Off to Dubai – Tall Buildings and Skiing in the Desert

Yesterday I made my first trip to Dubai.  To be honest I had not actually spent that much time looking into how to get there, figuring it would eventually happen.  Yesterday I HAD to be there.  So I went on line to figure out how to go about getting there.  Though I recall having read about it before, I never considered taking a bus.  When you see the public transport system here in Abu Dhabi, it does not instill good feelings.  I know it runs basically on time, and is cheap, but nevertheless a bus filled with people who do not necessarily share the same hygiene habits is not exactly my idea of fun.  So initially I did not consider it as a viable option.  Until I had to go, and nobody I knew was headed that way.  It came down to taxi or bus.  Cost of the taxi – ridiculous.  Cost of the bus – 25AED (about 7 bucks).  So I steeled myself, prepared for the worst and headed for the bus station early yesterday morning.

There are 2 busses that run between AD and Dubai.  Each of them leaves about every 30 minutes beginning from 5:30AM and until about 9:30PM.  Then it switches to hourly until 1:30AM.  One bus goes to midtown, and the other to the western edge of town.  Not knowing my way around Dubai, I opted for the one to city center, rightly figuring I could find a taxi pretty easily and go from there.

What a pleasant surprise!  From the exterior, it was nothing special.  But once I climbed inside I immediately noted the a/c worked very well, and there was not a single unpleasant odor.  The seats were comfortable, and there were curtains to draw to block the rising sun.  Essentially I was in a tour bus.  Not the most modern and sleek one on the planet, but a very nice one nonetheless.  It was not full, I had a row to myself, and the 90 minute ride was very pleasant.  I even dozed off for part of it.

Coming up on Dubai you first see the Burj Khalifa (of course.)  ‘Burj’ means Tower in Arabic, and a tower it is.  It was originally called the Burj Dubai, but was later changed to Burj Khalifa after Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan (President of the UAE and Emir of Abu Dhabi) bailed Dubai out of some financial troubles.  You really have no concept of how
tall this dude is until you see it with your own eyes, but I am going to try to give you an idea.  I am told that you can watch the sunset, then get in the high speed elevator (3^rd fastest in the world) to the top, and watch the sunset all over again.  I wonder how many times your ears pop? At the top of this post, there is a current comparison of the tallest buildings in the world.  3 of these are in Dubai, and you can clearly see them in the photos I have selected here.  Note that the Burj Khalifa is over 835 meters or 2700 feet tall.  Up. That’s almost double the Sears/Willis tower in Chicago.  And for those of you keeping track, that’s over half a mile.  Up.  If you look at the photos you will see the ‘tiers’ that it is built in.  There are 159 occupied (or able to be occupied) floors.  These are located in the first 17 tiers.  There are an additional 10 tiers above that.  The last 10 tiers are all communications spire.  Those so inclined can go to the observation deck on the 125^th floor, about ¾ of the way up.  For the record, I do not have a fear of heights.  I am more than happy to stand at the top of a cliff, or on a mountain top and look over the edge.  That said, I do have a very healthy fear of tall manmade things.  These include roller coasters, ferris wheels, and really tall buildings.  So, I think I will pass on this.  Unless my husband (who is seriously afraid of heights) wants to go.  Then I will go along and hold his hand, and be afraid right along with him. (Note: I don’t think I will ever have to do that.)

The reason I had to go to Dubai was to complete a review and testing on the first portion in pursuit of my Sea Captain’s license.  The review began at 9 AM and ended with a lunch break at 12:30.  Theory test was given after lunch, and practical test once you completed the theory.  I had not made any plans for my time in Dubai because I did not know how long the day at the testing site would be.  I was finished before 3PM and had some time to kill.  The bus to midtown had taken me well past where I needed to be.  It let us off at a multi-use station that included a terminal for the above ground metro we had paralleled much of the way into town.  I went in and looked at the map, purchased a ticket and hopped a metro train back to where I needed to be in an area called Barsha.  Walking from the metro stop to the Marine Concepts office I saw this…

Only one thing it could be…  Yep!  The office was near Mall of the Emirates, and that my friends is what an indoor ski slope looks like from the outside.  Of course I could not let that go unseen given my proximity, so I walked the 3 blocks to check it out.  What a hoot!  There is a quad lift up to the top, and two runs.  One I would call a bunny slope, and the other a green cruiser.  The snow is really good quality man made though!  I spoke with one of the guys and he put a scoop in my hand.  It felt just like the morning after man made crusty groomed stuff, so I say well done desert dwellers!  No I did not ski.  I did sit next to this lovely televised fire and have a cup of cocoa though.  

After that I called it a day and headed for the metro stop there at the Mall.  This time I went to the bus station at the west edge of town, chasing the sunset home just as I followed the sunrise here.  Now that I know how easy it is to get back and forth, I think I will grab my husband and go hang for a day one of these weekends.

Hey!  Anybody need one of these?