Wednesday June 5 – Dubai

We did the hop on hop off bus today.  The city has changed a great deal in the nine years since we were last here.  It is a mixture of modern and traditional architecture, with the emphasis on the word ‘biggest’:  biggest structure in the world, biggest hotel in the world, biggest apartment block in the world, was the biggest building in the world when it was built, is the biggest ferris wheel in the world, etc., etc.  It is an artificial city with a Big Ben, minus the clock face, a small replica of the Sydney Opera House, the biggest indoor ski slope in the world with the longest permanently snow covered ski run in the world, an indoor ice rink, and a mall with Egyptian sculptures at the entrances.  This is one of Dubai’s 75 malls and boasts a salt cave spa, which is meant to help you overcome colds and flu and even skin disorders such as eczema.

Dubai has an extensive building operation going on at the moment in preparation for expo 2020 which they are hosting.  One of the new buildings being constructed at the moment will be 928 m tall and so will be bigger than the Burg Khalif which is 100 m shorter.

They have driverless trains and are extending this system at the moment.  They also have driverless trams and by the time expo begins they are hoping to have driverless taxis.

The Burg Khalif was originally going to be called The Burg Dubai, but when the financial crisis hit they did not have enough money to complete it, so were helped out by Abu Dhabi.  Dubai had one month before the opening to change the name on all their letterheads, crockery, uniforms and so on.  It would have been an insult to the Emir of Abu Dhabi, Emir Khalif, if they had not recognized his monetary contribution.

On Palm Jumeirah which looks like a palm tree with trunk and fronds, we had a look at Atlantis The Palm Hotel which boasts a wave pool.  Here you can also swim with dolphins and seals

Tonight, on board, we were entertained by a brilliant magician, Brett Sherwood.  I have no idea how he did his tricks.  Some would have been sleight of hand but others were nowhere near his body.  He had a pack of cards with a rubber band around them.  He threw the pack into the audience and asked one person to peek at a card and then pass the pack to another person,  After six people had taken a peek, they threw the pack onto the floor of the stage.  The magician did not touch the pack but was able to tell which card each person had noted.  Before he started this trick he had one passenger check the cards to see that it was a real pack of 52 different cards.  WOW!