Hi thereee! This is a bunch of pictures i took in dubai while i was there from 24/12/10 till 1/1/11!
I visited the dubai zoo, which was built in 1967 and is actually the oldest existing zoo in the Arabian peninsula. The place was generally in poor condition and had mostly inadequate habitat for animals.
It broke my heart to see so many beautiful animals in small, bare spaces, especially considering that temperatures in the country rises beyond 50C during the summer months. Terrible place, and I hope the dubai authorities would really do something about it.(Apparently there are plans for a new zoo, but they were put on whole due to the whole dubai crisis recently. sigh.)
That's my paps. :>
The zoo was near jumeirah beach so we dropped by! It was really, really nice. White sand, blue sea, clear sky. I think part of it was reclaimes but heck, it was still a splendid place.
(Light leaks, boohoo.) But anyway thats the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa, in the middle. I had a pretty good view of it from my dad's apartment, and i especially liked looking at it on hazy(? sandy?) days because it just looks like a tear in the skies. Up close, it's huuuuge.
The desert! We went for this touristy desert safari thing(idk why they call it a 'safari when there weren't animals, except domesticated camels and annoying children). Basically, we have a really bumpy(but fun!) ride on 4wds around the dunes till we reach this camp place in the middle of the desert. There're some things you can do at the camp(shisha, henna, buying souvenirs) and then there's a 'cultural' show and a dinner buffet of local fare. The 4wd ride was really fun haha the driver played really loud arabic pop music in the car and we were just thrown about from the bumps and slopes. My dad and i figured we got some rogue driver because the rest of the cars seemed to go at a much lower speed and they were in convoys of a few cars whilst we were alone!!
The cultural show was really... underwhelming. There was an egyptian dancer, he was alright, followed by an iranian singer(?? at this but most of the audience were iranian tourists, so they enjoyed it at least) and an obligatory belly dancer. The food was... interesting haha the roasted meat were roasted meat(can't rly go wrong there) but the rices(haha they had 2 kinds) were strange tasting and they had a bunch of salads. Yeahhhhhh and it was rly cold at night.
There was also the dubai museum, at the tourist district. I generally like museums but I didn't like theirs. :( The place mostly covered on the modern history of dubai and how it grew to become what it is now, with dark pathways and creepy+lifelike mannequins(i rly hate manequins, even those at clothing shops scare me) acting out how people in the past did things. They had a small section with archeological finds(above) which was my favourite part of the museum.
Other than the above-mentioned, i went to dubailand/global village(uncle ringo-esque theme park + pavilions w little stores from all over the world), the spice, textile and gold souks, the hugeeeeeee malls. I'd elaborate more but my typing with one arm gets tiring. kbye.
