Dubai's Heart

Thursday was our beach day! I was excited for the day, not only because the weather was going to be great and I wanted to go to the beach, but also since this would be my first opportunity to get out and about downtown, and see first-hand the architectural marvels that Dubai is known for.

We got a bit of slow start, mostly on purpose, as to make it to the base of Palm Jumeirah for our 12:45 reservation at Sushi Samba. Palm Jumeirah is the first on several shockingly futuristic wonders in Dubai that I’ll be discussing and visiting. It’s a few artificial islands built in the shape of a palm tree, with a central trunk and fronds coming off the sides. As each frond is essentially a very long beach with housing and road developments on it, to keep the water from washing away those beaches, there’s a thick artificial breakwater island that encircles the palm as well, with rocks on the edges.

Now, I remember when I was real young looking on satellite view in google earth over Dubai, being captivated by the mere existence of the two palms (there’s a second, larger palm, Palm Jebel Ali, however there is very little development on it as of now, and it is still incomplete). And what I can say from the ground is it is even more amazing than it looks on satellite view. What you don’t get on satellite view is both the massive scale of the Palm, and also the complete development on it that would lead you to imagine that you’re on land that’s existed and been developed on for centuries. I mean, there’s four two-lane major roads running in both directions, circling the base of the palm, with several smaller service drives and smaller roads on the edges, three rows of normal-sized buildings, and beaches on both sides. The experience of being on the palm is so unremarkable that it is actually amazing. Each frond is barricaded off, with strict security allowing only those lucky enough to have a residence or guest house there into the residential area. So yes, it’s indeed unfortunate that I couldn’t go see what it felt like to be on a frond, but hey, with that kind of money, you’d better expect a private as possible residence, I’d suppose.

Our lunch was at Sushi Samba, a Brazilian themed Sushi restaurant on the top floor overlooking the Palm, the World Islands, and the entire skyline. I’d seen the skyline plenty by this point, and of course, there’s something about seeing the Burj Khalifa so easily dwarfing the rest of the city that never really gets old, but I was more excited about seeing this truly bizarre urban development that is the Palm Jumeirah. Ansh and I both got some sushi and other appetizers, before I got a king prawn for the main course, with some doughnuts for dessert. As is pretty true with most fancy places, especially those with a view like this one, the food was very good, though small portions for a heavy price. I’m really glad we went though, because I feel like we couldn’t have done Dubai without seeing the Palm from above at least once.

After lunch, we drove through the underground tunnel to the breakwater island, where the world-famous Atlantis resort is. We got out of the car and walked a bit by the water, before heading to Koko beach on the trunk. The beach was nice, though it was mostly private beaches owned by hotels and luxury apartment complexes. That didn’t stop us (mostly) from walking down the beach anyways though…

(right: the breakwater, with the skyline and the Burj Al Arab in the background)

We then met Ansh’s friends at Kite Beach, about a 15 minute drive down Jumeirah Road, a road running perpendicular to Sheikh Zayed, closer to the waterfront. We parked actually pretty far from where his friends had set up shop, but we got a nice tour of the beach anyways. The weather was absolutely ideal—an ocean breeze that’s stronger than it was cool, the air was just the right amount of warm, and the sun was far enough down that we didn’t need sunscreen. Honestly, perfect weather to be out on the beach in. The downside of being in the gulf and not in the Palm is that at Kite Beach, since there’s no breakwater, the waves were too strong for us to swim in for a while. In the meantime, we played soccer on the beach with Ansh’s friends and some of their friends who came in from BU. Again, just the whole experience, with the sunset in the background, the minaret of a mosque nearby still topped by the Burj from miles away, the wonderful weather, and the joy of just running around made this a time I’m sure I’ll look back fondly on for years. I’m sure it helps that my team won too :) 

We eventually got the go-ahead to swim, and my, was the water lovely. It too was just the perfect temperature, where we felt like we never had to get out, and when we did, we weren’t cold either. We were having fun swimming with and against the waves which were still pretty tall, while twilight faded into dusk. Once it got properly dark, we got out of the water and grabbed some food on the boardwalk, sat and ate, and then returned home.

Friday was spent entirely at Dubai Mall, and it is massive. You could easily spend days there straight and never see everything they have to offer. It is, though, just a shopping mall when it comes down to it, but here are the interesting things about it… What I think got lost in hype for me about going to Dubai is how important the “mall” is to their culture and city. I swear, there’s a mall around every corner! I would imagine that in a city like Dubai—a well-developed city with extreme summer heat—the traditional Arab concept of a Souk has been replaced by a mall, and it sure seems to have.

Storefronts by the fountain-plaza-Burj Khalifa are in high demand—businesses that (1) are wealthy enough, and (2) can fill a large-enough footprint of a store line this side of the mall. From the Apple and Nike stores, you can look out onto the fountains, watch the people enjoying the outside and taking their photos with Burj Khalifa, and of course, you can look onto Burj Khalifa itself, as its close to 200 floors compete with Dubai Mall’s measly four. From the ground, the ambiance is great—it’s locals enjoying themselves, and tourists marveling at the building, all the while people are going between the restaurants with patios and crossing the fountains on its bridge. A real celebration of how Dubai has turned from a next-to-nothing city to a metropolis drawing the attention of the world and providing comfort, luxury, and enjoyment to all who come. I think that in general, Dubai mall is really a celebration of the diversity of Dubai and how all who come here have an opportunity to live a good life.

The stores in the mall are mostly a mix of American, British, and European brands. In fact, I was struggling to find an Arab or Indian brand in the entire mall, despite that being the significant portion of the demographic there. And this is a fair point—that it’s confusing that there are only Western brands, despite the mall not being marketed towards tourists—as you see so many women in the mall wearing full Burqas and Niqabs, and colorful dresses that surely came from India, whereas a significant portion of the men are also wearing that long white gown with a red or white checkered head scarf.

In terms of Burj Khalifa: from the ground, it’s just a tall building. In fact, I was quite underwhelmed by its size! From far away, when seen in comparison to the skyline, it is seriously impressive, but from close up, well, you can’t really tell how tall it is. And for that matter, it’s also deceivingly close to the ground when you’re on the observation deck! My close-up experience with Burj Khalifa was significantly more of a let-down that I was expecting, but it cannot be denied that Burj Khalifa and the fountains and mall surrounding it are truly beautiful.

Otherwise, the rest of Dubai Mall is quite uneventful… we went to Ansh’s favorite bookstore, and I went up to the top of Burj Khalifa. I got to the top right before sunset, so I got the best of both worlds—the city in the light and at sunset, and then the city all lit up after dark. Both views were amazing, though, as I said earlier, I wasn’t expecting to be, well, so close to the ground… Everything looked pretty big still.

After my trip to the top, I met Ansh and his friends for dinner at an Asian restaurant open to the fountains. Getting down there was crazy, as Dubai Mall had become absolutely packed while I was up there. Like, there were traffic guards regulating the escalators! Anyways,

Every half hour, the fountains do a little song and dance, and maybe Burj Khalifa shoots out lasers or lights up itself as well. The songs range from everything from My Heart Will Go On to لنا الله. The shows last between 3 and 8 minutes, give or take, and seemingly everybody at the mall rushes to the front of the fountains to try to get the best view. I did find it funny how unamused Ansh and his friends were by the fountains, but I do suppose they’ve watched these hundreds of times…