Wednesday 23 rd January 2008
Day 5: Wild Wadi Water Park
After much persuasion, I finally managed to convince Ian to have afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab. How often can you say you’ve experienced service at a 7 star hotel? However, when we tried to reserve a table, the hotel told us that the next availability was in four days time – we would have left by then. Oh well …
We made our way over to Wild Wadi water theme park this morning. It is situated next to the Burj Al Arab, and needless to say the views of the Burj within the park are rather nice. The Jumeirah Beach Hotel also towers prominently over the complex, adding to the ambience and general photo-taking experience. The best spot to get a great panoramic view would be at the top of the Jumeirah 'Sceirah' (pronounced 'Scarer') water slide, which I didn’t go on but Ian braved. It stands at 33 metres high, and passengers can reach speeds of up to 50mph on the way down. This probably explains the white expressions on people's faces as they disembark from the slide, not quite believing what had happened just then.
Me at Wild Wadi.
I spent most of my time luxuriating in the heated pool, lying on my back and admiring the Burj Al Arab and rotating slightly to see the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Every now and then, the wave machine would come on and I'd find myself being swept to the shallow end by the strong current – they don’t do things by halves over here! It was an overcast day and rather cool, so the warm pool was very welcoming and enticing.
Ian luxuriating in the warm wave pool at Wild Wadi.
I did, however, venture on to the water slides in a twin rubber ring with Ian (you can also go solo in a single rubber ring). Water slides twist and turn all over the complex. Water jets push you around - even up hill! - and where there are tricky corners, the staff give you a helpful push along the way to the next slide. There are lots of slides and I lost count, but there is a twisty one (called Wadi Twister), a completely blacked out one (Tunnel of Doom), to name just a couple.
Since it was a quiet day, we went on the rides on numerous occasions without having to queue up. Ian also had a go at a few surfing rides, but did not manage to stay up for very long with his shorts struggling to do the same at one point!
Ian attempting to body board on the fake wave.
Having had our fill of the slides, we caught a cab back to the hotel, driven by a taxi driver who simply could not stop talking. Having not uttered a single word for the first ten minutes of the 45 minute journey, he suddenly blurted "I have not spoken up until now, but ..." and Ian and I instantly thought "What is this guy trying to sell us?" But thankfully, no, it was just conversation he was after, and not our wadi!