Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque

For breakfast I made muesli and yoghurt with a fruit salad from the supermarket. We taxied to the nearby Sheikh Zayed Mosque (named after the man who united the seven emirates into one country) but the route was quite circuitous due to the one-way system (and coming back wasn’t that straight forward either).

It was indeed a beautiful and impressive building. Our guide told us a little more about the construction but the tour lasted only about 30 minutes. We went down to the ablution for a look-see before taxing back to the hotel to checkout.

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We headed to Abu Dhabi’s central bus station where we bought our tickets to Dubai for AED25 per person (to enable us to walk-on the bus with no reservation). We grabbed a lunch of chicken pita sandwiches and a chicken biryani before boarding for Dubai at 1215.

The ride took 2 hours. As we approached Dubai, we saw all the tall buildings along Sheikh Zayed road which was largely vacant back in 2003 when we had our first proper visit (subsequent visit had been essentially overnights). The Burj al Arab was in the middle of nowhere back then and now it is in the built up area. Our old hotel at the World Trade Centre was on the fringe of the city but now it is in the city. Yes, Dubai has changed!

We taxied to our hotel, the Majestic Tower. Check-in was 1500 and we had to wait about 30 minutes before we could be given a room.  We noticed that the full rate for our room was AED2000 whereas we only paid AED300.  The receptionist said that in winter they charge the rack rate because it’s popular but during Ramadhan it could be down to AED200.  I guess I should come during Ramadhan which coincides with winter so I can have pleasant weather and cheap price.  Not sure how many years I have to wait for that!

There wasn’t anything we really wanted to do in Dubai. We had done the “old town” and aren’t realy interested in the bling-bling, especially in the extreme heat. I went to the gym and pool before having dinner at a Lebanese restaurant a block away.

View of our hotel room in Dubai.