Weekend Getaway to Dubai!

I laughed that the clock showing Dubai's local time in our hotel was a Rolex.....that pretty much sums up Dubai! It is a very wealthy little Emirate, even after having to be bailed out by a neighbouring Emirate!

This school year has been pretty intense and there have been MANY days where all I could think about was flying out of here to some other place! When word of Dubai's new visa requirement for Canadian citizens was made public, Kimberley and I decided we needed to go to Dubai ASAP before this ridiculously expensive requirement ($250 CD) came into effect on January 2, 2011. So we found cheap flights, a great deal on a nice hotel and off we flew to Dubai!

Flying to Dubai! The flight was only an hour. :)

Because we were only in Dubai for 2 days, we didn't get a chance to explore much, but decided to relax by going shopping and just enjoy the freedom of being out of Kuwait! However, the one thing we did go see was the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest tower! It truly was HUGE!!! You have to order and book tickets beforehand, which we did and then got to go up to the Observation Deck on floor 124.

The Burj Khalifa

Here is a scale model of the Burj Khalifa.....this thing is ENORMOUS!

We had to take this long escalator just to the platform where the elevators were to take us up to the observation deck....

The air was a little dusty this day, but if you look into the distance, you can see the world famous, man-made Palm Island Jumeirah!

Looking down on Dubai....

This is looking down on Fountain Dubai which apparently is this massive fountain that does a water show to music......sadly it wasn't working the day we were there. :(

Us at the top of the Observation Deck.....124 floors up! Our ears popped 3 times going up in the elevator!!

Closer view of Fountain Dubai that happened to not be working the one day we were there.....LOL.....my girls were SO disappointed I didn't get to see this "ajeeb" (super cool) fountain!

In the famous Dubai Mall there is an enormous aquarium in one end. Apparently, inside there are penguins and all sorts of other sea life! We didn't have time to go see, but took a few pics of the aquarium walls you can see from the inside of the actual mall. :) I hope to go back one day and actually go into the aquarium and see the rest. :)

That big fish was actually bigger than I was! It's hard to see just how big this aquarium is.....gotta love the reflection of the store signs on the glass!

We also got to see what Ski Dubai looks like.....SOOOOO wish we had time to go skiing/snowboarding there! We seriously want to come back and experience Ski Dubai! Here are some pics from the viewing windows in the mall. It looks so puny compared to the ski hills and mountains of Canada, but for over here this is indeed impressive! When you rent the equipment, you also get the snowsuit, toque, and mittens! LOL

It actually "snows" in here....we watched it fall shortly after I took this pic!

This looked like so much fun! I soooo want to go back and actually go in and snowboard!

Kim in front of yet another cool site inside the mall....this wall was all water and had life-sized statues of divers all the way down the three-story water wall!

All in all, my impression of Dubai was.....amazing! I would love to be able to go back and explore more of the Corniche and the big souqs along Dubai Creek. I would also love to go to Ski Dubai and the cool waterpark Atlantis! So many things to still do and see in this little Emirate! :) Inshallah, Dubai will drop the ridiculously high visa fee for Canadians and I can go back before June! If you ever get the chance to go, GO!!! :)

We were soooo sad we had to go back home to Kuwait.......please Dubai, please be nice to all Canadians and drop the new $250 visa fee!