Day 53 - Around Dubai aiaiai

17.02.23

The day starts off special. Until noon, we are caught off guard 3 times. But let's start at the beginning: the first special situation occurs at 00:25 in the middle of the night. Our hotel door rings and knocks - multiple times. Since it doesn't stop, Marco gets up. Outside the door is an employee who has to check our minibar. AT 00:25! Not so great after only 2.5 hours of sleep. He actually checks the minibar and locks it up. We don't understand the world, but fortunately we manage to continue without any problems.

At half past 7 we finally get up, because today we have planned to explore the original Dubai with a HopOn HopOff bus. We take the elevator from the 15th floor to the 3rd floor for breakfast at the restaurant. Also this morning we meet the Deputy Chef 'Anou' who already knows us. Ps. He showed Marco the whole (and really the whole) buffet last night and explained it. Make friends: check. Now back to breakfast and to the second special situation of the day. The second round at the buffet begins: we go together (as always) to the buffet and take fruits and muesli. When we stand in front of our table, it is completely empty. The nice young waiter has already cleared away our coffee, tea, cutlery, etc. Fortunately, he brings us fresh cutlery and water again. We do without tea and coffee. Happy end.

Actually, we wanted to leave early to take the metro to the start of the red HopOn HoppOff line. This starts at BK or at the Dubai Mall with the Dubai Fountain. We don't want to miss this, so we relax by the pool until noon. Because the water show doesn't start until 6:00 p.m.

At noon we leave our hotel and look for the Harryhirsch of the HopOn HopOff bus. We find it quickly and buy tickets. Here's the third special situation: there is a ticket including a boat ride, offered 3 times a day. We don't want this, as it doesn't fit into our schedule. We wanted a Classic ticket for a day. This is valid for both the blue and the red line. The blue line starts right in front of our hotel. The seller babbles something and sells us the boat ride tickets despite multiple inquiries. We only notice this after payment. Damn it! At least now we can get on directly at the hotel, start with the blue line (Marina Tour) and no longer have to take the metro.

The afternoon on the bus is very comfortable. We learn some interesting information about the development of Dubai and see exciting buildings (Burj Al Arab, The Palm, Atlantis Hotel, the Frame, etc.). We get off at the Spice Souk (spice market) and have a brief look at it. Brief, because the sellers are extremely pushy. This is very off-putting and we can't enjoy it. That's why we hop on the next bus of the red line (20 minutes later).

We return to BK and are exhausted. We need a coffee! In the Dubai Mall, we wander around the 1,000,000m2 area and find the desired coffee about 30 minutes later. That feels good, because we actually thought we would find it at the market - nope. Shortly before 6 p.m. we go to the Dubai Fountain for the water show and look, we are not alone. It starts punctually with lights and music. It is impressive as the highest water jets shoot up to 150m in height. We were somewhat surprised that the magic is over at 6:03. But that's okay. Then we are back at the hotel a bit earlier. The metro takes us home in 30 minutes without any problems.

Afterwards, not much else happens except showering, having our last dinner, taking a walk to the brand new Bluewaters island quarter (near the Ferris wheel), and going to bed. Because tomorrow it's time to go home and we can expect a temperature shock.

PS. For our nocturnal disturbance, we received a fruit basket and a box of pastries from the hotel. All's well that ends well.