Dubai

Time to start adjusting our bodies to Sydney time! We got up early and went to see the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa!

We made the short walk from our hotel across the Dubai downtown area and entered into the massive Dubai Mall (the largest mall in the UAE). Safe to say the aircon was very welcoming after the searing 35 degree Arabian heat! The mall itself is massive, we walked past hundreds of high end fashion shops and arrived at the entrance of the Burj. As we approached the elevator which would take us up to level 124/125 (a healthy 464m above sea level!) we were taken through the history of what went into making the Burj including all the various parties and contractors which were involved. Daniel was in his element reading all about this amazing engineering feat!

We entered one of the building’s 65 elevators which swiftly took us up and the view was incredible! Although we were only halfway up the 828m tall skyscraper, we could see about 10km away! We had lots of fun exploring the two levels, took in some amazing views which photos really can’t do justice and made our way back to ground.

The Burj is one of the engineering marvels of the modern world and Daniel particularly enjoyed all the facts we read about after we returned ground and exited the burj. The facts included information about how they deal with the challenges of wind and sandstorms for such a tall building (this requires full time monitoring), how they air condition the whole building (and use the water waste for watering the surrounding gardens), how they light the building (which can be lit up with special lights for special events) and how they clean the windows of the building (which actually are manually washed the old fashioned way, and take a team of 40 people 3 months to clean, at which point they start again!) It was all very interesting!!

Next it was time to visit the ‘other’ mall, the Mall of the Emirates for another very interesting activity. What else to do when you’ve done everything else on your holiday - go skiiing at the world’s largest indoor ski slope of course!
Daniel swapped the 35 degree heat for some snow for a couple of hours whilst Gab did some window shopping through the mall (she opted not to go skiing!) The slopes were so much fun and Daniel was very happy to get through his first time skiing since his knee surgery without crashing or injuring himself! Gab spent a couple of hours looking around at mostly high end stores with a mix of clothing stores and other speciality department stores.

Next, we caught the Dubai metro back to downtown Dubai which was pretty efficient and easy. We bought our tickets and hopped on the metro which has different carriages for males and females. We got off at Dubai Mall and Gab went to explore the Dubai Aquarium (which is the biggest indoor aquarium in the world) whilst Daniel went back to the hotel to chill.

The Aquarium starts with an underwater tunnel which is so impressive as it spans around 4 floors of the mall. The tunnel contains lots of different types of fish, rays and sharks and it was a thrilling experience walking through and seeing the fish swimming above your head and around you. After exploring the various levels, you enter into the Underwater Zoo area. This contains various areas including a ‘rainforest’ area with many fish, turtles (including lots of pig nosed turtles which come from Australia and Papua New Guinea), cute sea otters swimming and playing and even 2 crocs!

We met back at the hotel to freshen up and went out to explore downtown Dubai at night time. We went for a boat ride on the lake in front of the Burj Khalifa to see the world's biggest water fountain show - so so cool! Yes, there is definitely a theme here that everything is the biggest in the world!! We loved the way everything lit up around us during the show. We had a fantastic view of the show as well as the incredible Dubai skyline behind it.

We then went into the bustling Dubai mall food court for a very much enjoyed healthy dinner of poke bowls before heading back to the hotel to sleep.Läs mer