McPhee Family

After arriving in our apartment late last night and having no set agenda for today, we decided to not set any alarms and consequently everyone enjoyed a good sleep in with one person awaking at close to 10am.

We all felt quite relaxed with the limited number of things to do today so we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our apartment, wandered up stairs to the roof to check out the pool (to be visited later) and then drove the short distance to the Mall of the Emirates, a massive shopping centre with more than 630 retail outlets.  It also houses Ski Dubai, a large indoor skiing facility which is the world’s largest indoor snow park – a nice change from the desert outside.

We enjoyed a relaxing stroll around the Mall before buying some groceries to get us through lunch, dinner and then breakfast tomorrow morning.

We headed back to our apartment, had some lunch, watched some TV (including some live camel racing – we are not joking), and then headed out again to the Atlantis, The Palm to have a closer look.

We strolled along the boardwalk although not as relaxed as our stroll earlier in the day as it was 38 degrees celsius.  Immediately opposite the girls in the photo above is the Arabian Gulf where we saw plenty of expensive boats and people riding jetskis.

We headed back along the road which forms the ‘trunk’ of the palm.  Here is a google satellite image of the entire palm complex.

We headed back along the shoreline towards the Burj Al Arab and stopped in for some shopping at the Souk Madinat Jumeirah, a bazaar in traditional Middle Eastern style with stalls & restaurants under wooden covered arcade.  The shops are so interesting which so many knick-knacks, most likely not seen in too many other places in the world.

We stopped in at the Starbucks and bought everyone some cold chocolate drinks to help with the heat.  We sat outside in the shade and enjoyed a nice view of the Burj Al Arab.

We drove back to our apartment and headed straight upstairs to the pool to enjoy a relaxing finish to the day.  We all enjoyed our swim as the sky got darker and the lights started to stand out.  In the distance, you could see the Burj Al Arab all lit up and further in the distance towards the airport, you could see the flashing lights of the Burj Khalifa – our destination tomorrow morning.

After our swim, we cooked some dinner and then said good night.  Tomorrow morning we are heading to the Dubai Mall and ascending the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.