Raafia Syed: places

I have been wanting to write this post since a really long time now. Finally its here!

The Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates and the eighth largest mosque in the world. The mosque site is equivalent to the size five football fields approximately.It is named after the sheikh of Abu Dhabi.

The design of the Mosque has been inspired by both Mughal and Moorish mosque architecture.The courtyard, with its floral design is symbolic to the gardens of paradise.The carpet in the main prayer hall is considered to be the world's largest carpet.The Mosque has seven imported chandeliers from Germany that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals.

I visited the the mosque at night which helped me view the glorious reflections of the mosque's spectacular columns in the pools along the arcades.

The mosque houses state of the art ablution rooms with onyx flooring and tile work.

Dubai-It was a really good trip! The sheer presence of mind of the architects and their vision to transform a barren desert into one of the world's most sought after vacation spots and the biggest tourist destination left me awestruck! Its a country, a vision, spun out of thin air! With just above 4000 sq. km of land area, Dubai has everything needed for a perfect vacation destination- absolute clean white sand beaches, Big huge deserts (also used till the last grain for recreation-Desert safari) , The tallest buildings, The biggest malls, The yummiest and widest range of cuisines(lebanese, Turkish, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian, .....), Most entertaining snow parks, Golf courses, world class Race tracks( For camels , Cars and horses! ), The world's fastest roller-coaster( Ferrari world) ,The widest range of animals in the zoo... the list is endless! Phew!
Here's a list of my favourite places in Dubai.

The Burj Khalifa!

Presently the tallest in the world. The tip goes beyond the clouds!
Theres an interesting story surrounding the cities which have the tallest buildings in the world- They are all bankrupt!
Take the examples of Malaysia with its Petronus Towers, Shanghai, Tokyo... Then the latest- Dubai. It is believed that Dubai was also bankrupt until The Shaikh of Abu Dhabi helped them out of it.
The view from the top is breathtaking!

Burj Al Arab.

It is such a pretty sight! A hotel built in the sea with turquoise coloured water surrounding it. Its private beach has transparent water and clean white sand with such beatiful sea shells .we found a star fish too! (:

Global Village

Its truly GLOBAL! There are pavilions representing 39 countries. Each pavilion houses handicrafts, fabrics, food stalls , etc which are a speciality to that country. Its got a fireworks show each night as well as a dancing fountains show which are delightful. My favourite pavilions were of Turkey( for its absolutely gorgeous hand-painted wall plates and rugs), Morocco ( for its beautiful and intricately hand-painted lamps), Yemen ( for its hand-made silver jewellery) and spain(for its pretty paintings displayed).

Inside the Turkish pavilion

Moroccan lights (:

Fireworks show

Inside the global village

Dubai Mall

One of the biggest malls in the world! It is SOO huge,You cannot see it in a day! It was such a delightful experience.You get to see the world's most expensive brands -Alexander Mc.Queen, Chopard, Jimmy Choo, Tiffany and co., YSL, Cartier......all under one roof!

There are pamphlets and maps available at the entrance to help you around the mall!

The most striking feature for me was a state of the art gold souk which contains ATM-like machines to eject gold biscuits when you pay!

Fountain show

Desert Safari

Yet again, The creativity left me baffled! The barren desert is used for recreation purposes- tourists are take in four-wheeled Pajeros across the desert on top of sand dune.It was such a thrilling experience. In the desert we spotted gazelles and wild camels. After the ride, dinner is provided with activities such as henna painting, hukka, belly dancing and arabic music.

desert safari.. with a ride in the pajero(top right)

An Arabic dancer

The Indian's delight!- GOLD SOUK!

For the Indian, by (buy) the Indian, to the Indian! This is one part of Dubai which seems like its India! so many indians, the language is hindi, the shopkeepres are Indian, The buyers are Indian , The sellers are Indian! haha! Prolly people across the globe don't wear as much gold as we Indians do :P

Some other place i liked were the Floating restaurant where we had dinner. Its a boat which takes you for an hour's tour on an artificially built canal in the heart of the city. On the boat, Dinner is served along with the traditional arabic music and dance show.My favourite restraunt was Reem Al Bawadi- a lebanese restraunt where i gorged on succelent kababs and fresh salad along with lots of humus and bread (:

The Shaikh Zayed Road was another very interesting place. Its the financial hub of dubai, lined with skyscrapers and 8 lane roads!