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 »
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 »
The popular restaurant chain Hooters which is very popular throughout the US for its food, well lets face it- it’s hot waitresses wearing tight T Shirts and short orange shorts has sold franchises rights to a company in Dubai for a Dubai chain of restaurants. The plan was going pretty well and with so many American and western people working or visiting this booming city the owners of the chain could see huge success awaiting, with the first Hooters expecting to open later this year. Then along came the Dubai Department of Economic Development and they pointed out that hot waitresses wearing tight T shirts and shorts isn’t really the thing to do in Dubai as it is in violation of the Muslim Emirate’s “Religion, tradition and Culture”. So we now have a bit of a stand off and it looks like Dubai Hooters may not get to its opening day, which some say cast doubts on some other western concepts being tried in the region. Time will tell whether the mighty dollar or tradition and culture win. Read the rest of this entry »
The Queen Elizabeth 2 is set to find a new home after she retires from duty in 2008. It has been announced by the Dubai government that after her last voyage to Dubai the ship will be purchased and transformed into a floating hotel to be berthed at Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, the world’s largest man-made island. One of the QE2’s predecessor’s the Queen Mary found a similar fate, and is now berthed in Long Beach California, when the QE2 replaced it in 1969. The QE2 is to be replaced by a new ship called the Queen Victoria. The QE2 was the flagship of the Cunard line until it was joined by the new flagship the Queen Mary 2 in 2004.
