Lighting up Burj Khalifa on New Year's Eve

[Kolo]

Pleasantly touched by the sun.
Thought this breakfast item was raspberry yoghurt.
View attachment 61143
It wasn't.
Guesses?

Today we are doing the Big Bus tour. An expat Aussie friend (our work appt next Tuesday) said this was a great way to see Dubai in a snapshot.

Taking MrP to the souks. Gold. Spice. Perfume. Fabric. . He is in for a fun day. I am giving him tomorrow off.

Rosehip something?

 

[love_the_life]

Not sure - think it may be savoury if it was a surprise?????
Let us in on the secret Pushka

 

[JessicaTam]

Maybe cold beetroot and cream soup? :?:

 

[kermatu]

I'm going to guess rosewater and condensed milk??

 

[Pushka]

Score for JessicaT. It was beetroot Yoghurt - solid and kinda salty sweet so Dame you were also close.

It was, um, interesting.

Today we headed off early to take the Big Bus Red/city route. This takes you to the Souks, Dubai Creek and Old Dubai.

It started at Dubai Mall, where Burj Khalifa stands. Khalifa dominates the skyline wherever you are.


The Red route gives excellent photo opps for Khalifa and sit on the right side, up top and up the back.

The Gold souk was our first hop off. Worked our way through the streets wondering if we had found it. Then we knew we had. Just wow. Apparently over 100 tonnes of gold at any one time. Each goldsmith is accredited so everything is squeaky clean.

Mum had a lovely gold bangle that was important to her as Dad gave it to her on their 50th wedding anniversary. She kept that gold bangle on and I wanted something just to remind me. I love rose gold. I tried a couple of solid gold ones on and knew they would bother me at work. Then the jeweller produced this simple 'stretchy' rose gold that was perfect. The stretchy bit isn't elastic but coiled gold. The gold in the souk must be at least 18k. It was an excellent price and has an authenticity certificate. Very happy.

Some views of the Gold souk. My eyes hurt with the bling.

 

[Pushka]

Next up was the Spice Souk. Did I mention we passed the Fish Souk? I dont get seasick but the smell was - um -

We turned a corner and straight away smelt cinnamon. Beautiful sights and smells. The prices compared with what we pay in Oz brought a tear to the eye.


Wine at the Club beckons and have been given a 3 minute warning from MrP. BBL.

 

[Pushka]

The staff in the Club area are wonderful. They top up so many times. Even sneaking up behind you so the glass is full before you can say no. And you cant leave wine in your glass - sacre blue.

Where was I? Oh yes. In the Spice souk. Sadly not buying anything because we don't want to declare anything, my next stop is the perfume souk. I want to buy three important ladies in my life some perfume in a handcrafted scent bottle.

My nose was deserting me. Took a while to find the souk but suspect this souk has gone the way of imported scents from around the world. We asked a few locals if they knew where the souk was. Not a lot of help but finally a local guy suggested one area. We looked up one laneway and ignoring the guy spitting as we looked, thought we might have spotted a few shops that looked like they might have the oils needed to mix up some magic. Bravely entering the store we were shown maybe 15 vials that contained various oils.

I wanted one that smelt most like 'white linen' by Estee Lauder and which would be distilled into various cut glass decanters. This all sounds very exotic and romantic. There were so many oils in the shop to choose from. Frankincense. Myrrh. Sound familiar?

Finally found the correct balance to be decanted.

Does this sound romantic? Well, not really. The mixture was poured into the bottles I had selected. Will post photos tomorrow. Too many wines tonight. But I was happy with my purchases, paid the agreed money and was given two sandalwood incense sticks and exited.

 

[Pushka]

Back on the Hoho bus again. Quite warm by now and in need of food and drink - around 1.30pm. There were no obvious food places around the souk area so we planned to take the hoho bus back to Dubai mall.

There are times in all hoho buses that it gets a bit tedious and this was that time. Hungry. Novelty worn off. Hot in the sun. Beam me back Scotty.

 

[Pushka]

Some scenes of Dubai Creek as we worked back to Dubai mall. Venice it ain't.


This is an area where major exports to local areas and as far away as Africa.

The new Raffles. It is based on an Egyptian theme. I have no idea why.

It is also unusual to see green here. (Although currently Adelaide is no better.).


The ruling Sheik's sister lives in the compound here (top photo). She has dedicated her life to helping charitable causes and has adopted several orphaned children. I think she rocks.

 

[Pushka]

Some more photos of the impressive sky landscape.

And of course these:

Tomorrow, MrP has a day off. Me? Back to Dubai Mall. It is seriously amazing. Where else would you have a skating rink in a desert?

Then taking the HoHo bus again for the Jumeriah area then another tour to Atlantis.

 

[love_the_life]

Look after your gorgeous rose gold bangle, Pushka. Don't want to to go the same way as the one on QM2 particularly as this one is so special.
Sky looks very blue!

 

[Pushka]

Look after your gorgeous rose gold bangle, Pushka. Don't want to to go the same way as the one on QM2 particularly as this one is so special.
Sky looks very blue!

Its funny you should say that. I had finally forgotten about losing that bracelet until yesterday when I looked down and suddenly remembered again. It was so pretty.

Today (currently 7am) MrP will gym it and off to the Beach again. I am doing a second day bus tour - this time the Green route which goes past Jumeirah Beach, Burj al Arab, then up to Atlantis on the Palm where I will get off and go to the Aquarium which is included in the bus ticket. But first making my way back to Dubai Mall which is stunning in its own right.

We haven't had a dinner here yet. We have snacks at the Club then by 8pm ready for sleep. NYE will be a challenge. But there are rave reviews for the Indian restaurant here - Chor - so having Thali tonight.

The sky is a beautiful colour and everything so clear compared with July. Almost considered going back up Khalifa again for a better view.

 

[kermatu]

Sounds great so far. Out of interest, how crowded are the places you've been to date?

 

[Pushka]

For comparison
Yesterday. July.

 

[Pushka]

Sounds great so far. Out of interest, how crowded are the places you've been to date?

Last time in July Dubai was deserted. Currently it is peak season and esp NYE tomorrow. Big night. But everyone is very calm and polite, even tourists, so there is no pushing and shoving etc. We ate at Dubai Mall food plaza for a late lunch and it was busy but not that awful push push shove shove busy. I don't like large crowds and am perfectly ok here. Hong Kong for instance seems much more chaotic. Here there is space. Good transport and politeness. Lots of things to see that are spread across the city.

Will take some crowd shots of the mall today. Gotta raid Hersheys.

 

[kermatu]

Not surprised it's deserted in July. I have been twice - early Sept and early October. very warm, though definitely better in October. Odd mix of some places being pretty deserted while others very crowded. I assumed it would be a bit more uniform this time of year.

 

[Pushka]

This morning I hit Dubai Mall early. No one around and it didn't get busy until around 1pm.
Some excellent photo opps with no photo bombers.
One of the waterfalls.

The shops. The shops.
Funky bags

Love Kate Spade and the sayings here:

My NYE outfit in green (as if)

 

[Pushka]

Very expensive but would they pass the QP test? I think not.

 

[Pushka]

Love the design features here. Simple but effective.


And the cafe's here are not your average mall food areas.

But confession time. This is where I had lunch.

The baked potato soup was wonderful as was the choc milkshake. And just got through one slider - chicken, not pork.

 

[Pushka]

Every good mall needs an ice skating rink, souk and a T rex.

And other features

The babies room was excellent and immaculate.