12 Dec 2019 - Dubai Day 2: Dubai's Famous Skyscrapers

Our program for today was to visit the Theme Parks in Dubai Parks and Resorts.  From Dubai Mall, we followed the signage towards Dubai Metro where we will be taking the Red Line to the last station at UAE Exchange.

We did not expect the Metro station to be so far away from Dubai Mall.  We got to go onto at least 5 to 6 travelators and took about 10 minutes before we reached the station.

Along the journey, we saw many interesting buildings and landmarks of Dubai.  First is the famous Burj Al Arab, an uber-luxe sail-shaped hotel and the only one to achieve a seven-star rating. It sits on its own man-made island in Dubai's harbor and can only be accessed via a private bridge or the hotel's helipad.  If you play the Dubai Edition of Monopoly, Burj Al Arab is the most expensive property on the board.

The building to the right of Burj Al Arab, which seems to be rising along the Dubai coastline like a wave about to crest, is Jumeirah Beach Hotel, 

Next, we passed by quite a number of big IT firms such as Oracle and IBM.

These global IT giants are situated in an area called Dubai Internet City (DIC), which is a free zone best known as an information technology park developed by the Government of Dubai in partnership with TECOM Investments.

Our Metro journey then brought us to an area with a cluster of high rise buildings.  Among them is Rose Rayhaan (the tall building in the middle) which once held the title of world's largest hotel.  it is one of Dubai's few hotels that is alcohol-free, in accordance with Islamic law.  On the left of Rose Rayhaan is Dubai's current second-tallest building, the Princess Tower which earned its moniker from the crownlike shell at its summit.

Twisting above the Dubai skyline, Cayan Tower (below) is a 1,004-foot tower conceived by the firm behind the more famous Burj Khalifa.

Along the way we also passed by quite a number of shopping malls.  Dubai Marina Mall below is one of them.

The Metro journey from Dubai Mall to UAE Exchange station is about 45 minutes.

After we alighted the train, we walked out of the Metro station and took a Taxi to Dubai Parks and Resorts.  The taxi ride is about 15 minutes.

Dubai Parks and Resorts is the first integrated resort destination in the region.  It’s the home of three world-class theme parks (Legoland, Motiongate, Bollywood) and one water park (Legoland), as well as Riverland Dubai, the grand entrance plaza, and a Polynesian themed family resort. 

There is no way we can visit all the theme parks in a day so we bought the tickets from Klook for two of the parks.  More details in the next few posts.

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