Welcome to the Snyder Life: Dubai, Part 1

Mark always wanted to visit Dubai and since there was a direct 8 hour flight from Johannesburg and only a 2 hour time difference we decided it would make a nice vacation spot. When we told people we were going to Dubai they would ask, "what are you going to do there?". I was surprised that more people don't realize what a vacation destination it is, so much to do it's hard to fit it all in.

Burj Al Arab is the building shaped like a sail, the only 7 star hotel in Dubai.

We booked an apartment in the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) area which gave the kids plenty of room to move around and allowed us to not have to eat every meal out. JBR’s main street is lined with restaurants and stores that looked out over the beach so we could walk to dinner each night.

View of The Palm (man made island) from our apartment

View below our apartment onto the Ritz Carlton

First impressions of Dubai were that it was obviously a new city, huge skyscrapers everywhere, clean and friendly. I was surprised with so many people living in such a small area that there was no more traffic, but we never had any problems getting a taxi or traveling around. There were regular taxi’s and pink top taxi’s intended for muslim women who are not allowed to ride in a vehicle with a male who is not their husband.

Taxi’s were remarkably cheap but not all of the drivers knew where the tourist attractions were.

The apartment complex was a series of 7 buildings each with about 40+ floors. We had a 2 bedroom unit on the 42nd floor so plenty of elevator rides for Adalyn. It was interesting that the lights in the building would not turn on until you walked into the room. Also, next to each toilet was a sprayer used as a type of bidet from what I can tell (these were found in the public restrooms which they called washrooms)

The apartment building was mostly filled with residents and not tourists like us, and at that most of them were expats working in Dubai therefore we met several Americans. There was a grocery store right across a walkway and I was thrilled to find some American products.

More like the size of a market, the grocery store’s food was priced higher than what you find in America and also had a separate section for pork products.

I found it strange that there was a sign stating “not for Muslims” as if a Muslim would forget and accidentally buy pork products. I ventured in and oddly enough found Pop Tarts in that section, and they were not pork Pop Tarts.

On one of the first days in Dubai we went to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world standing at 2,716.5 feet with over 160 stories, to venture up to the 124^th floor of the building and take in the sights from an observation deck.

Luckily we pre-booked our tickets as they were sold out for several days. Located inside The Dubai Mall we found our way to the exhibit and took the about 2 minute ride up to the 124^th floor.

Spectacular views that I could have taken in for hours as you could see for miles and the skyscrapers below looked so small despite their true size.

Looking up from the 124th floor with 40 more floors to go

The Burj Khalifa compared in size to the other buildings.

The tallest building in the world is located next to the largest mall in the world, The Dubai Mall.

view of the aquarium inside the mall

With over 1200 stores there were separate wings designated for different types of items. There was a wing for restaurants and I was shocked to see a Texas Roadhouse. Another side had decadent chocolates and treats at ridiculous prices, though I did not taste them all so maybe some were worth it.