Dubai Part 2

After all the shopping and the tall buildings we were once again on the train heading towards the world famous Palm Jumeirah. Basically the Palm is entirely reclaimed from the sea in a shape of a palm. Palm Jumeirah is actually the smaller of the 2 palms and the second one is Palm Jebel Ali. The construction is such large scale that you are able to see the entire palm from a satellite.

While on the train we got a glimpse of what used to be the building that defines Dubai. One look at this building and know it belong to Dubai.

This is the Burj Al Arab, is a 5 Star deluxe hotel but it was referred to as a 7 star hotel. It is so expensive that I was told that even the cheapest room will set you back a cool USD5000. Oh yea they will also send a Rolls Royce to pick you up from the airport when you arrive. It is built on a man made island and it was the icon of Dubai. Unfortunately it has been over taken by the Burj Khalifah. Right beside the Burj Al Arab is the Jumeirah Beach hotel.

From this picture it looks like just any ordinary sail looking hotel. Nothing special compared to the Burj Al Arab. However from the top it is a completely different story.

You can see that it is actually in a shape of wave and apparently it also has an attached water park similar to that of Sunway Lagoon but much bigger scale.

Unfortunately there is no train into the Palm but we were told by our taxi driver that they are building one. We got off the train at the Mall of Emirates and took a cab into the Palm. Just as we got into the cab the sun was setting and it was a great opportunity to take some cool sun pictures.

On ground level, you can actually see the scale of development in Dubai, while driving to the Palm we passed a massive construction site.

I was told that at one stage, 75% of the tower cranes in the world are actually in Dubai. The Palm Jumeirah actually consist of luxury hotels, apartments and shopping malls on the "trunk" of the palm and then luxury house the "leaves". There isn't much to see but right at the tip of the palm, sits the Atlantis Jumeirah which is suppose to be a true 7 star hotel.

See how up ahead it looks like we are going into a tunnel, our taxi driver told us that at that point we are actually driving below the sea. The building right at the end is the Atlantis Jumeirah.

Now this hotel is so exclusive that they didn't even allow us to walk into the hotel unless we are guest of the hotel. However there is a "water park" at the side of the hotel where visitors are able to check out. It basically consist of another aquarium but much bigger scale compared to the Dubai Mall aquarium and apparently there is also an area for a dolphin show. We didn't go for the main aquarium but we did pay 30 Dirhams for the smaller route. Didn't take many pictures as most of the fishes were the same as Dubai Mall but they did have a gigantic wrasse. It is one of the biggest I have ever seen. If you do not know what a wrasse is, it looks like this.

I only took a picture of the very colorful ceiling.

After that we took another cab back to the Mall of the Emirates and the main attraction of the Mall of Emirates is Ski Dubai. Ski Dubai is actually a winter wonderland in the middle of the desert. It has a 85m ski slope and yes it snows in there. You don't really need to go far to see snow falling.

A little more walking around at the Mall of the Emirates which is one of the biggest mall in Dubai and we took the bus back to Abu Dhabi. I am so impressed with Dubai that I do not mind coming back to this place to explore a little more of it.