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Photos and stories from many of my travels in the past 5 years

UAE 2010: Showing my parents the sights of Dubai; inside Ibn Battuta Mall

Date: 10th April 2010

After a tiring previous day (and only hitting the bed at 4am), I got up early to receive my parents from Bur Dubai bus stand as they were visiting from Abu Dhabi. Since today and tomorrow were all going to be ‘family time,’ we were going to be staying with my father’s friend, in his nice, posh little flat in Karama.

Once we all landed at my father’s friend’s place post-lunch, we rested for some time before heading out.

It was back to Dubai Mall for me — but for my parents, despite having lived in Abu Dhabi for nearly an year, it was going to be their first time experiencing Dubai Aquarium and At The Top of Burj Khalifa.

First up, the aquarium:

Dubai Aquarium little sting ray Acha touch — My father really enjoyed being this close to sea creatures

Dubai Aquarium under sting ray face — That’s what a stingray’s face looks like

Dubai Aquarium divers working — Well, hello there!

For more photos and videos from inside Dubai Aquarium, check out my first post. Next up, we waited for our turn to go up the Burj Khalifa.

Dubai Mall At The Top gift shop parents — My parents at the At The Top gift shop

Burj Khalifa statistics Story in numbers facts figures — 200+ storeys; 95kms – from where one can see the top of the spire; 12,000 slaves… sorry, labourers; 57 elevators; 500,000 tonnes – weight of the empty building

I had booked for an evening slot for the At The Top visit, hoping I could see Dubai all lit up. But as we got up, the sun was still very much above the horizon.

Burj Khalifa parents At the Top view — Regardless, my parents loved the view

Dubai Financial Center from Burj Khalifa evening — Dubai financial center

Burj Khalifa floors above At The Top — That’s how many floors there still are above the observation deck

Burj Khalifa sunset over The World islands — The sun setting over the yet to be completed The World islands

Burj Khalifa tourists watching sunset — Watching the sun set from atop the world’s tallest building is a great idea

For more photos and videos from At The Top, check out my first post.

We finished our tour of Burj Khalifa, made our way out and to the Dubai Fountain site. The $200 million-plus Dubai Fountain is an attraction built on the artificial (duh) lake just outside Dubai Mall.

Dubai Mall The Address hotel at night — The Address hotel in the back

Dubai mall Dubai fountain site at night — The crowds wait for the show to start

Built by the same people behind the famous Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, Dubai obviously had to up the ante. So these fountains shoot water up higher, 500 feet high (150 metres)!

Shows are every half an hour between 6pm to 10pm. Here’s the show I saw: Since it’s free, and since I can’t afford to go to Las Vegas just yet, this was great!

Burj Khalifa Mithun parents portrait — Me and my folks in front of a massive concrete & steel Christmas tree

After the show, we made our way to the buses that drop visitors to the metro station.

Pink Porsche Dubai mall parking — Why, why would someone do that to a Porsche?

Burj Khalifa glowing at night dubai — Architectural beauty

The next day with my parents…

The next morning, I took my parents to Bur Dubai for some shopping and to show them around.

Bur Dubai souk father pushing cart — My father considering ‘post-retirement’ work

Bur Dubai souk Chinese man with father — My father bothering some random Chinese dude for a photo

After showing them the souk station, I took them to the Hindu temple (photos of both can be seen in my first post).

Bur Dubai souk park parents sitting — Taking a break from all the walking

Bur Dubai creek morning pigeons — Pigeons by the creek

And with that, we were done. Took a taxi and headed back to my father’s colleague’s place. He offered to drop us off near Jebel Ali power station, where we had been invited for lunch by our relatives.

Inside Mr. Nandakumar's Peugot car with sunroof — Inside Mr. Nandakumar’s Peugot

Once again, it was a drive on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Emirates Towers Dubai from car — Emirates Towers

Dubai Hard Rock cafe Sheikh Zayed road — Those guitars used to be where Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe was

Jebel Ali station flat view — The view from my uncle’s flat near Jebel Ali power station, where he works

After lunch, we decided to check out Ibn Battuta Mall, which was nearby. This was the last major mall I had yet to see and the one my friends highly recommended, just because it was different.

The mall business in Dubai is, let’s just say, quite cut throat. For such a small state, Dubai has some of the largest malls in the world. And since just about every mall offers the same set of stores, mall operators come up with differentiators to draw the crowds in.

What’s the differentiator for Ibn Battuta Mall? For one (if you haven’t figured out already), it’s named after the great Muslim explorer Ibn Battuta. The entire mall is themed after his travels across China, India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Andalusia with a section dedicated to each zone.

We parked near the China entrance. Each of the sections have a lobby with a major attraction specific to that zone. This is what the China court looks like.

The main attraction here being a replica of a Chinese sailing ship supposedly used by Ibn Battuta in his travels.

Ibn Battuta mall Grand cinemas IMAX — Ibn Battuta Mall houses the only IMAX screen in Dubai

From China, we then moved on to India.

Ibn Battuta India court elephant rider — India Court’s big attraction

From India into Persia. Persia Court’s big attraction is a replica of a Starbucks Coffee outlet*.

Ibn Battuta Mall Persia court dome Starbucks — *just kidding

From Persia, you have two paths to Egypt.

Ibn Battuta Mall Egypt court street lamps — Both paths eventually meet

Ibn Battuta mall Egypt court corridor — The Egypt Court houses a lot of history, facts and trivia about Ibn Battuta

And finally Andalusia.

Ibn Battuta Mall Andalusia court fountains — Andalusia Court’s main attraction

With that, we had conquered all five regions of Ibn Battuta’s mall. So we made our journey back, passing by more displays.

Ibn Battuta mall China hall pillars ceiling — Back in China Court

Ibn Battuta Mall truly is a must-see in my opinion. It was a good move on Nakheel Properties’ part to use a theme like this to set the mall apart from Dubai’s other shopping centers.

Once out of Ibn Battuta Mall, we wished our relatives goodbye and took the metro to Bur Dubai bus stand. I was heading back to Abu Dhabi.

And with this, ends my Dubai sojourn — for now.

Next posts in this series:

UAE 2010: From the desert sands of Abu Dhabi to the corniche

UAE 2010: Yas Island, Abu Dhabi – Ferrari World and Yas Marina Circuit

Previous posts in this series:

UAE 2010: Heading back to the Gulf after 7 years

UAE 2010: Driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai (& back)

UAE 2010: Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi

UAE 2010: Heading to Dubai by bus; checking out Bur Dubai

UAE 2010: Dubai Mall (Aquarium, Underwater Zoo & Gold Souk) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Burj Khalifa, At the Top (and Wafi Mall) – Part 2

UAE 2010: Driving around Dubai (Souk Madinat Jumeirah, The Atlantis & The Palm Islands) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Dubai Marina, Jumeirah, The Walk and David Guetta concert – Part 2

Date: 9th April 2010

(Part one can be found here)

Dubai Fairmont hotel Palm Jumeirah — The Fairmont Palm Hotel and Residences

As we came out of the tunnel, to our right was our next stop.

Once we took a left and got on to “The Walk,” I pretty much knew why people throng to this place. It’s essentially Dubai’s ‘Exhibition Road’ (a once very popular stretch in Bahrain where traffic moves slowly and people, well, come to show off — among other things).

The Walk is part of Jumeirah Group’s massive property by Jumeirah beach. Lined along the stretch are shops, restaurants, hotels and the Jumeirah residences.

Jumeirah The Walk Sofitel hotel — The Sofitel Hotel, Jumeirah

We finally managed to get a parking spot and while there were the usual luxury brands, given this is Dubai, one really needs something too rare to really stand out from the crowd.

And whoever was the owner of this Batmobile-esque Mercedes McLaren SLR, surely had it!

Freakin’ sweet. A supercar indeed!

Jumeirah Beach Residences apartments — Jumeirah Beach Residences

Jumeirah Beach Dubai Marina sunset — The (not so great) beach

After watching the sun set, we went back to the parking lot.

Jumeirah Beach Dubai Marina stretch Hummer limo — Before you ask… yes, petrol is cheap out here

Since it was time sunset prayer, Azhad and Jassim made their way to the prayer hall like good muslims, while I waited out looking at the slow moving traffic.

After prayers, we moved on.

Jumeirah Residences flats apartments towers — Passing through Jumeirah Residences

Jumeirah Residences big elevator lift Azhad — Big elevators for big people and their big cars (not Azhad)

Jassim told me that we needed to crossed over to the other side as he wanted to show me something. I didn’t really know what or why but I figured it would be more buildings.

It was buildings alright…. but I never expected this!

Dubai Marina at night panorama — Panorama consisting of 7 shots

Beautiful.

I really wasn’t expecting a sight like this in, of all the places, Dubai. I was looking forward to seeing all this when I go to Singapore in September and in Hong Kong next year, but in the middle of a freaking desert? Wow.

Now I get what Dubai Marina is all about. It’s like the guys at Emaar Properties (the same folks behind Burj Khalifa) visited Marina Bay in Singapore and Hong Kong’s Kowloon Bay and went: “Hmmm, very bretty… very nice… we like… we want also.* ”

And then came back, spent a few billion, dug out a lot of sand and half a decade later — voila!

Dubai Marina stairs Jumeirah residences — The steps we came down from (Jumeirah residences in the background)

Dubai Marina at night Azhad — Azhad talking away

Dubai Marina building lit up yacht — Private yachts can be rented for cruise parties

Dubai Marina steps up — We went up to take a walk across the bridge

Dubai Marina crossing road — We crossed the bridge road over to the other side

After being mighty impressed with the world’s largest man-made marina, we headed back to ‘show-off boulevard’.

Jumeirah The Walk at night cars bikes — Back at the The Walk

We set off into town and made our way to the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue for tonight’s David Guetta’s concert.

Twin towers on Sheikh Zayed road traffic from metro — Kinda looks like New York’s Chrysler building — but of course Dubai had to out-do NY, so they made two!

Dubai Rotana towers hotel at night — The Rotana Tower Hotel

Upon reaching the venue, we figured we still had some time to enter so we decided to do dinner. Jassim parked his car near Emirates Towers and we made our way to Nando’s.

Dubai Metro station exterior — They have these ‘space stations’ (a.k.a Metro stations) all over the place

Inside Dubai Metro station traffic — Trying to take photos while on the travelator

Dubai Metro station train late night — The trains have no driver by the way — it’s all automatic

Dubai Nando's chicken dinner — What I ate at Nando’s

Me and Jassim had a good meal, Azhad didn’t 🙂 … and wanted to get home quick!

So after seeing our friend off at the metro, me and Jassim went back to the car to get ready for ‘the party’.

Emirates Towers office hotel at night — Emirates Towers in the distance

Dubai offices at night Burj Khalifa — And there she is in the distance

After finding a parking spot, we walked towards to the concert hall where there were a lot of guys with heavily waxed hair and girls with heavily waxed skins.

And boy were we glad we bought our tickets well in advance! The show was sold out and many were around seeking extra tickets. We got in around 11pm where an opening DJ was was warming up the crowd.

The man himself didn’t hit the stage until 1am. And just when he was about to… disappointment. My Nokia E72 with the 5 mega-pixel camera dies out on me. All I’m left with is my mom’s basic 2mpx Nokia and even that was low on battery.

Sorry, but these grainy photos are all I have. (Some are from my friend Jassim’s iPhone)

David Guetta Dubai 2010 concert lights — This is when he hit the stage

Grainy photos won’t do the concert justice, so just watch this if you want to know what the atmosphere was like:

To sum in up in one word: AWESOME! This was one of the best concerts I have been to. The crowd was insane! Over 10,000 people packed into one massive hall. And I would so pay to see David Guetta live again!

David Guetta left the stage exactly at 3am, the time when all of Dubai has to shut off it’s loud music and stop the sale of liqour.

David Guetta Dubai 2010 crowd leaving exhibition center — The tired crowd making their way out of the exhibition center

David Guetta Dubai 2010 crowd taxi queue — The (very) long queue for taxis

By the time we reached the car, our legs were tired as hell! This was one packed-evening/night/dawn. I saw a lot, ate a lot and danced a lot.

And man was I enjoying it!

Next posts in this series:

UAE 2010: Showing my parents the sights of Dubai; inside Ibn Battuta Mall

UAE 2010: From the desert sands of Abu Dhabi to the corniche

UAE 2010: Yas Island, Abu Dhabi – Ferrari World and Yas Marina Circuit

Previous posts in this series:

UAE 2010: Heading back to the Gulf after 7 years

UAE 2010: Driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai (& back)

UAE 2010: Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi

UAE 2010: Heading to Dubai by bus; checking out Bur Dubai

UAE 2010: Dubai Mall (Aquarium, Underwater Zoo & Gold Souk) – Part 1

UAE 2010: Burj Khalifa, At the Top (and Wafi Mall) – Part 2

UAE 2010: Driving around Dubai (Souk Madinat Jumeirah, The Atlantis & The Palm Islands) – Part 1

Palm Islands Jumeirah Atlantis hotel Dubai

UAE 2010: Driving around Dubai (Souk Madinat Jumeirah, The Atlantis & The Palm Islands) – Part 1

Date: 9th April 2010

Today was going to be one heck of an ‘out-&-about’ day. My friend Jassim was free to drive me around and show me the parts of Dubai (as of the above date) the metro service hasn’t covered yet. After all the sight-seeing, we were then going to close out the night with one of the biggest events of this trip — catching David Guetta’s performance in Dubai!

But first, the day.

The morning started out slow and I was mostly indoors. As for lunch, Azhad decided to treat me to a local experience. So we headed to Al Rigga road in Deira.

Golden Fish restaurant Deira Dubai — The Russians must love shrimp

Chinese union society Deira Dubai — The Chinese presence in Dubai is exponential

The restaurant was Bait Al Mandi, a popular Yemeni joint.

What’s unique about this place? Well, they serve Al Mandi — essentially meat on top of flavoured rice. You might be thinking biriyani. but you’ll get a better picture once you see the photos.

We sat upstairs, where you had individuals cabins in which you sit down on the floor.

Inside Bait Al-Mandi Deira Dubai Mithun — That's me

Inside Bait Al-Mandi Deira Dubai slippers — Slippers outside

Bait Al-Mandi chicken mutton rice — Food inside

The meal consists of a lentil soup (which was lovely), an entire cup of curd, and the main dish itself — be it mutton or chicken. And yes, that is an entire half chicken you see above.

Bait Al-Mandi Deira Dubai Azhad — Thumbs up on the food alright

Just that… it was too much! We couldn’t finish all the meat. And the amazing thing is, all this costs less than Dhs 50 (Rs. 600/$13/€11). You can’t ask for a more filling meal in Dubai.

Once we were (partly) done with our heavy lunch, our friend Jassim arrived to pick us up. He had a plan in mind (since he’s done these ‘tours’ for visiting family) and we began our drive.

Dubai clock tower roundabout — Before all the buildings, this was once Dubai's most iconic landmark

Dubai Honda showroom building to-let — Dubai Festival City in the distance

We made a quick stop at the Al Badia Golf Club — an impressive, built completely from the ground up, golf course.

We moved on shortly after.

Dubai skyline buildings afternoon Burj Khalifa — Never tired of Dubai's skyline

Sheikh Zayed buildings Dubai — (Took these photos from inside the car)

DIFC village office building Dubai — The Dubai International Financial Centre

Sheikh Zayed LG old building — This is the oldest building on Sheikh Zayed Road

We then made a brief stop at the gas station to stock up on junk food.

Vimto light can drink Dubai Eppco — Ahhh Vimto, how I missed you. (Now available in 'Light')

After stocking up, Jassim then took us to Souk Madinat Jumeirah.

The souk is the shopping mall attached to the Madinat Jumeirah resort, an impressive resort offering from the Jumeirah Group — the owners of the iconic Burj Al Arab.

Yes, this yet another mall and I thought I was done with malls because once you’ve seen the biggest and the best, it takes a lot to interest you in another. But Jassim assured me this was a mall that was quite different from the others.

Madinat Jumeirah in Arabic translates to ‘City of Jumeirah’ and is resort complex designed keeping in mind old Arab architecture. It houses two hotels, several restaurants and a few hundred stores.

Souk Madinat Jumeirah elevator — From the elevators...

Souk Madinat Jumeirah hall way stores — ... to the mall,

Souk Madinat Jumeirah water — ... the place tries to invoke an 'old Arabia' atmosphere

We just did a roam-around of the mall.

Souk Madinat Jumeirah hall Jassim — (That's our friend Jassim)

Souk Madinat Jumeirah coffee shop restaurant boats — Madinat Jumeirah is a very popular wedding venue too

Souk Madinat Jumeirah bridge abra dock — There are traditional abras to take guests for rides around the water way

Souk Madinat Jumeirah waterway Mithun Burj Al Arab — The obligatory 'You know i'm in Dubai because you can see the Burj Al Arab in the background' photo

Of all the malls I’ve been to in Dubai, the Souk Madinat Jumeirah really stands out as one of the best. It really is a great place to visit, be it for a date or a casual hangout. Plenty of restaurant options and you really can’t beat the setting.

With that, we were done.

Up next was another landmark of Dubai — and one that is best seen from the sky.

But since we couldn’t afford a helicopter ride, we had to see The Palm Jumeirah islands from the ground.

We drove past a lot of (what looked liked to me) empty apartments. To the left of the above photo was the proposed Trump Tower, now on hold.

We were heading towards to tip of The Palm Islands to see the famed Atlantis resort.

Palm Islands Jumeirah monorail Atlantis hotel Dubai

Palm Islands Jumeirah tunnel to Atlantis hotel Dubai — And then you go under water

Palm Islands Jumeirah Atlantis hotel Big Bus Dubai — Very much a major tourist attraction in Dubai

There’s a lot more to Atlantis The Palm than it’s exterior — but to enter the hotel, unless you are guest, you have to pay an entrance fee. I wasn’t too bothered because we had still more on ‘Jassim’s planned drive tour’ of Dubai’s hotspots.