Another Dubai

07.03.2018

Yesterday I checked out of the At the Top Hostel, because the hostel was sold out for the following nights. I decided to leave my bags there and look for the new hostel, which was two metro stops away. I got out of the metro, and couldn't find the place. I tried following the directions-somewhere near a big hotel called the Rotunda, but couldn't find the Rotunda. So I wandered around aimlessly, and got back on the metro to go back to the Dubai mall. Part of buying the sightseeing ticket on the hop-on hop-off bus involved a free walking tour. I enjoy walking tours, because I can learn about a particular country.

The tour wasn't until 2:30-it was now about 11:00, so I sat in the mall and enjoyed a frozen cappuccino, at some coffee place-(my feet we're killing me-as I mentioned the walk from the metro to the mall was about 2 miles (it seemed like).

After that, I took the metro to the point for the hop-on hop-off bus, where the walking tour would begin, and I met Benjamin, the tour guide. He took me on the two hour tour (yup-only myself and the tour guide for the free walking tour).

He told me some stuff I didn't know.
- The Emirati we're originally Bedouins, so they roamed around the desert
- Some broke off and decided to settle along the river.
- I saw artists diagrams in the old town, how the oysters we're harvested and turned into pearls.
- We saw the gold souks and spice souks, and gold and spice from the middle east was traded for the pearls.
- I also learned how Dubai wasn't selling it's oil at that point, but was waiting for the price to increase.
- There was a 24 karat gold ring on display in the golf souk. (Because it's a Bruno Mars song-I know that's huge).

It was an interesting tour. After that, I had lunch/dinner at an all you can eat buffet and went back to the Dubai mall, to view the water show at the fountain, which was spectacular. The water danced 100 feet high to songs like "I will Always Love you", and then the STUNNING light show off the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building, which I went on a few days ago)