Day 1 - Dubai Mall

Day 1: Dubai Mall
As my flights from Australia arrived too late to connect to the flight to Casblanca, I overnighted in Dubai. Emirates offer an stopover hotel if your connecting flight is over a 7 hour wait. A buffet lunch and dinner were also included at the hotel so I really wasn't out of pocket by doing the stopover. The Copthorne were I stayed over is a perfectly serviceable hotel for this purpose however the rooms are bland to the point of being the most non descript hotel I have ever stayed in ( think beige beige beige decor) also there was no balcony to sit on. So it wasn't the sort of hotel room that you wanted to spend much time in apart from sleep. I had some hours to kill before I slept and

although the thought of just sleeping straight away was appealing I knew that I would sleep better that night if I got out and did something. There is a train station around the corner from the Copthorne that is 10 stops to the Dubai Mall so I thought perfect place to kill some time on a stopover. I went down to reception to ask about the train, they tried to book me a driver but I though the train would be an experience. I got accousted by a driver as soon as I got outside the hotel who asked me where I wanted to go and tried to sell me a tour of Dubai then when I told him I was only interested in going to the Dubai Mall told me that the train station was a long way away. Having being told by a couple of people it was just behind the hotel I declined his offer of a taxi and walked around the corner to the train station. A return ticket cost 14 dirham which is considerably cheaper than what a driver would have cost. Not sure a lot of Western females use the train. Apart from a German family also going to the Dubai Mall I am pretty sure I was the only non local. Not sure if the female expats use the service but definitely got the feeling single females are unusual on the service. The carriage was only half full as it was the middle of the day so it wasn't an issue going to the mall. Once you get off the train it is a HUGE walk from the station to the mall it's all undercover and there are moving escalators however sensible shoes are definitely recommended! The walk thought is pleasant enough, at the start they pipe some beautiful Arabic music though the walkway. As I got closer to the Mall all the palm trees on the major roadways underneath the walkway had been decorated with fairy lights and as it was just getting dark it was quite beautiful to look at. Once you get inside the Mall it is amazing. It is HUGE and I think ever single brand in the world must be represented there or it seems that way. I am not a huge shopper but I was impressed so anyone who loves shopping Dubai Mall is a must visit. I love bookshops I can spend hours just browsing in a good bookshop. The Singaporean bookshop Kinokuyo has a store in the Dubai Mall and it is amazing - it has a huge Manga and Graphic novel section, a great selection of art and design books and a fantastic travel section. When shopping in Melbourne for a travel guide to Morocco I found the selection limited. If I had of known I was going to visit this bookshop on my way to Morocco I would have waited and purchased a guide there; the selection was so much more comprehensive. Will definitely go back on my return stop in Dubai if time permits. There was also an exhibition of some work by the UAE artist Ahmed Ismail who doe,s some beautiful paintings using Arabic calligraphy you can check out some of his work at www.mondagallery.com/collections/Ahmed-Ismail.
Once inside the Mall I just enjoyed walking past all the shops and look at how much time and effort each store had put into their Christmas Windows. There is an aquarium inside the shopping centre and it is amazing and Massive (just realised how many times I have used the

word Huge and felt I needed an alternative) although if I needed a word to describe Dubia mall the first one that comes to mind is Huge. After spending a couple of hours just wandering around soaking it all up I decided on making my way home via the train as it was getting dark. The walk back to the station seemed longer again but maybe just had tired feet from all the window shopping. The return train journey was a little different it was packed with workers returning home from the workday and I definitely got the feeling that western single females of a certain age are an rarity on the train system. The train was packed all the way back to my hotel. Grabbed a quick bite from the restaurant then had to purchase some internet time from the business centre. The hotel didn't have free wifi and everything is priced with the US tourist paying with US dollars in mind so didn't buy much and Internet connection was slow and difficult to connect to so didn't get a chance to post.