Dubai Mall has some really cool things, including the dancing fountains in the videos below.
Of course, none of the things were as nice as spending time with my friend. This was the first time to get to see the fountains from the balcony of a restaurant instead of in a crowd of many people by the gate down below... which was relaxing. We arrived right before sunset and were able to see everything well before it merged into a light-studded silhouette of buildings and shop windows. It was nice that we were right across from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world currently, since our guest was interested in seeing that also.
Good food, good company and good entertainment makes this one of my favorite memories from this part of the world.
About once a month we visit the neighboring city of Dubai. It's about a 2 hour drive with lots of desert to look at, 120-140 kilometer per hour speed limits, on a 4 lane road with constantly weaving traffic. I do not envy Ben's preference to drive! Dubai, once we get there is in a tumultuous state of road construction, but will be very nice when finished.
Parks in the Emirates are a wonderful thing to experience this time of year, as the average temperatures have been in the range of the beautiful early spring temperatures of the States. Parks are also ranging in size from small ungated swing sets to humongous landscaped areas with multiple entrances with a fee. We were invited to visit a park in Dubai that had at least 6 separate entrances. Another couple who lives in Dubai went with us, and we had a map, so we felt prepared. We were supposed to find the 5th gate and meet our friends close to the entrance. So we drove there with a map, and found the gate... but there was no obvious way to get the car to the gate! We looped around twice, and finally had to ask a park maintenance truck guy how to get there. He tried to explain in limited English, then gave up and told us to follow him. Then, the guy who works at the park, also went the obvious way and couldn't enter either... so we followed him around again and finally, finally found the entrance. Then we got a call: they had moved to gate 1. Mercifully, instead of looping around for another hour, our friend just drove over and guided us there. Once inside, though, it was a huge place full of families picnicking, kids riding 4 wheeled bicycles and lots of other things. Supposedly this park has a ton of things, according to this website with information about it:
"The main
features include a 45-metre high Panoramic Tower, Technology
Zone that comprises technological interactive displays, Space
Maze, which is an electronic maze, Sports Area including sports
courts and clubhouse, Barcode Garden, which includes hi-tech
displays and water features, and Alternative Energy Zone featuring
interactive displays on alternative energy such as solar,
wind, geo-thermal tidal, etc. The park also consists of a
lake provided with water cascades, wave machine, geyser, boat
hiring, laser projection on water screen in the lake, and
a lakeside restaurant, and skate park." Other features
include the Mega Bowl amphitheatre with a seating capacity
of 2,000, for group wedding parties, and services required
for different types of performances; Imax Theatre with a seating
capacity of 450, associated with retail and food and beverages
facilities; BMX trail, adventure play area, and adventure
golf; function plaza for special occasions such as launching
a new product, small special markets and parties; as well
as road train, water gardens and water features, retail and
food and beverages outlets, exhibition building, coffee shop
and other amenity buildings."
I think my favorite part, though, was the time spent in the car with friends as we were trying to find the place and then with the friends we met at the park. Ben's quote from Spain was echoed several times through this trip as well: "At least we're all together!"
I'm not very good at spending money and am not easily comfortable in big crowds, so I avoid malls whenever possible. Since malls here offer the largest air conditioned entertainment in the desert, that pretty much means I'm avoiding a good bit of where city life happens in Abu Dhabi. This does not bother me. However, when we were already in Dubai and with friends who knew their way around, it wasn't so intimidating. And a bit surprising...
While we were waiting to get in the restaurant I got to explore the first natural/organic food store that I've found here. I finally found good coconut oil. The coconut oil found in the markets is super processed and smells like lard... Coconut oil should smell like coconut!
We ate at the Texas Road House where, for the first time since moving here I heard the familiar sounds of harmonicas, fiddles and country twang coming over the speakers. Even if country music isn't your thing, if you are raised in the southern U.S. it reminds you of home. It was interesting to see the variety of nationalities enjoying food that was from my home country. The waiters were mostly Philippino, while the customers were mostly a mix of western expats, local Emirates and people from surrounding Arabic-speaking countries. It was amusing then, to see the people's reactions to the waiters and waitresses bursting into enthusiastic line dancing. I can't get the lady's expression who was across from our table out of my mind: it was a combination of shocked and amused and a little bit worried all at the same time!
We got to see the "dancing fountain," which was water synchronized with music and lights in a beautiful display that plays every 30 minutes and changes songs each time. Elias was trying to grab the phone part of the time, but here's a sample:
Talia liked looking at the fish as we were outside the huge in-mall aquarium. It supposedly has a tunnel that you can walk through, but we didn't have time this visit to do that. We did see a shark from the outside. The ceiling outside of the aquarium was twinkling with "stars."
She also really liked the butterfly ceiling decorations where what looked like a million shiny, white butterflies linked on strings were hung mobile style from a huge block of ceiling. Their wings fluttered with the wind, making it even more realistic.
