The Hot and the Cold of Dubai

On our second day in Dubai we decided to catch the Metro (driverless train) to visit the museum which some of our relatives recommended. ( they had gone in a hired limo but DH thought it would be good to experience the train 🤔)

So we walked in the heat to the neatest station...600m away. I had my umbrella as a sunshade but I still whinged to DH as we walked along 🤨😉. Before we had left Australia we had asked DsD2 about the segregation on the trains as she had visited the country twice for work business. She said that as well as ‘women and children’ and ‘men only’ carriages, there were ‘family’ carriages where both men and women could ride. The so called family carriages were predominantly full of men who did not offer a seat to me, but some women did and one male schoolboy did after a women asked him to give me his seat. Some of the men made me feel quite uncomfortable. No matter what time we caught a train, the carriages were always standing room only.

DH took a photo of one of the trains. 

After we reached the station closest to the museum, we had another longish walk through the streets. This was a down at heel section of town. As we trudged I did whinge a bit more! But finally after I asked directions from a local man who was very helpful, we finally found the museum which is an old fort which has found new life as a display of the region’s history. 

In the courtyard...

The building where the museum is, appears to be just a single storey. But looks are deceptive! You go through some doors into air conditioning and then walk down a spiral ramp...bit like the NY Guggenheim in reverse. And at each level there are dioramas representing the history of the area and its peoples...and animals too! It was very dim so photography was a bit difficult. 

So after a good look around the museum, we walked back to the station to catch a train to another shopping centre, The Mall of the Emirates. Again we were going to check out something suggested by friends. 

On the ride there we saw this structure. I looked it up later and found that it is nicknamed The Frame of Dubai. We thought that it was just a giant arch but Google shows photos of the rather fancy ( and ostentatious?) interior where it takes 75 seconds to ride the lift to the observation deck up the top. 

It was yet another long walk from the Mall of the Emirates station but we finally got to the actual mall. 

So a coffee to start...

Some signs got our attention as we walked along...

‘People of Determination’ obviously refers to disabled people.

Don’t you love this? 


Finally we reached our destination in this 800 store Mall...it had been a long walk! 

Yep! They had a snow field complete with ski lift, ski run, picture perfect winter village and lots of paying customers. Once again we just took a few photos from a viewing window rather than pay to go inside.

If you look closely at the photo, there are 2 penguins who have been brought out for a show. 

The show was aimed at the children inside the snow field and the compere entreated the children to practise the 3 R’s to save the penguins’ environment. So Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I thought ‘how hypocritical?’ An artificial snow field in a huge shopping centre which would be using so much energy to cool the mall, freeze the snow and light the centre! Hello! 🤔

Just a few more photos.  All toilet cubicles in Dubai feature a spray shower in the corner. I guess it would do the same job as a bidet. 

When the wait staff realised we were having our last breakfast at the hotel, they surprised us by all coming to our table with this...even the hotel restaurant manager came to the table. 

And they each wished us well. Very impressive!