Tom On day 3 of our travels in Dubai, we continued to check out the attractions of Dubai such as the Dubai Frame and the Alfahidi Historical Neighbourhood. Crossing the Dubai Creek by water taxi (aka Dubai Abra), we reached Dubai Gold Souk before returning to our hotel for pick-up to begin Dubai Desert Tours in the evening. What a jam-packed itinerary!
Dubai Attractions #1: Dubai Frame
We started the day early (or so we thought) and took the same walk towards Emirates Metro Station from Premier Inn Dubai International Airport Hotel. Taking the metro from Emirates Station, we would alight at Al Jafiliya Station and walk over to Dubai Frame from there. The ticket cost was the same for 2 zones (8AED – $3.10SGD).
After alighting at Al Jafiliya Station, it was still a 15 minutes walk to the entrance of Dubai Frame. Nope, we were not able to enter via the Zabeel Park gate above but were referred to enter by Gate 4 – the official entrance to Dubai Frame…
Dubai Frame entrance tickets cost 50AED ($20SGD). The reason why we wanted to visit Dubai Frame was because it was also an observation deck that allows views of the Dubai city skyline as well as the Old Dubai neighbourhoods. Also, if we had headed to Burj Khalifa, we would not be able to catch the Burj in our photos. This is a little like the conundrum at New York – whether to go up Empire State Building. From that experience, we knew it would be better to head up Rockefeller Center’s Top of The Rock and take pictures of Empire State Building. Plus, entry fees up Burj Khalifa was 3 times the price at 150AED. Secondly, at Dubai Frame, we would be able to learn a little about UAE’s past, present and future through the exhibits and shows within.
The visit to Dubai Frame starts with a walk through a corridor of exhibits through “Old Dubai”. Here, you’ll find some of the trades that the locals were involved in, all the way till the establishment of UAE. At the end of this corridor is the lift that took us 48 storeys (or 150m) up the Dubai Frame to the viewing gallery…
At the top, you’ll be able to see Old Dubai neighbourhoods to the north and the New Dubai city skyline to the south…
There’s also some interactive exhibits at the top of Dubai Frame where you can doodle a little and have it beautified with futuristic tones. A snack/souvenir stall rounds up the trip at the top.
One of the “fun” things to do at the top of Dubai Frame is to walk through the middle of the passageway where the motion-activated glass floors turn from the frosted form to the transparent form that reveals what is below Dubai Frame, 150 metres down. A scary, yet fun experience…
After coming down from the top of Dubai Frame, we entered a gallery where the future of Dubai was shown in an immersive video. We then ended up at the souvenir store where we were shown our photo with Dubai Frame superimposed. It was originally 125AED but almost immediately, the staff said that we could have it at 100AED – haggling at Dubai Frame? 🤔
Leaving Dubai Frame, we took a cab ride via the local transport app (Careem) to Al Fahidi Historical District for 19.5AED. Well-worth the ride. Otherwise, it would have been a rather long walk back to the metro station and we still had to pay about the same price. Do try out Careem while you’re there 🙂
Dubai Attractions #2: Al Fahidi Historical District
Kate planned for a trip to Al Fahidi Historical Distric to have a feel of how life was in the Old Dubai with its traditional buildings and separate alleyways as well as market squares.
It was indeed rather quaint to have strolled along these ancient streets. Walking along the alleyways, we noticed the high walls which helped to block out the sun in the old days. We also passed by the coffee museum, beside which was a stall that allowed photos with a falcon. For lunch, we headed to MAKE Art Cafe…
The compound had art exhibits and stalls within its premise. A surprise find was the sculptures that projected different images as shadows when light is cast upon them…
For lunch at MAKE Art Cafe, we headed up to the 2nd storey which had quaint decorations. We went through the menu and decided on the MAKE burger (50 AED – $20SGD) as well as the Acai Smoothie (25AED – $10SGD)
MAKE Burger was superbly delicious. The meat was tender and the fries/side dishes were a nice complement. The server was also kind in separating our single order of Acai Smoothie into 2 cups. The wind blew gently as we enjoyed our lunch. Next, it was time to cross the Dubai Creek to visit the famous Dubai Gold Souk…
Probably the most value-for-money purchase in Dubai, the Dubai Abra (also known as the water taxi) costs only 1AED. The ride across the Dubai Creek takes about 7 minutes and we got to enjoy beautiful views as we tarried along the creek…
Dubai Attractions #3: Deira Grand Souq and Dubai Gold Souk
After crossing the Dubai Creek, it was about a 15 minutes’ walk to the Dubai traditional Souks (old markets)…
The Deira Grand Souq in Dubai, consists of many different Souks or Souqs (marketplace), ranging from mattress to fabrics. The most famous of which is definitely the Dubai Gold Souk – which houses the world’s biggest ring (Najmat Taiba – Star of Taiba) at the entrance of Gate 1…
After a most interesting stroll around the Grand Souk in Dubai, we headed back to our hotel (by cab – 30AED) before we were picked up for our Dubai Desert Tour at 4:15pm…
Dubai Attractions #4: Dubai Desert Tour
We booked our Dubai Desert Tour with ABC Tourism because they owned their own camp sites and were pretty competitively priced at 45USD per person. This price of 45USD for Dubai Desert Tour includes:
– Transfer from hotel to desert camp site
– Dune bashing
– Camel Ride
– Sand boarding
– Henna painting
– Dinner
– Traditional Show
The VIP package (with service and elavated seatings), photos with the falcon as well as the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) costs extra…
As Kate wanted to avoid the dune bashing, we arrived at the campsite earlier. There, we tried out sand boarding – which was a little tiring as we had to bring the board up the slope ourselves. We also took many photos of the “undisturbed” wavy desert sand was well as the beautiful sunset…
We must admit that the sand boarding was rather fun. All you had to do, was to mount on the board and bend your knees slightly. Maintain the pose as someone pushes you down the edge of the slope. Thereafter, gravity will do the rest. We also saw many others going for rides on the camel. We avoided due to the proverbial MERS – though we did notice that the camels all had their masks on. Before we headed into the camp site, we took many more pictures of the impending sunset. It was a beautiful sight to behold…thank the Lord!
After we entered the camp, we were quickly acquainted with the drinks corner. There, you’ll be able to pour your own soft drinks with ice as well as coffee and tea (both arabic coffee and normal coffee). We enjoyed the arabic coffee that came with dates as a natural sweetener. Thereafter, we strolled over to the henna booth where Kate got some henna art done…
Soon, dinner was served…
The dinner was self-service, buffet style. For meats, there were BBQ fish, lamb and chicken which we enjoyed pretty much. The fresh salad and rice with yoghurt (topped with lemon) went well with the BBQ items. Extra servings of hummus was a welcomed addition. Of course, the dinner was accompanied by the exciting shows that we put up by the performers…
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Video of Dubai Desert Tour
We hope you have enjoyed our coverage of day 3 of our travels in Dubai. Soon, it was time to return back home from Dubai on day 4, where we literally gorge ourselves silly…
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