

Day 2

For our second day we planned to see the Miracle Gardens. A journey there is quite complicated so we headed off. From the metro, we saw Dubai Frame poking to the sky. It is a structure with an amazing view that was finished recently.

We were thinking about going there on our first day here, but the visibility was terrible and we weren’t really sure if it is worth it so we didn’t go. When we saw it this time we had quite a spontaneous moment and we decided to completely change our day plan and just get off to see it. We are so glad that we did it. It is no Dubai without seeing at least one viewpoint and if you don’t have enough money for visiting Burj Khalifa, don’t worry! This one is pretty good as well!

We expected the only viewpoint but it is much more than that. It is divided into 3 parts and right at the beginning, one guy is explaining the whole concept of the building. You start in the museum of Old Dubai that represents first part – the past, then you are taken by elevator 150 meters above the ground to the viewpoint floor with 360° view of Dubai – the present. Lastly, on the ground floor, there is a big screen with a presentation about how Dubai should look like in 50 years. We were amazed by the whole experience so we didn’t mind to pay 10 pounds for it. We spent a lot of time there so no more for Miracle Gardens and we headed straight to Dubai Marina to see the beach.

From there right back to the hotel to pack everything and prepare for our last half day in Dubai where we need to head off around 8 am to see also Deira part of the city.

Day 3

Our plan is to visit Deira. You can get there by boat for only 1 AED. Despite the fact we were 30 minutes late we managed to do everything that we planned. Museum of Dubai – with tons of tourists, boat to Deira + a spice and gold market. There we had a lot of attention of course. We were called by a lot of names, but Shakira and Jack Sparrow are our favourites, hahaha. We stayed strong and resisted.

The time had come and we needed to go for our backpacks and say goodbye to Dubai. We enjoyed everything about this city but now, it is time to move to our dream destination SRI LANKA!

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