The Dubai Mall
The Dubai Mall was only completed in 2008 and it is superb. You could spend a week there. Not only are there 1,200 shops, but also many other activities. There are over 100,000 visitors a day. You definitely want to go there if in the neighbourhood.
The Kinokuniya bookshop inside is also huge – I suspect it was around the same size as the Piccadilly Waterrmains which is the largest in Europe. The only thing that stopped me buying more than four books is that I have to lug them around with me for a couple more weeks.
This is a spectacular waterfall inside.
A typical section. It doesn’t look huge but There are scores of segments like this.
A must see is the Aquarium. I would say it rates above any other one I have been to. Part of what made it great is that in many of the displays, the fish are not entirely walled off – you can peer in from above.
They have 33,000 marine animals on display.
You can also photograph them from above
The turtles
They had a dozen otters or so. Hard to get a good photo with the glass.
They had three 1.5 metre crocodiles. Luckily they can’t jump the wall!
I love these fish.
And he’s so cute
Pretty spectacular coral
That is actually a squid. It is gross in real life. The main area of it pumps up and down, reminding me of the alien in Alien!
The seals having sex. Well actually play fighting but you never know!
They had penguins also.
I guess this is a crab even though it looks like a mutant spider
One of the many sharks. You can pay to get lowered in a shark cage
And another star from Jaws
When I saw that fish, I commented that it was a motherf**ker of a fish. Imagine having that on your fishing rod.
The only downside of the mall, was that I spilt a very hot pasta onto my arm while carrying it to the checkout, and let out a string of profanities that seemed to survive the translation barrier. The arm actually got mildly burnt.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Any idea if the crocs were porosus or siamensis?
(I really think you’d know if the seals were having sex)
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
There’s a tourism career in your future, David!
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Yea- I’m beginning to think that you are wanting to get a job with the Minister of Tourism…
I think that it is an octopus, not a squid, btw.
edit: check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab for the crab
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Sheesh – I thought the Mall of the Emirates with its in-house skifield was impressive ….
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Here I am all excited about David’s upcoming story on shopping in the largest mall in the world. He will show us pics of the latests fashions in Dubai, shots of the fabulous jewellery and close ups of designer shoes and handbags.
Instead we get fish!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I showed a few crocodile photos yesterday Rachel. That’s how $US 50k Hermes handbags begin…close enough?
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Why are the pictures mostly crap? Were they taken with a mobile phone?
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
A somewhat uncharitable remark ISeeRed, you can check the exif data out with an exif reader in your browser.
The photos are taken with an Olympus FE46 or X41 or X42 compact digital camera.
Some of the photos are taken at a shutter speed that is not optimal for wildlife (too slow), indoor lighting (fluorescents, reflections) can confuse the white balance on most cameras, and shooting through glass will also degrade the image.
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Is that Waterstones in Picadilly?
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Waterstones?
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 am
Im not trying to be a smart arse , but do the woman wear muslim clothing in Dubai? How predominate is islam there?
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:58 am
Biomag – lots of women in fully robed, and in some of the malls, we even saw shops which sold burkha with fashion trim – does that answer your question?
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:06 am
> Biomag83
Women can wear pretty much what they like. Muslim women wear Muslim style clothes, with variations depending on cultural background. Western women wear western clothes, as do many Muslim women also. And many women are not shy about wearing clothing that clearly defines their smart arses, although some shopping malls make a token effort at asking women to dress more respectfully. Dubai is nothing like Saudi or Iran when it comes to expectations of women having to cover up.
Dubai is part of the UAE, which is an Islamic country, which means that the state religion is Islam, and the laws and government follow Islamic principles. However, it does not mean that all residents must be Muslim, nor that other religions are banned. In Dubai the government has donated land to other religions to allow them to build churches and temples and other places of worship.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Most women wear a hajib, but not all.