We stayed in the really nice Castells Al Barsha Hotel, paid for by the wonderful Arabs with breakfast included :D It was in a good location next to the train station, but everything around it looks like a big building site! Weird.
On our first full day we visited the Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping centre and the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building... they have to have the best of everything! There is an amazing water fountain display, using lights and music as well, that takes place at the Burj Khalifa every 30 minutes, with a different 'theme' every time.
Our next day was spent on the Palm Jumeirah where we got a 'combo ticket' for the Lost Chambers Aquarium and the Aquaventure waterpark which are at the Atlantis hotel/resort at the end of the palm. Every bit of detail of the place has been thought out so well.. it all looks so gorgeous and just like the underwater world of Atlantis. I braved the vertical 'Leap of Faith' slide which takes you at 70kph through a tank of sharks.. but you're going to fast to notice! But there is another slide that also goes through the tank, where we saw huge sting rays and sharks trying to eat a scuba divers' head whilst he was feeding them! Also.. Mo, who apparently can't get burnt in Dubai because the ozone is too thick there :S got very burnt haha! And me too :(
Silly silly Mo took us to the old Gold Souks on the Friday, but they are closed on this day!!! And I had brought the wonderful British weather with me to Dubai, so it was throwing it down with rain all day and the streets flooded within about 5 minutes. Dubai is not well equipped for this kind of weather and the drains overflowed with stinking sewage and roads were covered with soapy water, oddly?! We went home to the hotel fairly soon after the rain started...
We took a sort walk from our hotel to the Burj Al Arab on the Saturday and visited some old Souks nearby which were absolutely beautiful and it was such a quiet, tranquil area in the middle of a busy built up city, which was nice for a change. We then went to the Wild Wadi waterpark, which could possibly be better than the Atlantis waterpark. For one, the water is a lot warmer, so that was nice, and there was a really warm wave pool to swim in. There were also massive 4 person and 6 person slides, which were pretty awesome and even better when the rings were full, it felt like we were going to go flying off it into the street!
The last two days saw amazing weather! So we decided to chill out by our rooftop swimming pool, where I was waited on by some guy working there! Haha :) And on the Monday, sunbathed again at the Jumeirah Beach... we both got very burnt! :/ At night we went to the Dubai Mall again and went on an indoor rollercoaster inside the SEGA games bit of the mall!! It cost us about 50p! We then met up with Mohammed, Mo's friend, and his nice sports car, and he took us for some food and to a peaceful cordond off area of the beach. It had an amazing view of the coastline, and we could see the Palm, the Atlantis, the Burj Khalifa and the Burj Al Arab!! It's always good to know a local with knowledge of the best spots!
