Burj Khalifi and Dubai Mall
The fountain at Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE
Dubai, From Old to New
Time Travel in Dubai
It felt as if we were traveling through time today. We set out on foot through the cozy streets in the old part of Dubai. We crossed the harbor on a water shuttle and explored an old souk briefly.
The guys working the stores here try every trick in the book in an attempt to lure you into their store. "Mister, mister, come to my store, buy pashmina, get a photo taken".
Di is an easy target in the souk market and I had to rescue her several times - pulling her out of the stores and the clutches of consumerism. Although we are not here to shop we did pick up a nice sun hat for Di which is much needed here as temperatures are getting into the high twenties midday.
Shopping in Old Dubai
Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall
We decided we could not leave Dubai without exploring the area around the Burj Khalifa. At 822 meters, it is indeed the tallest tower in the world. We took the metro to the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall stop.
We had grossly underestimated the size of the Dubai Mall. It quickly became apparent that in a few metro stops, we had traveled from the markets of the last century to the markets of this century.
Construction near Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall
Seven rolling walkways from the metro led us straight to the mall. The size of the construction here makes you scratch your head in amazement. The trip on the rolling walkways lasted 15 minutes before arriving at the 1200 store Dubai Mall.
I am not a shopper or a fan of malls, but wherever you go in the UAE, you tend to end up in one, whether you like it or not. I understand that as temperatures approach 50 degrees Celsius, the malls become a nice escape.
Shopping at The Dubai Mall
However, given the huge sums of money spent on construction, I wonder if they could have come up with something more original, something more in line with Emirati culture, rather than just copying the, in my opinion, zero-personality massive malls of the Western world.
Although, as malls go, this one was impressive. We had a passable Lebanese food court lunch followed by a very Western Starbucks coffee to give our legs a rest and get our Wi-Fi fix.
Exploring the area around Burj Khalifa in Dubai
We did not go up the Burj Khalifa. It was rather expensive, and Di is not thrilled about heights. Instead, we took a nice walk in the area around the tower. We settled in a park where we took in the light show reminiscent of the light show we had seen at the Bellagio while in Vegas for Kim and Linda's Anniversary some years ago.
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The photos in this article are made using a Fujifilm X-T1. Lenses: XF 14mm f/2.8 R - XF 23mm f/1.4 R - XF 35mm f/2 R WR - XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR (links to my camera and lens reviews). Editing was done with Lightroom and I have made use of Fujifilm’s film simulations in some of the photos.
