Continuing on from my previous posts on our weekend in Dubai, we wanted to make sure we saw as much of this amazing place as possible in the short time we had. So, we headed out (in the Burj Al Arab Rolls Royce Phantom with in-car wifi obviously!) to be shown around by the very helpful Yousef.
We had booked lunch in one of the restaurants in the Armani hotel at the base of the Burj Khalifa — the tallest building in the world — and when we got there found that we had just missed the fountain show by 2 minutes. A poor piece of research by us there!
Heading outside, the view upwards was a little daunting as the building towered over us, but we knew incredible views would await. Off we went, expecting Empire State-esque queues to be conquered before we could head to the top.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that we could buy an immediate access pass and head straight to the lift. And so, passes purchased, we ascended the ear-popping 123 floors to the viewing deck and stepped out to have it brought home to us the incredible level of construction activity being undertaken throughout Dubai. It didn’t matter in which direction you looked, there were cranes everywhere building skyscrapers, as far as the eye could see.
Those fountains kept tempting us, with a clear view below outlining them perfectly!
After descending from the tower, the lift helpfully disgorges you into The Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping centre. Complete with soaring atriums full of paper butterflies, multi-storey waterfalls, an ice rink, aquarium and zoo it was certainly a shopping experience like no other..
By this stage there was no way we were leaving without seeing those fountains, so we headed outside to watch the sun starting its descent over the building…
before the fountains kicked in to life, starting with swaying water jets evoking snakes rising from their baskets…
finishing with exploding cannon style jets shot water high into the sky!
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We headed back to the hotel just as the sun sunk into the sea, concluding one of my more incredible days exploring with Glass.
