During 6- day vacation, I and my sister, whom I call Cheese, took a trip to Dubai. Yes. A populous city and one of 7 emirates in the United Arab Emirates. It was a substitute when our Taipei plan was cancelled. This journey turned out to be a feel-good trip, a new fresh wind and a perfect haven for the soul that was almost sucked out of by busy working routine.
It was a 5-day and 4-night trip and began on Tuesday. We took a 6 hour red eye flight to Abu Dhabi, which is the capital and second populous city in the United Arab Emirates. I couldn’t bring myself to answer why night flights are called red eye ones. Now I know. When your back really hurts and you can’t sleep no matter how sleepy you feel, your eyes turn really red. LOL. I don’t know. But my eyes were red the day after that I thought I had an eye sore. Never mind. Vietnam is 3 hour ahead of UEA. So, by the time we got to the hotel, it had been already 3 AM in the morning, which means we had 4.5 hours to sleep before our exploration trip began.
On the first day, we headed to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, one of the most iconic landmarks of Abu Dhabi. This Aladdin’s palace-looking-alike was named after Sheikh Zayed, who brought Emirates into federation and initially came up with the construction. The structure was brought into completion in 2007- 3 years after the ruler’s death. Covering an area of 12 hectares, it has been considered the largest mosque in UAE. Moreover, it has risen to public’s prominence as the most celebrated grand mosque, with a large number of pilgrims. Noticeably, during Eid, it can even come up to 40,000 people.
As it is a holy place, we have to wear formal clothes. It is not really formal, as long as your top and bottom cover your wrists and ankles and are not transparent, you are allowed to access the mosque. One more thing. I heard from my tourist guide that hair is considered sexy. So, you must wear a cloth that covers your hair as well. If you don’t follow the rule, you will get expelled. So, you’d better not play with it.
Ok. I was permitted to enter the mosque. The large structure was just breathtaking, spellbinding, just a pure pleasure to my eyes. It is all covered in white theme, so, sophisticated golden designs are quite prominent. There is a way leading to the main hall. I was overwhelmingly impressed by two crystal clear water ponds that I was even able to see my reflection. It is never wrong to say that Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the living proof of modern Islamic architecture and design. It is a brilliant mixture of different architecture styles, which makes it a popular tourist spot.
Before entering the main hall, I had to take my shoes off. It was really cool to put my bare feet on the floor. It is said that the mosque was made of gold, precious stones that are able to withstand 500C (really impressive!).
I was surprised even more when reaching the main hall. I am not really a huge fan of Swarovski but they just did an excellent job of creating sparkling and shining crystal chandeliers. It comes to term with the fact that the largest chandelier weighs 80 tons. They, along with sophisticated and large carpet, bring the main hall luxurious feel.
I like walls and windows too. It was such a brilliant design. On the main hall, you will see 100 flowers with 99 names respectively on the wall. As for one left unnamed, you will know when you go to the heaven. It was easy to catch palm tree pillars around the mosque since palm trees are the symbol of Abu Dhabi, which significantly adds its charms. I heard that they were made of gold too. Abu Dhabi is so rich in gold and oil, and they know how to make best use of them. As for the restroom, I could say that it was on par with 7 star hotels since it smells so good and clean. I am not allowed to take pictures of the restroom, I am not even allowed to speak when going to the restroom (I know it’s strict, but it is the rule).
(The best I could do was to take the picture of drinking sink)
So, we left Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque to head to Dubai, which took us 2.5 hours by car. Along the way there, I took many pictures of Abu Dhabi’s renowned structures and skyscrapers, including Capital Gates- which is the world’s furthest leaning towers.
By the way, we did visit a Shanghai restaurant for lunch. I am not that into Chinese food and it was just acceptable. The lunch was considered an informal get together meeting with other people in tour. Me and Cheese made friends with a nice middle age couple and other two member family. It was good. I took a picture of rice which was imported from India. It was so different from Vietnam’s and of course, not as good as Vietnam’s.
The place we first visited in Dubai was Palm island- a Dubai based man made island. It was home to richest and first class people in the world. In addition to hotels, there are high class restaurants, water park (oh my dream), shopping mall and entertainment center… Small kingdom for them, right? The sky monorail we got on allowed us to have a bird eye view of the whole island.
The local tourist guide named Honey said that the price for 1 house here is 100 million USD (if I am not wrong). If you want a one day stay, then pay 1,500 USD for average class. Other levels must be higher. I can’t help feeling jealous with the rich, so ended up feeling so bad for myself. Hey wait, if I cannot own a house there, maybe my husband could. Hence, it means that I have to marry a rich guy. No. No. Couldn’t let myself drawn in negative and material thoughts. We stayed there for 2 hours ( I think). It was around 7 PM (Vietnamese hour), thus, we dropped by a fast-food restaurant where a really handsome waiter served me. He asked me if I enjoyed the food, and where I came from. I just didn’t like the way he addressed me as “madam”. Too polite, I would say. After satisfying our grumbling stomach, we went out to take pictures of the beach and a 7 star hotel.
We ended up reaching to the hotel which I didn’t know the name. By the way, it didn’t matter much since I didn’t go out that night.
