Almost to the finish line…

On my second week in Abu Dhabi, most days my aunt and I stayed at home and the only time we can go out was during the weekends. Although, the only days they can take me out were Friday and Saturday (it’s their weekends), but we always make the most out of it. In this post, I will compress two days-worth of trip. This part of my trip is probably one of the highlights, they took me to the famous Dubai Miracle Garden and gave me a chance to go to the top of Burj Khalifa, well not literally the pinnacle but the designated viewing floor and deck. This post will contain mostly pictures showing the wonders Dubai can make.

Even though this was probably the third time I am able to go to Dubai, I still can’t get over with the sight and skyscrapers. The landscapes were amazing, you’ll be surprised to see there are more flowers in Dubai than in Cebu knowing the climate in their country. One of things that fascinated me there was their toll gates. You won’t see cars stopping at the toll gates since they used scanning machine to scan the code on the windshield of your car for the payment. In my opinion, this process is more efficient and the government can save more money. Buying these machine might be costly but the effect may be beneficial for the long term development. The government won’t be spending so much for the operations like paying people to collect the toll fee, instead they will only spend for the maintenance because if you will calculate the number of people working to get the toll fee, the government will be spending more and also it doesn’t really help with the traffic. But of course, it won’t work unless our government have a unified and centralized system. I mean seriously, whenever you try to get a permit or passport, you have to acquire some documents especially the NSO. Why can’t they have a centralized system where government agencies can pull-out your information through the system? I do hope that our country will implement the National ID system because it will make all transactions more smoothly and will be convenient for us Filipinos when we do transactions. Anyways, I really hope that the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) will implement modern technology to ease up the transaction and traffic in Cebu.

Dubai Miracle Garden

Anywho, going back to Dubai, before we went to Dubai Miracle Garden, we checked online if they’re already open because the last time we went there, they were closed for the renovation. Fortunately they are already open to public and I have so much expectations with the park.

The Dubai Miracle Garden is a flower garden situated in the district of Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Originally it was launched on Valentine’s Day of 2013, with a land area of 72, 000 square meters making it the world’s largest natural flower garden featuring over 109 million flowers planted. You may think that it’s impossible to have that many flowers planted, but apparently it’s true. You will see a lot of flowers, flowers that you may or may have not seen. The entrance fee for the park is 40 Dirhams.

You may noticed that I said they closed the park for renovation, it is because each season, this year 2016 – 2017 is their Season 5, they change the park inside. For me, I think it’s strategically wise of them to change the looks inside so that people that have been there during the first season will have a different experience or sight when they will visit the park again. So I won’t bore you with so much words, enjoy the photos and I hope this will excite you to visit the park soon.

Inside the park, there are countless of structures adorned with different flowers. There were also areas for eating with flowers above you. There are food stalls where you can buy foods and replenish your thirst because trust it’s a bit hot there and you need water or whatever to replenish your body from walking so much. The park is huge that you have to walk around, although there are golf carts that can take you somewhere but we didn’t opt that since we are capable of walking on our feet.

One of the exciting sights to see inside is the 1:1 scale of the Emirates Airbus A380. It is considered as the world’s largest structure decorated entirely of flowers. The moment you see it, you will get a glimpse of how big Airbus A380 is if you haven’t seen one just like me. It’s so massive and the work that took to create that marvelous structure is amazing. There’s so much to see inside that you would want to spend the entire afternoon discovering what the park can offer. Although for our part, we didn’t spend so much time there since I have a booked ticket for the Burj Khalifa and you can’t reschedule your ticket.

Burj Khalifa (dream come true!!!)

After spending some time at the Dubai Miracle Garden, we went to Dubai Mall for my visit at the Burj Khalifa. My aunt and my uncle didn’t get tickets for themselves since they have been there, so they only got ticket for me, and honestly it’s not that cheap though. It’s quite hefty but I think for what you are paying, it’s all worth it, trust me.

Before you can get to the top, you’ll have to schedule your visit. You’ll have to book your visit on their website. You will have to choose what day and the time of your visit. You also have to options either the At The Top (124 – 125 floors) and the At The Top Sky (148 floor) now this one is a bit expensive. We only booked the At The Top, the 125 floor is the viewing floor that gives you a 360 degree view of the city, the 124 floor is an outdoor viewing deck.

Going to the top, you will have to go to the Dubai Mall, there is a designated entry for the visitors going to the top. When you get to the lobby / ticketing area, there a lot of people already lining and you will also see a scaled model of the Burj Khalifa, a screen with the details of the building. Before going to the elevator, you will have to go through a tight security measures, it is as tight as entering the departure area of the airport. After going through the tight security, you will be escorted towards a hallway that would lead to the elevator. On the hallway, there is an area where you will have to stop for a picture taking, don’t expect it to be free, you’ll have to pay for it if you want to have it. Once you are in the waiting area, there is a screen that shows you have did Burj Khalifa becomes a reality. The elevator can only accommodate limited number of people so you’ll have to wait for your turn but don’t fret my friend, since the elevator travels really fast. How fast you ask? 77 seconds! From the ground floor to 125 floor, it will only take 77 seconds for the elevator to travel to take you to the top. While you’re inside the elevator, you’ll be entertained by the video projections inside. It’s amazing to see an elevator with an entertainment inside. You can really tell that they thought a lot about how to give the visitors a great experience. It’s like inside the Hogwarts Great Hall where there are clouds above, but instead of clouds, you will see projections of world’s famous tall structures in comparison with the Burj Khalifa. Once you get there, you will be assisted by personnel where they will tell you where to pose and what to pose for your pictures to be taken. Again this is not part of the package you paid, you have to pay for those photos, they will give you the claim stabs and you’ll have to cash out a hefty amount of money. For someone who just depended on my aunt and my uncle during my whole trip, I didn’t get those photos because it’s just so goddam expensive. Well anywho, enjoy the photos I took at the top and the view of the city.

While at the top, you will then have that confirmation of how organized the country is. From the view above, the streets looked amazing. The roads are well designated and well organized. The kind of development my country has not taken into consideration.

For now, the Burj Khalifa is considered the tallest building in the world, but another tower is set to claim the world record once it will be completed, the Kingdom Tower in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the construction of the Burj Khalifa, the original name as what I can remember was Burj Dubai, but during the 2008 recession, Dubai was also affected and the construction of the building was compromised. The ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan rescued the construction hence the current name of the building. The building also made a milestone in engineering that it became the footprint of the Kingdom Tower in KSA.

After my visit at the Burj Khalifa, we had a little snack at Tim Hortons and I was so excited because I have never had tried and it will be my first time to try. If you’re a Filipino, you don’t really have to speak English when ordering because most of the staff are Filipinos. So you can just speak our language which I really find interesting. You won’t feel like a total outsider because you know that you have our Kababayans there. I got the Maple Donut and I loved it, hopefully they will open a branch here in Cebu since Tim Hortons had opened their first branch in the Philippines at Makati (if not mistaken) last February with Miss Universe Canada as the special guest during the opening.

Dubai Water Canal

Before heading home, we went to see the new attraction in Dubi, the Dubai Water Canal. The Dubai Water Canal is a man-made canal wherein they literally excavated an area of the city to open it up to let the water from the other side to get through the other side. During the construction, my uncle said that they didn’t really know what they were doing, what they noticed was there were some roads were closed and they built a bridge. The Dubai Water Canal has rapidly becoming a tourist attraction to all people, not just to the locals. This is what I am saying, their government and the developers in Dubai is working hand on hand to develop the city and create attractions to generate income and to promote tourism. Which is contrary to what’s happening in Cebu City right now. I know Mayor Osmena had his reasons why he is targeting SM Seaside because of what he said “violations”, but if we only speak of violations, why is he not running after the operators of Gaisano Talamban? For those of you who don’t know the Gaisano Talamban, it is a mall situated literally on the cliff side of a river. With a frontage set back that for me violated the PD 1096. The building is constructed literally on the side walk and doesn’t have a proper parking space for delivery trucks. If you’re a foreigner and you will get a change to pass through Talamban, you will see that big elephant that for me has a lot of violations. I know there are other reasons Osmena have why he is taking SM Seaside down, but the fact that there are also malls in the city that does not follow the building code, I think it’s also unfair for SM if we are only talking about the building code. And to OBO (Office of Building Officials), next time do your job properly instead of approving plans and after the construction of the building that is the only time you will go after of the developer just so you can ask or extort money from them. It’s a sad reality in the Philippines that the OBO doesn’t really do their job and implement the PD 1096. Anyway, that’s the problem of the city and the officials involved but I just hope that one day the government and the developers in Cebu City will have an agreement and will see eye – to – eye and will work together for the betterment of the city. Apologies for my rant.

Back to Dubai Water Canal, I took some photos and video where you can enjoy the sight of the attraction. There are water taxis where you can aboard and enjoy the sight of the city. The bridge also serves as an artificial waterfall where it will open when a yacht or water taxi will get through or cross underneath. Most people flock at night because of how the Water Canal looks at night with the lights. It’s a great development that can increase the tourism and also the opportunity once the are is completed. Since I went there last December of 2016, I don’t know if there are developments already being done there to improve the area but hopefully if I am able to go back, it will have shops and restaurants where you can take a stroll or enjoy an evening dine. Check out the video below.

 

45th National Union Day of UAE

Since the next day of our trip isn’t that long, I’m just going to squeeze it in here. The following day, December 2, 2016 Friday, is the National Union Day of UAE. Although we didn’t take part of any parties or celebrations, we sort of celebrated it. But before that, we went to Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi to watch movies since Friday is my aunt and uncle’s movie day. They treated me a movie ticket to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find as you can notice since my first posts, I have so many Harry Potter references, I am a Potterhead. Although they didn’t watch it because they have seen it already, they went and see Hacksaw Ridge. After the movies, we went to Yas Marina Circuit for the fireworks display. Yas Marina Circuit is the venue for the Grand Prix. It’s a massive track for the Formula 1 race. Also beside the Yas Marina Circuit is the famous Ferrari World which we will be visiting on my last week in Abu Dhabi. When we got there, there were already hundreds of people waiting for the fireworks display, there were also some car show where sports cars do some tricks and have a run on the track.

Families were gathering there to celebrate the National Union Day, were some kids wearing outfits with the UAE Flag, and some wearing a scarf with the UAE flag design. In the Philippines, you can’t do that. You’re not supposed to put the flag on a t-shirt design how much more a scarf. You’re not even supposed to put a flag unto your car during the Independence Day but seriously why would they stop people from putting flags and being patriotic to the country. Hey Philippine government, that’s the least that we can do since you are restricting everything when it comes to our flag. Well anyway, I took a video of the fireworks, sadly there was no music accompanied the fireworks but still the fireworks was great. Enjoy!

So that ends my second week in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The next post will be my last for my trip to UAE. It’s a bittersweet experience but my last post will the best day of my life. Hope you had a great time reading and again, I apologize for my rants to our government and our system, I feel like this is the only way I can express my opinion and be heard. Facebook is too crowded with people seeking attention and approval and whining about how miserable their life is. Bitch you’re still in high school, stop whining and start studying. Till next week, enjoy and have a nice day and thank you!

Check out the Part 04.

My three-week trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE Part 04

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