Uae

Global Village in DubaiWe also visited the world market Global Village, part of the Dubai Shopping Festival. This is a huge shopping/theme park about an hour outside Dubai that can best be compared to the Epcot Center, but with much more of an emphasis on shopping.…

The Bur Dubai Souq, across from Deira and right next to the abra station (this is where the boats drop you off when you cross the creek) had some of the best deals we saw in Dubai.…

The Ibn Battuta Mall in DubaiAnother mall we checked out was the Ibn Battuta mall. This mall is at the far end of New Dubai, so was a little costly in a cab to get to.…

Ski Dubai ski hillSki Dubai and the Mall of the Emirates is another must-see in Dubai. Despite being Canadian, we’d never actually been downhill skiing, but why not start in Dubai?…

Madinat Jumeirah Souk in DubaiRight beside the Burj Al Arab is Souq Madinat Jumeirah. This is a high-end shopping mall/”souk”, which is the cleaned-up, high price version of the souks elsewhere in the city.…

Public Beach close to Burj Al ArabWe opted instead for viewing the outside from the public beach, about a 20 minute walk away. The hotel is surrounded by beautiful beaches, but all the ones close by are exclusively for use by hotel guests.…

Burj Al Arab, too expensive for usOne of the “must-see” for any visit to Dubai is the Burj al Arab, a beautiful tall modern hotel in the “New Downtown” of Dubai.…

Sharjah SquareOur next destination was Sharjah. Shajarh is actually another emirate, not too far from Dubai, but there are no highways and it is non-stop city. Without traffic, it would probably take only a quarter of an hour to get there, but traffic made it closer to an hour.&helli

Our driver took us back to the hotel, where we waited for our second tour, the evening/night tour. The second tour (Starlight Express ) started on time and, although we were worried about the idea of combining two of their tours, it worked quite well.…