Special Sights in Dubai

The tall skinny building that looks like a needle is the Burge Dubai.  It is still under construction.

Atlantis Hotel on the Palm.  It is enormous.

Road to the Palm.

Quincy treated me to lunch at this hotel.  The large building with the dome on top.  As you can see it was a fancy buffet.

This is one of the Palms ( man made islands).  It is very smoggy, so it is hard to see.

This street is called "The Walk"  It is where all the locals come to see and be seen.  The street is practically lined with cafes and restaurants.

Shopping in Dubai.

The following pictures are from the Ibn Batuta mall.  he was an explorer who lived in the 14th century.  Each area in the mall is decorated to look like a country he visited.  Unfortunately they don't have a little market square at the entrance to each area where they could sell local wares from that particular country.  It would have made it more authentic.  But it was really a fantastic mall.

I bought this one, a red Tabriz rug.

I love shopping for Persian rugs in The Middle East.  We went to the Madinat Jumeira shopping mall.  It is built like an old zouk, and has a lot of atmosphere.  It is right down by the Burge al Arab.

Where can you find a shopping Mall with an Aquarium and a waterfall?  In Dubai of course.

One of the things I wanted to do in Dubai was to take P man on a camel ride.  Walking on the beach in the early morning I found the home of the camels and their drivers.  They lived down the beach in a tent and the camels were tethered outside.  A baby camel stayed under a little palm cover.  It was a little hard to get a ride because the camels were not always where we were.  But finally both P man and I were on the beach at the right time.  P man liked the ride very much and protested when it was over.  Camels are very docile animals, but the first time you have to get off them is scary.  They bend the forelegs and all of a sudden you are sitting at a 45' angle and feel like you are going to fall off.  The driver took P man off before the camel knelt down. 

There are 4 adult camels and a baby.  The camel drivers live in a tent on the beach next to the camels.

Another view of the camels.

P man tries out the seat on the camel.

 

P man  hails the camel Driver,  there are 2 camels one for the driver and the other to be rented out.

 

The camel driver is approching.

We are finally on the camel and riding, and Pman liked it and didn't want it to stop.