Sunday, December 30th, 2012 to Wednesday, January 2nd 2013
I finally made my first trip to the famous Dubai. This trip, like all others, started out the same.....at the good old Riyadh airport and then about an hour later I was in Dubai. I should probably make you aware that I arrived in Dubai a little under the weather. The cold I'd been fighting off this holiday season had finally won the battle but I tired not to let it interfere with my first NYE in the Middle East. 3 of us flew out a Riyadh (Lola, Lisa and Myself) on Sunday morning and joined 3 others (Amber, Gemma and Ricky) in Dubai. The 6 of us had a very nice apartment rented for the few days.
Once arriving at the Dubai airport we needed to make our way through passport control........which is a little annoying. The UAE still requires Canadians to have a VISA to enter the country (I'm not getting into the politics of that one because it still really pisses me off) so I went to pay for my VISA (almost 200SAR), while the other 2 girls got in line. That line moved very very slowly. I've heard stories of people waiting over 2 hours at Dubai passport control. Lucky for us it wasn't that long. Because of the VISA requirement it does take me slightly longer at the counter than the girls from the UK but eventually we made it through, made a quick stop at duty free and then it was off to find our hotel.
It was a cozy little 6 bed apartment and we managed to take enough time to find our beds and then make our way back to a cab so we could head to the Dubai Mall. Yes, no trip to Dubai is complete without a stop at the mall (or so I'm told) if not for the shopping but for the spectacle. But I did manage to buy a few things.
A glimpse at one of Dubai's most famous landmarks, the Burj Khalifa.
Dubai Mall is a massive place full of all the store you could possibly need plus an Olympic sized skating rink, a theatre, and an aquarium.
The mall has everything......even a little taste of home.
The Waterfall.
Another look at The Waterfall......another spot people visit while at the mall. Like I said, not just about the shopping.
It also happens to be right next door to the World's Tallest Building, the Burj Khalifa. After a wander around the mall we headed outside to check out The Burj as well as "the show" at the Dubai Fountain.
It really is a huge building, Crazy tall. This trip I never did make it to the top but I'm sure I'll have another chance to visit.
Construction on The Burj finished in January 2010 and on it's completion it had set the following records: Tallest building in the world (828 metres or 2716.5 feet), tallest free-standing structure in the world (a record previously held by the CN Tower in Toronto), highest number of stories in the world (160), highest occupied floor in the world, highest outdoor observation deck in the world, elevator with the longest travel distance in the world and tallest service elevator in the world. It is home to fine dining, corporate suites, residential suites, a fitness club and of course an observation tower. It is pretty impressive.
While I must say The Burj is pretty impressive but I was a little disappointed with "the show". It happens every 30 minutes and this one lasted for a minute or so (however I have seen videos of shows that lasted a bit longer than that). Either way now I can say that I've seen it and that's all that counts.
The Dubai Fountain.
You can judge the show for yourself. Other videos I've seen the music is much different (don't get me wrong I love this song, O Mio Babbino Caro (Oh My Beloved Father) from the Opera Gianni Schicchi) but some Lionel Ritchie would have been ok too.
The evening was capped off with some dinner before we headed back to the hotel. New Year's Eve we would be heading down to The Atlantis Hotel to enjoy Sandance.....with a whole lot of other people.
NYE we got up and had a massive breakfast. Pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, eggs....the whole works......all topped off with some mimosas. It was a great warm up for what would be a long and fun day.
All dressed up and ready to go. I went with the same dress as the Jingle Ball but wore the hair a little different.
With Lola.....often my partner in crime. I told you, you would be seeing that straight hair again sometime soon.
Yes a pre-travel photo shoot. We had some fun waiting to get to the venue.
Speaking of getting to the venue, it was a little bit of an adventure. I will not bore you with all the details (but I assure you it involves some drunken antics on the Dubai Metro....not from me I assure you though. I had taken way too much Advil Cold and Sinus and did very little pre-drinking....I can't say the same for the rest of my party). Not to worry, after a cab ride, a metro ride, followed by another cab ride (with a total stranger from Italy) we arrive at Sandance, picked up our tickets and headed to the VIP section for the evening.
I found this amusing....especially since shortly after we arrived, they shut off the music for about twenty minutes out of respect for local prayer times. Yes, it may be Dubai but it is still a Muslim country but if you're not going to respect traditional dress why waste your time respecting prayer times?
Lisa, Lola and I at the party. We paid a little bit extra for VIP tickets. Basically this meant we didn't have to stand in line as long for bars, or even more important.......bathrooms. Plus we were on a raised platform and it gave us a great view of the stage.
We weren't there very long before we started making friends. This is Kevin.....he loaned Lola his sweater all night. We eventually returned it to him at the end of the night....sort of. We hung it on the table he'd been hanging out at all night but I guess we'll never know if he got it back.
Lola and I made our way down to the crowd for a little while.
Sandance is a giant music event, held several times a year at The Atlantis Hotel in Dubai. It is on the beach (hence Sandance). There were about 8 different artists/DJ's playing although I had only heard of one of them (Ellie Goulding). But I knew the atmosphere was going to be great so I just went with it.
That's Ellie Goulding. She was pretty good.
A little video of Ellie Goulding so you know the type of music she plays.
A little look of the atmosphere and crowd. It was crazy and so much fun.
This video should give you an idea. This was during Zane Lowe's set. I'd never heard of him before (I don't really pay attention to the DJ scene) but I must say if I saw his name on a bill again I would certainly check him out. He played a great set that lead up to midnight and some great fireworks.
A look at our view of the stage.
At midnight there was an amazing fireworks display. The fun part about it too was that our location allowed us to watch several fireworks displays. Now before you ask, no this is not the fireworks display you would have seen on TV, that show was at the Burj but this one was pretty good.
A little shot of the fireworks.
Check out the video. It was great and if you watch you can see some of the smaller fireworks being set off on the other side of the marina.
So getting home from Sandance was also an adventure. Again I'm not going to bore you with details but it involved a car ride with 3 guys from France, a broken metro system and a cab ride with a total stranger from Germany. The group of us went home at different times but Amber and I managed to find each other in the wee hours of the morning to make the trip back to the hotel together. And I must give a shout out to my new friend Samy B, a guy from Montreal we met in the crowd. It was him who set Amber and I up with a ride. Just another wonderful example of fantastic Canadians you can meet around the world.
Later on New Year's Day, people started to head home but Lola, Amber and I headed back to Dubai Mall for some more shopping and some food (don't worry we didn't leave too early). We did a great job recovering.
Another picture of The Burj but this time in the daylight.
Eventually January 2nd rolled around and Lola and I had to head back to Riyadh. We said good-bye to Amber who had a few more days in Dubai before heading to South East Asia to reunite with Naomi (remember the November Ma'salama....they were room mates). Amber's time in Riyadh was over so it will be a while before we shall see her again.
But in summary, NYE in Dubai was a total success. Am I sold on Dubai? Not so much. I kind of feel like the city tries to be New York City but can only pull off Vegas. I think I will try to visit again, but try to see a few different things.
Happy New Year Everyone. Hope all is well and best of luck to you all in 2013.
Julie
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