In December, a few weeks after Dubai, I came back to the United Arab Emirates, this time in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the country. It was just a single day layover on my way to Amsterdam but I was able to see a lot.

After I arrived at the airport in the early morning, I took the shuttle bus to downtown Abu Dhabi. I then walked along the Corniche, a pedestrian path along the coast, until I reached the road that leads to the Marina Mall. Instead of going there, I continued along Corniche Road to the Emirates Palace, a 7-star luxury hotel. Part of the hotel is open to all visitors, so I got inside. It was indeed quite nice… After that, I took the bus to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which was actually pretty far away. It was a bit of an adventure so I will make a separate post about it later. After the Mosque, I took a taxi to the Marina Mall and had a quick look inside. Then I headed towards the Heritage Village nearby but there was an event for the Volvo Ocean Race so I went in. It hadn’t really started yet so it was not very interesting. I continued on the road, past the Heritage Village, until the Abu Dhabi Theatre. There was a great viewpoint on the skyline of Downtown Abu Dhabi from there. Finally, I walked on the road towards the Etihad Towers but stopped at a café for sheesha and diner until it was time to go to the airport.

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On my last day in Dubai, I checked out from my hotel early and headed to the Dubai Creek area. I started first in Bur Dubai, where the original inhabitants of Dubai settled in the early 19th century. I walked along the Creek (the promenade is interrupted by construction work though). I then visited the Dubai Museum and walked in the area. I crossed the Dubai Creek using one of the many abras and arrived in Deira, where I visited the souk next. I crossed the Creek again: I had to be at the Burj Khalifa to visit the observatory (the ticket was tied to a specific time) so I left the area for a few hours. When I came back, I continued at the same point as I left and visited the Heritage Village in Bur Dubai. There was not much activity there, maybe because it was a bit late. I walked along the Creek until I reached the mouth, then settled at a café, smoking sheesha until nightfall. After that, I crossed the Creek again to visit the spice and gold souks of Deira at night. Then it was time to go to the airport to catch my plane back to Lahore.

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On my third and last day in Dubai, I went back to Burj Khalifa, this time for the so-called “At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY” experience. At 555m, it is the highest observation deck in the world (as attested by a plaque from the Guinness World Records). It opened a few months ago and is located on level 148 of the tower. There are 163 floors in total so it is almost at the top.

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For my second day in Dubai, I had booked a boat tour with Yellow Boats in advance. The 90min tour goes through the Dubai Marina, the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab, which is a bit further away. I went on the first tour of the day (9am), so there were not a lot of people on the boat.

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On my second day in Dubai, I had to be at the Marina early for a boat tour I had booked (I will write a full post about it later). After the tour, I continued walking through Dubai Media City to the Palm Jumeirah Monorail Gateway station. The Monorail leads to the Atlantis hotel, built on the artificial Palm Jumeirah Islands. A small part is open to the public. Besides the hotel, there is also an aquarium (The Lost Chambers), a waterpark (Aquaventure) and a dolphin park (Dolphin Bay), where you can swim with dolphins.

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After checking into my hotel, I went out again and headed to Jumeirah Beach, just in time for sunset. After dark, I walked around the Marina.

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After Burj Khalifa and the Emirates Towers, I took the Metro to the Dubai Marina, then switched to the newly opened tram, in order to get to Jumeirah Beach. There were a lot of people there. I walked along the beach for a while, then on the path bordering the canal of the Dubai Marina. I boarded a waterbus at some point. Finally, I made my way to the Jumeirah Lakes Towers, on the other side of Sheikh Zayed Road from the Marina, then walked to my hotel near Lake Almas West.

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In November, I had to be out of Pakistan in order to renew my visa so I decided to go to Dubai and spend a few days there. I had been previously to Dubai Airport but it was my first time actually visiting.

After I got off the plane and passed customs, I took the metro to the area known as Downtown Dubai, which contains the Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and a lot of residential and office skyscrapers. At the mall, it was quite early in the morning so no stores were open yet. Then, after almost 2 hours since arriving, I finally emerged to open air near the basin that hosts the Dubai Fountain. I walked around the basin, taking many photos of Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world. I then made my way to the observatory, just as it opened. I bought my ticket (~40€) and took the elevator to the 124th floor. The view was pretty good, although, unfortunately, there was nothing much interesting to look at while up there… I was surprised by how extended the city was: Even the Burj Al Arab was quite far away. After Burj Khalifa, I walked towards the Emirates Towers. There are pavements and even pedestrian signals but the area is not really designed for walking and it took me a long time under the hot sun to reach the towers. The walk passed next to very modern buildings and yet more were under constructions. After the Emirates Towers, I took the metro to the Dubai Marina, where my hotel was located.

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