Monday 21st January 2008
Day 3: Burj Al Arab, Madinat Jumeirah and New Dubai
Another day, another bus journey to the Jumeirah area. However, this bus journey didn’t start off like the previous one. We were queuing up to board the bus when Ian sensed a couple of fingers reach into the front of his right pocket. "Ay! I see what you're doing!" he exclaimed at the man. The man in question, who wore a gormless expression, removed the offending fingers as if nothing had happened. The cheek of it but at least nothing had been stolen. Surely that would have been worth 40 lashes?!
We arrived at the entrance to the Burj Al Arab, the world famous self-proclaimed ‘seven star’ hotel. Built on an artificial island, this sail shaped building was opened in 1999. Security is so tight that you cannot pass the gate without first showing evidence of a restaurant or bar reservation, or that you are one of the privileged hotel guests. We just took photos outside on this occasion. I'm still trying to convince Ian to have afternoon tea there, at £35 per head.
Me and Ian in front of the world-famous
Burj Al Arab - a 7-star hotel.
Having had our fill of the lovely Burj, we went next door to the Madinat Jumeirah complex. This area is made up of a hotel, shopping and entertainment facilities. The decor is tasteful and there's a strong old Arabian merchant quarters feel to it. In keeping with the style, abras glide along narrow canals – but this is only for hotel/restaurant guests to use.
Madinat Jumeirah.
It was very quiet when we were walking around on account of it being a weekday. Apparently this place livens up during the weekend. We walked through the empty souk; many of the storeowners looking despondent due to the lack of passing trade. One or two joined me in taking a rest under a gazebo in the courtyard. The gazebo was like any you can buy at B&Q, except substitute the green tarpaulin for an Arabic rug – very cosy indeed.
The Madinat Jumeirah complex is a bit of a maze and after some haphazard exploration, we were slightly disorientated. Somehow at the last turn we managed to find ourselves at Costa Coffee, overlooking the Burj Al Arab. Needless to say, more photos were taken for posterity!
Burj Al Arab viewed from Madinat Jumeirah.
We exchanged travel tips with some tourists sitting next to us at Costa and found out about the Meridien Hotel and its good views over the Jumeirah Palm development. So we caught the next available bus heading in that direction to check it out. The Jumeirah Palm development is one of the three new islands owned by the government, known collectively as The Palm Islands - so named as a result of their shape.
The palm trunk of the Jumeirah Palm development appears to be the focus of construction. The development of the fronds and the encapsulating crescent have started but are a long way behind in comparison. With so many half-completed buildings crammed tightly together on the trunk, it almost begs the question how does this man-made land sustain such great weight. After all, these artificial peninsulas have been constructed from sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf.
Construction work under way on the trunk road of Palm Jumeirah.
Artist's impression of more spectacular buildings near to Palm Jumeirah.
If I were to be honest, the views of the Jumeirah Palm were nothing to write home about. A lot of it is still under construction, but once it has been completed, I'm sure this will change. It was an interesting detour, nevertheless. From the Meridien Hotel, you can also see the harbour and also Meridien Hotel's private beach – and boy doesn’t that look like paradise!
View from Meridien Hotel.
The most noticeable thing in Dubai is the amount of construction going on. We first heard about this middle of last year when we wanted a new garden fence. What's this have to do with the price of fish, you might be wondering? Believe it or not, the two – i.e. fence panels and Dubai construction – are related! There was a shortage of fencing panels in the UK as the wood supply was coming to Dubai to be used for building works. We did get our fence panels eventually after a slight delay!
The homeward journey was a little tricky. Again, we found ourselves waiting at the bus stop for the number 8, near to Dubai Media City (or New Dubai). Out of nowhere, we heard the Lambada tune playing. Was it coming from a mobile phone somewhere? No one in the queue appeared to own one and we finally deduced that it was coming from a bulldozer in the building site behind us. Instead of hearing the annoying ‘beep, beep, beep’ noise associated with reversing in progress, it played this tune. It’s a shame we didn’t see the builders doing the famous Brazilian dance along to it, as that would have definitely completed the picture!
The bus inevitably did not turn up. Conscious of the time and wishing to avoid rush hour traffic (been there, done that), we started to discuss plan B. However, we were interrupted by a local who had also given up with public transport and more practically had successfully flagged down a taxi. She asked whether we'd like to share it with her as we were going in the same direction – except she was getting off at Karama, an area 5 minutes away from our hotel. She offered to pay all the fare up until Karama and for us to pay the rest. “We should pay half each up until we reach Karama?” we suggested. "No, don’t worry, my company's paying for this," she replied – and so we spent the next 40 minutes talking about Dubai and England – we even told her about the fence panel shortage story in the UK! At the very end, before she left, we found out each other's names. Surely we should have done introductions first? Thanks, Natalie!