Being usually one of the hottest cities on earth you wouldn’t expect to be able to play in the snow year round or even have an encounter with a penguin. Well in Dubai just about everything is possible. Ski Dubai is an amazing snow theme park that is located in the giant Mall of the Emirates and has about three football fields worth of snow, a chair lift, five different runs and even a 85 metre high man made mountain. There a areas for skiing, toboggan runs and just kicking back enjoying the cold and playing in the snow. The temperature in the complex is set to around -1 degree Celsius, this could be up to 5o degrees colder than the outside temperature during Dubai’s hot summer. The park opened in 2005 and is one of the premier attractions in this incredible desert city. Read the rest of this entry »
The people of Iraq have been through a bit of a bad time of late but the government is doing their best to put the troubles of the past behind them and get on with business. One job was to get the national museum in Baghdad reopened that has been closed since looters almost cleaned it out after the US invasion, now the government is looking into where to house a museum dedicated to former dictator Saddam Hussein. Apparently despite all the looting there was still plenty of Saddam paintings, statues and other memorabilia floating around the place (thanks to the average dictators love of seeing themselves across their countries). Now that all those Saddam artifacts are safe under lock and key the plan is to find a suitable home for them, probably in one of his former palaces. Would you go to the Saddam museum? let us know below. Read the rest of this entry »
Well the streets might be just as safe as LA but that isn’t stopping the US based company U3’s plan to turn the old Baghdad Zoo into a Disney style theme park in Iraq’s capital. The Times has reported today that the park is going to be a huge US style adventure park with rides, concert theater, museum and will cost in the vicinity of $500 million to construct. Before the US invasion the Baghdad Zoo was one of the city’s more popular attractions but many of the animals died and many more were abandoned or stolen for food. The Zoo is slowly opening with bears, lions and ostriches already on show, a huge skate park is the next thing to open sometime around June. The C3 Company is using a development company which has worked closely with Disney so some pretty amazing things are planned and it is hoped that this park is only the start of making Baghdad a much more happier place for it’s young and families. Read the rest of this entry »
Stephen Spielberg’s classic film Jurassic Park still holds the title of one of the world’s biggest grossing films of all time. In Florida, California and in Osaka Japan Jurassic Park has come to life in the form of a spectacular theme park adventure ride. Jump aboard a boat and travel 65 million years back in time and come face to face with some of the most amazing creatures that have ever walked this earth including the a scary encounter with a giant T Rex before dropping 85 feet down a waterfall. Universal Studios is going through a worldwide expansion and new parks are planned for Dubai, Singapore and South Korea it is hoped this great attraction will also be seen there soon. Read the rest of this entry »
Above is a promo video for “The World” project in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is a collection of man made islands constructed 4 klm of Dubai’s coast mostly from sand dredged from the sea bed. Shaped rougthly like a map of the world the island’s went on sale for around 15 to 50 million US $ and there are some grand plans for a few resorts to spring up over the next few years. Currently there aint much here but Dubai is pooring heaps of coin into attracting tourist’s planing ahead for when they run out of oil, so keep an eye on The World for your next big resort holiday. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m sure you all remember Jurassic Park where dinosaurs roamed a theme park to the amusement of visitors, well guess what its coming true in Dubai, well nearly. Restless Planet opens later this year and over billion dollars is going to build an amazing theme park with robotic dinosaurs roaming the park. The are going to be nearly 40 different types of dinosaur and they are going to be so technically advanced they will be able to sense visitors and fully interact with them. As well as dinosaurs there will be places for kids to do a fossil dig and the park will double as an entertainment park and also a very useful educational tool. The park will also feature volcanoes and landscapes which were around at the time of the dinosaur. Designers are working closely with the National History Museum in London and the makers of the amazing Walking with Dinosaurs TV show and arena event to pull of this spectacular theme park and ensure it is as real as possible. Restless planet will be the jewel of the huge City of Arabia project which will also feature the worlds largest shopping centre and housing for 35000 people and huge office development. It will basically form a new suburb and be is biggest entertainment development in the world, and is on the blocks next to the Burj Dubai which is now the world’s tallest building out dwarfing anything in the world.
From October to April in Dubai is camel racing season and no better place to see this special is at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse which have races on Thursdays and Fridays. Camel racing is big business in the United Arab Emirates with over 14,000 camels actively racing. The camel racing industry is a large employer in the country. Strangely betting on races in the UAE is illegal but winners receive huge prizes including luxury cars and apartments. Some of the top camels can be worth millions of dollars. Races are quiet long compared to other forms of animal racing with lengths of up to 10 Kms usually with a fleet of 4WDs following them for a better view and there can be up to 70 or more camels in a race. A new rule as entered the sport prohibiting children younger than 15 riding, previously there were some jockeys as young as 6 riding camels, this is being outlawed although there are some reports some children slip under the radar. Read the rest of this entry »
