Addicted to Iñigo

Going Around Dubai Again

Here I was again joining other people on their out-of-town trips. This time, I joined some 10 Malaysians and 3 South Africans in their Dubai trip and mall-hopping last December 18. I was the only Filipino, and was the only worm among the roses who joined this trip.

My newly-found friends posing at Jumeirah Beach, with the magnificent Burj Al Arab Hotel as backdrop.

Entrance of Burj Al Arab, the world’s only 7-star hotel.

This is the tallest operating hotel in the world (not counting mixed-use building like Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai and the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea). This  building is also the world’s tallest building with a membrane facade.

 

  

Front of Wild Wadi Water Park, one of the world’s most technologically advanced water parks.

This water park has heated/cooled wave pool, multiple water slides and two articial surfing machines.

 

 

 

 

 

I was here: Souk Madinat, 5th Dubai International Film Festival, Jumeirah Festive Market, Man-made river in Jumeirah, Sinbad Antiques.

We needed to cross an underwater subway to reach Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island, a stunning billion-and-a-half dollar resort complete with aquarium, aquapark, 17 restaurants and a $26,000-dollar-a-night suite. The hotel opening night last September was the most expensive private party ever staged, with Kylie Minogue’s one-hour performance paid at $4 million dollars, making her performance the best paid in entertainment history.

Mall-hopping: Lunch at Ibn Battuta Mall, the world’s largest themed shopping mall; Mall of the Emirates, the world’s largest shopping centre outside North America; and Dubai Mall, also one of the world’s largest malls. Dubai Mall’s opening last November 4 had 600 retailers,marking the world’s largest-ever mall opening in retail history.

In this picture, the giant white Christmas tree reaches up to the 5th floor of the mall.

While the world is being hammered by the global financial crisis, it seems the economic woes is a world away from the excesses of Dubai in the UAE.

What oil can do.