Day 4, 16th May 2016
This was the most tiresome day of all. At about 11am, we headed for Dubai Mall. Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world with over 1200 shops. It is also one of the most expensive malls. We just went wandering in one of the shops, saw a ring, a really beautiful ring, saw it's price in Dirhams, converted to Rupees, and it came to about 1.5 crore INR! Another shop had watches in the range from 30-50 lakh Rupees! We were told that usually the big Sheikhs and film stars buy from here. It is really a gigantic mall and there are taxi services inside the mall to carry passengers from one extreme end to another.
You just cannot see the whole mall in limited time provided. But there are only few places worth seeing. I suggest seeing “The Village” inside Dubai Mall. This place is decorated in a really beautiful way with about 500 umbrellas hanging from the roof.
Dubai Acquarium and Underwater Zoo are the most interesting ones. I suggest to visit these first of all when you visit the mall. If you will be fresh in the morning, you will be able to enjoy the aquarium and zoo. The aquarium is really beautiful. It has octopus, squids, star fish, and even penguins. And they haven't just put them in a water container and put for display. They have created a beautiful habitat similar to how these creatures live. The same is the case for the zoo. There is even a restaurant with an ambiance similar to a forest. The background music involves the voices in the forest, the roar of a lion, birds chirping, a howling wolf, etc. This creates a really wonderful effect. I saw a gigantic crocodile in the zoo. Their ceilings of the containment in which the animals are kept are made up of glass such that you can stand on it from the floor above and see the creatures from top as well.
So that is all to see in Dubai Mall according to me. We had limited time and seeing all the 1200 shops is just impossible. I had an acquaintance who was living in Dubai since past 16 years. He himself hasn't been able to see the whole mall.
Next was Burj Khalifa. The ticket counter for Burj Khalifa “At The Top” is located on the Underground Floor of Dubai Mall. The Tour Package agency will book an online ticket for you. The online tickets have discounts of about 50%. And there is no difference in the tickets issued online and the ones issued at the counter. These tickets are issued for a definite time slots e.g. 5.30pm, 6pm, etc. After you produce the online booking ticket at the counter, they will give you a voucher. It might be written that they will start taking tourists only 15 minutes before their time slots but they are lenient with that. We were alert and they were allowing even 45 minutes before the given time slot. Our time was at 8 pm. I suggest taking a time slot in range of 5-7pm. The sun sets at about 7pm there and this time will give a beautiful view. Mornings and afternoons will be very hot. In our case at 8pm, we had a really wonderful view but we could not click good pictures due to lack of proper light. Evenings will give you real feel of 124th floor.
Burj Khalifa is the wold's tallest building, about 830 meteres high. It has about 160 floors having offices and residential spaces as well. The tourists are taken only till 124th floor via a lift that covers the distance in about a minute or so. The feeling you get in the lift is similar to what you get in an aircraft while taking off. Your ears will also feel the similar pressure.
The 124th floor has an open-sky gallery for tourists. I don't know how many people are aware but there is a free upgrade to 125th floor as well. There is a door at an extreme end from which you can go one floor above. The crowd is little bit thinner and the view is also awesome. There is an art gallery and a souvenir shop on this floor. There was a Bollywood song being played in the background on 125th Floor of the world's largest building.
Dubai also has two bollywood radio channels, one of them being Radio Mirchi. I was very glad to listen to some melodious songs throughout my journey on the radio. They also used to give IPL score updates.
The Dubai Fountain is also a must-see here. The Fountain show is for about 4 minutes and happens in the interval of 30 minutes in the evening. The best time to enjoy it is when it is a bit dark. We also saw it again from the 125th Floor. The lights and music create a magnificient effect.
This area where Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa are located is known as Downtown Dubai.
As I said, this was most tiresome day of all. There was lot of walking.
Dubai is a huge city. They know how to best utilize the space and create magnificient structures with extricate designs and perfection. Burj Khalifa is an example of it.
This was the most tiresome day of all. At about 11am, we headed for Dubai Mall. Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world with over 1200 shops. It is also one of the most expensive malls. We just went wandering in one of the shops, saw a ring, a really beautiful ring, saw it's price in Dirhams, converted to Rupees, and it came to about 1.5 crore INR! Another shop had watches in the range from 30-50 lakh Rupees! We were told that usually the big Sheikhs and film stars buy from here. It is really a gigantic mall and there are taxi services inside the mall to carry passengers from one extreme end to another.
You just cannot see the whole mall in limited time provided. But there are only few places worth seeing. I suggest seeing “The Village” inside Dubai Mall. This place is decorated in a really beautiful way with about 500 umbrellas hanging from the roof.
Dubai Acquarium and Underwater Zoo are the most interesting ones. I suggest to visit these first of all when you visit the mall. If you will be fresh in the morning, you will be able to enjoy the aquarium and zoo. The aquarium is really beautiful. It has octopus, squids, star fish, and even penguins. And they haven't just put them in a water container and put for display. They have created a beautiful habitat similar to how these creatures live. The same is the case for the zoo. There is even a restaurant with an ambiance similar to a forest. The background music involves the voices in the forest, the roar of a lion, birds chirping, a howling wolf, etc. This creates a really wonderful effect. I saw a gigantic crocodile in the zoo. Their ceilings of the containment in which the animals are kept are made up of glass such that you can stand on it from the floor above and see the creatures from top as well.
So that is all to see in Dubai Mall according to me. We had limited time and seeing all the 1200 shops is just impossible. I had an acquaintance who was living in Dubai since past 16 years. He himself hasn't been able to see the whole mall.
Next was Burj Khalifa. The ticket counter for Burj Khalifa “At The Top” is located on the Underground Floor of Dubai Mall. The Tour Package agency will book an online ticket for you. The online tickets have discounts of about 50%. And there is no difference in the tickets issued online and the ones issued at the counter. These tickets are issued for a definite time slots e.g. 5.30pm, 6pm, etc. After you produce the online booking ticket at the counter, they will give you a voucher. It might be written that they will start taking tourists only 15 minutes before their time slots but they are lenient with that. We were alert and they were allowing even 45 minutes before the given time slot. Our time was at 8 pm. I suggest taking a time slot in range of 5-7pm. The sun sets at about 7pm there and this time will give a beautiful view. Mornings and afternoons will be very hot. In our case at 8pm, we had a really wonderful view but we could not click good pictures due to lack of proper light. Evenings will give you real feel of 124th floor.
Burj Khalifa is the wold's tallest building, about 830 meteres high. It has about 160 floors having offices and residential spaces as well. The tourists are taken only till 124th floor via a lift that covers the distance in about a minute or so. The feeling you get in the lift is similar to what you get in an aircraft while taking off. Your ears will also feel the similar pressure.
The 124th floor has an open-sky gallery for tourists. I don't know how many people are aware but there is a free upgrade to 125th floor as well. There is a door at an extreme end from which you can go one floor above. The crowd is little bit thinner and the view is also awesome. There is an art gallery and a souvenir shop on this floor. There was a Bollywood song being played in the background on 125th Floor of the world's largest building.
Dubai also has two bollywood radio channels, one of them being Radio Mirchi. I was very glad to listen to some melodious songs throughout my journey on the radio. They also used to give IPL score updates.
The Dubai Fountain is also a must-see here. The Fountain show is for about 4 minutes and happens in the interval of 30 minutes in the evening. The best time to enjoy it is when it is a bit dark. We also saw it again from the 125th Floor. The lights and music create a magnificient effect.
This area where Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa are located is known as Downtown Dubai.
As I said, this was most tiresome day of all. There was lot of walking.
Dubai is a huge city. They know how to best utilize the space and create magnificient structures with extricate designs and perfection. Burj Khalifa is an example of it.
Dubai Mall
Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
Downtown Dubai
At the Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa
Dubai Fountain
Burj Khalifa
Dubai Fountain
Looking up from 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa
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