23 hours in the Emirates
Emirates 2016
We are on the road again aboard our beloved Emirates. Seventeen days of adventure in Vietnam ended just an hour ago. Now it is very important to have time to relax for a seven-hour flight to Dubai, because then a transfer without a hotel will last 23 hours and 15 minutes. But you can’t sleep in the emirates all seven hours, otherwise there was no point in flying with these magical airlines. As a result, skipping any activities, it turned out to rest for about five hours. And in order to better digest breakfast, I asked for an extra Baileys for myself and Dasha, but they didn’t carry it for a long time, and Dasha decided to remind us of our two Baileys. As a result, for a pleasant pastime in the emirates, we had four small bottles of Baileys on hand, the stewardess took our requests literally) Since a couple of years ago we already made a 12-hour trip to Dubai, this time we chose another emirate for the trip - Abu Dhabi.
It was about five in the morning, we were light, with a small handbag. We checked in our luggage back in Vietnam. The subway starts around 6:00 am, so we slowly went through all the formalities, got our stamp, got our eyes scanned, and took turns getting our airport baths done. There was an escalator going to the subway, everyone was sitting as if at a low start, waiting for the moment of opening. And so it happened, the ladder started working, now everything is necessary at a fast pace in order to catch the earliest bus. It was necessary to go with a transfer at the station, which is included in the top 10 beautiful stations in the world.
In fact, the station is not particularly beautiful than a number of Kiev stations. Already approaching our station, I realized that the subway is unmanned! It was a pleasant discovery for me. I have repeatedly wondered what is the task of the drivers of our subway? Or even better, what is the role of a grandmother as a funicular typist? We just honor traditions) we got off at our stop, but we didn’t fit on the first bus, the next one drove up after 15 minutes. Then there was a memory failure, we woke up about 2 hours later at the entrance to the Abu Dhabi bus station. The bus cost 70 dirhams ($ 19) for two, including cards. Fine! We slept for another full two hours and now the worst is over, because if it had not been possible to sleep on the plane and bus, then the next dream would have been possible on the plane to Kyiv in 23 hours. Next, it was necessary to have breakfast, a Lebanese cafe just turned up at the bus station. It's an interesting feeling to come to the emirates and eat Lebanese cuisine. They made coffee very effectively by pouring milk into it from a long distance in a thin stream from a metal can. Somehow we paid not much at all, although before the trip there was a fear that we would go bankrupt on food in the emirates. With difficulty finding out which bus goes to the mosque, we had to buy regular travel cards. We already had more cards in our pocket than baseball card collectors. What did we actually start this whole route with an exit in the emirates? 2.5 years ago, flying to Sri Lanka with Airarabia airlines, we watched an advertisement for entertainment in the UAE, the program was simply of indescribable beauty, the whitest mosque, there was also a bunch of everything, but compared to the mosque, it’s trifles. That's actually it, and we set the main goal of this time. Meanwhile, the mosque described above appeared on the horizon.
Sheikh Zayed Mosque
From a distance, the mosque seemed even whiter than in the advertisement. From the bus stop it was necessary to cut a little, bypassing its walls along the perimeter, the walls were quite long, we soon reached the checkpoint and an electric car drove us to the territory. To say that it was beautiful on the territory is a drop in the ocean compared to the feelings that overwhelmed me from what I saw. It was like a second time to experience the moment when you see the Taj Mahal for the first time.
It is impeccable, very rich, entourage, you just can’t believe how much could be built, given that each of its elements is some kind of unique handmade arrangement of marble, gold and precious rocks. Every hour there was an excursion, which we gladly signed up for.
Listening to the guide through radio headphones, we noticed even more details that we did not suspect. Ahead of us was an even greater effect of surprise as we entered the main hall.
The chandelier alone was worth something, not to mention the 47-ton carpet, which was transported on some hand-woven planes. Guys, we are not great connoisseurs of architecture and museums, but standing on the territory of this mosque, you understand that all the difficulties and money spent on getting here were worth it.
This is the main thing to see in the emirates. In general, we hung out there for a couple of hours, took 100.500 photos, and with open mouths went further down the list of attractions.
On the return bus, our cards didn't work, despite the fact that I was very assured at the station that two cards of 5 dirhams could cover two trips costing 3 dirhams one way per person. Moreover, they assured me so much that I doubted my knowledge of mathematics, but the card scanner did not doubt its knowledge and highlighted our refusal. And since you can only top up cards at the bus station, and you can’t pay in cash on the bus, the situation is even more complicated. That is, to get to the station by bus, where you can replenish the card, you need to go by bus, which accepts only cards. Awareness of this logic just blew my head, and the driver just brushed it off, they say, hammer it in and let's go. Apparently the driver didn’t understand the logic of the cards either, or he was just a cool person. By the way, this is not the first country where exactly bus drivers go to meet tourists, which only cost a driver in Buenos. Time went to dinner and we had to eat somewhere, this time we chose Burger King, which, by the way, was very appreciated. So, our next goal was the old fort in the middle of the city. We searched and fornicated, probably for several hours. And when we got to the goal, it turned out that either it had not been built yet, or some kind of restoration was underway, in general, instead of a fort, they saw a huge fence.
It wasn't a fort)
Fiasco! Well, nothing, further down the list we have a steep alley of statues. If the locals heard at least something about the fort and for about a couple of hours they showed us the direction in different directions, then about the statues it seemed as if I had invented it myself. And everyone abruptly became “non-local”. We took the route from one site, which directly indicated where to go and how to turn. Only this route was compiled by a person who obviously was not there. How can you turn left from a fort that is round in size?
We had to score on the statues, to put it mildly, at such a pace we would not have found them in two days. But ahead will be an embankment with a bunch of lakes and paths. On the embankment, we met two tourists who noticed that the description of local attractions does not match reality. For example, they have already walked a bunch of kilometers on the embankment, but they did not find any lakes. We noted to ourselves that we would not see the lakes either. Okay, then there will be a village on the island, we will catch a taxi driver and let him bring him straight there. The taxi driver nodded and brought to a large shopping center, but on the island. And the village must be here somewhere. In the shopping center, the worker told us that we should go to the opposite side through the center. On the other side, there was a large construction site with a bunch of houses. In the clearing, some guy was very looking for something in the grass, but when he saw me, he ran away from that clearing as if from fire. He heard about the village for the first time, but it seems to him that they are building it. We haven’t had such a failure with the route for a long time) Okay, we found more guys. One drove a village into Google, and on the GPS it showed that it was definitely somewhere there. You just need to go through the entire pier to the opposite side, that is, to where we started the search. On the opposite side, which was opposite to the opposite, there was a girl and soared excursions, she said that of course there is a village, but on a neighboring island. Having reached the neighboring island in about 25 minutes, we finally reached the village! By the way, she turned out to be really cool.
Heritage Village
When you get to the village, you seem to be alienated from the metropolis into some corner of peace and hospitality. The atmosphere is kind of light and inviting. The village is basically fragments of various parts of the life history of the local Arabs. There is a corner of how their life looked before, how it looks now, what and how. Lots of souvenir shops and a promenade overlooking the skyscrapers of the city. Beauty, especially the city view.
Although getting there ate a lot of time for us, and in fact, we only got to the village, it was still very cool to wander through the business centers of this rich capital on a sunny day. There were a number of buses to get to the bus station, but taxis were relatively inexpensive and we went straight to the bus station from where we headed to Dubai. Summary of Abu Dhabi. You definitely need to go, the shock from the mosque was enough for a long time. It is also unusual that the visit and the tour are completely free, by the way the village too. In the meantime, in a bus with Wi-Fi, we were already rushing along the highway.
Since the last time, a couple of points have not been visited, one of which was the famous fountain. Now was the time to find out if the Dubai fountain would be cooler after seeing the Vietnamese one. From the metro I had to stomp along the transition to a large mall. Leaving the mall on the street, we found ourselves at the foot of the already familiar Burj Khalifa. Various patterns and other special effects shone to the full height. People gathered on the streets of artificial islands along the fountain, and the concentration was not very large, it was possible to move around calmly. The fountain dances every 30 minutes and the show begins.
In terms of the coolness of the effects, the Dubai fountain lagged far behind the fountain from the Vietnamese island of Vinpearl. But the atmosphere of love and romance reigned here such that they had not yet seen or felt the country. When the song ended, Dasha and I unanimously noticed the charm itself. When you are on these streets along the fountain, you seem to find yourself in a country where there is only one feeling - love. The distance between the songs did not allow this feeling to dissipate. We couldn’t even eat the first time, because while we were looking for a cafe, we had to go back and watch the next dance. If I had a rest in the emirates, then no doubt I would spend every evening here, it's just magical.
In the next break, we still managed to drop into a cafe with burgers. Although the prices were very high, they put a portion of potatoes with a giant burger so that it was not immediately possible to find a glass in it. That is, a paper bag - for taking out with you. In it, a burger and potatoes, it is filled almost to the top. This portion could feed a small state. The two of us did not even master half. They also bring peanuts to the table as a compliment.
Outside the window, another dance, everyone packed up with them and ran to watch, then back to the cafe, then back to the dance. Ah, euphoria! In the meantime, the feeling of sleep and total fatigue that had accumulated over the entire trip, starting from Vietnam, began to turn off. The last days of such trips are always the hardest, especially when you start to switch the time zone in your favor for three hours. It was necessary to urgently move towards the airport, even though it is now around 22:00 local time, and there are still six hours before departure, but we need to make it before the metro closes and before we lose consciousness. The second point is even more important than the first. But like real tourists, we gathered our last strength and also looked at a large waterfall, which was located in another part of the huge pier.
Since there were still a couple of hours before the check-in, I found a cozy corner for us. And I even took a nap for 20 minutes, but I couldn’t completely turn off, since after all the common area, it’s dumb for things here, unlike the area on the other side of passport control. When I tried to hand over cards from the metro, I found out what scammer is in Arabic. This is when you have the right to return only 2 dirhams ($0.5) out of an unrealistic deposit value and a mandatory balance on cards with a total amount of 32 dirhams ($ 8.3). We were explained this formula, that we can still return for five years and continue to use them. But you know, there is such a parable about a crane in the sky and a titmouse in the hands. I went to buy some juice for two dirhams. When trying to change money back into dollars, they tried to give us an underprinted twenty at the official exchange office. Also with the approach, they say, you do not have the right to refuse to receive this bill, since we are not engaged in replacing bills here. I was certainly tired, but not a moron. When I accused them of counterfeiting the currency, they quickly replaced everything and even other banknotes where I decided that the year of issue did not suit me. Soon the check-in opened and I had to drag myself to the landing zone with the last effort, but that's nothing, because the plane will take off at 4 in the morning, and at 09:00 I will already have to be cheerful at work. I don’t know what put more pressure on fatigue, the fact that the transfer time lasted almost a day, or the fact that it was the 20th day of our mega trip. Even when drawing up the route, this fact was embarrassing after the transfer at 23:00, but I didn’t want to spend another day’s vacation. Fortunately, we spent the 5.5 hour UIA flight in a complete blackout. I went to work that day remotely at the request of my mind.
This was our second trip to the Emirates and as always we enjoyed it very much. It seems like there are not many sights, but the atmosphere and all the charm of the surrounding wealth charges with positive for a long time, the business center alone is worth something at night. Asia, we'll be back!
Date of travel: 02.02. 2016
Trip type: Transit exit
Duration: 23 hours
Visa: Transit for 96 hours, visa regime was canceled in 2018
Flight tickets: UIA
Hotel: No hotel
Excursions: All by yourself
Trip difficulty: 4/10 (below average)
