Today the plan was to get up at 7am. I set two alarms because I figured I would sleep in. The first alarm I turned off and got up at the second alarm which was 0730. Rhian didn’t rise until 0830. I went downstairs and had breakfast and Rhian joined me later. Today we had two adventures booked. One was a trip up the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. In the afternoon we had a sunset safari out in the desert.
Our Burj Khalifa At The Top tour was booked for 10am. We caught a taxi from our hotel back to The Dubai Mall around 0915. The taxi ride was around twenty minutes. When we arrived at the mall all the shops were closed. They do not open here until at least 10am. We followed the signs through the mall until we found the desk for the At The Top. They wanted our voucher document but we only had the reference number.
After handing my passport over so they could copy it we were given tickets and so we made our way through security and lined up for the lift to the top. During the ride to the top which covers 140 floors in less than a minutes a video plays telling you how great the building is. The walls of the lift are all screens and it gives you the feeling that the lift is transparent as it simulates all the floors your passing as you ascend.
Once reaching the top and exiting the lift you are lead outside to a viewing deck. You could not see very far due to the dusty / smoggy air. I don’t think you could see more than a couple of kilometres. Rhian and I spent maybe half an hour up the top taking what photos you could. Overall I was not impressed. We have been up other towers and viewing platforms on the trip that were much more impressive than this. We bought a fridge magnet then caught the lift back down.
We had a few hours to kill before our sundowner safari tour so we walked back to the Huge aquarium we came to see yesterday. Rhian went off and spent an hour in the H&M store while I watched the sharks. After an hour I was bored and went to hurry Rhain up. After getting Rhian to buy some more clothes and getting her out of H&M we left the mall and caught a taxi back to our hotel.
We made a short pitstop at our room to drop off what Rhian had bought then left the hotel and walked across the road back to The Mall of the Emirates. We had Indian take away from the same place I got dinner from the other night. It was good. Now we were both full we did some shopping for an hour and a half to kill time. It was finally time to go back to our hotel and get organised for our last tour of the trip. We arrived back at our room and dropped the bags and were watching The Simpsons waiting for our driver to pick us up. Wasn’t a long wait as our phone rang and it was reception telling us our driver had arrived. He was 15 minutes early.
Our car for this tour was a Nissan 4WD. Very clean and comfortable. They only seem to drive luxury cars over here. We shared the ride with two mother and daughters. One pair of them was German on holiday. The others lived in Dubai. It took about 45 minutes to drive out the meeting point at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. At least thirty other 4WD’s also arrived at the gate to the reserve. All drivers had to get out and let the tyres down to go into the dunes. One by one all the drives filed through the gate and took us on a five minute drive through the dunes until we reached the site for the Falcon show. The show only lasted five minutes. It was just a short history of the Falcon and then shown how it flys around then catches its food.
After the show we got back into the 4WD and were taken on a drive through the desert dunes. This is where the drivers get to have some fun throwing the 4WD’s around. However they do do it safely. The girls all got scared as the driver launched the car up a dune and then it jumps over the crest. This was great fun drifting around the turns and crab walking down the side of sand dunes. I should have bought a suction cup and mounted the goPro to the car. I did take a video on the camera. Will see how it comes out. Just before sunset the drivers stopped so we could get out and take photos as the sun set. I think Rhian and I got some good shots. Will have to see when I get home and go through them. Another reason why we stopped was that one 4WD had a flat tyre and another was stuck on top of a dune. As we took photos some of the drivers went back to change the wheel and rescue the car stuck on top of the dune.
Just as it fell dark we all got back into the car and were taken to the camp site. Arriving at the camp site Rhian got a photo with owl. Other people were having rides on the camels. Rhian and I went to the bar for a drink. They had beer here but it was Fosters. Dinner was a two course meal. I am not sure what the entree was but it was a selection of hot Indian foods. Was ok. Half an hour later mains were served. Everyone was lining up then we were told we didn’t need too. Was enough space between the booths for everyone. I took too much and couldn’t eat it all. I was full. Rhian and I bought three photos that were taken earlier on. One was Rhian with the Owl and the others were of the sunset.
After dinner there was an half hour belly dancer show. I don’t think the audience was really into it. They didn’t interact as she tried to encourage. After the belly dancer they had a five minute star gazing session. Rhian and I moved out into the middle of the camp site. With all the lights off you could see the stars but I didn’t see any shooting stars. The lights came back on and that was the end of the night. Rhian and I walked straight back to our car and the others were there also. We were some of the first to leave. The drive back to the gate was flat and on a dedicate dirt road. No night time sand dunes.
Once back at the hotel Rhian started packing the suitcases for the flight home and I did our online check inn. This hotel had no problems printing the tickets for me. I spent the rest of the night writing blogs before going to bed.
