Checking out Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall: ridiculously sumptuous yet impressive

On the first day in Dubai, I got up early in the morning and started thinking about what to do. This wasn’t a simple thing to make my mind on. In such a huge and prestigious city, the possibilities of interesting stuff to see and do are virtually endless. Everywhere I looked, I kept being fed with yet more ideas, leading to nought but confusion.

Furthermore, Dubai is not known to be a really gratis-friendly city, so that I needed to show extra care if I didn’t want to leave from here broke. After a few minutes of thinking, I grew tired of it and took my decision spontaneously. I have always been keenly impressed by massive construction projects. Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, was something that I definitely needed to visit before departing from this city. 

I left my accommodation in Sharjah city, and after a couple of hours of asking for directions and looking for buses and stuff, I got off at Burj Khalifa metro station. 

The city at midday was much less crowded than I expected it to be. Almost no pedestrians and only a few huge white jeeps and sharp-colored sports cars were moving along the broad, neat streets.

It wasn’t hard to locate Burj Khalifa above the numerous other skyscrapers’ skyline. I approached the foot of the tower and started looking for the way leading inside of it. That wasn’t a simple proceeding. Everywhere I tried, I found closed barriers and security personnel turning me back. Eventually, I asked one of them who directed me to Dubai Mall, where the tourist entrance to the tower is located. 

An afternoon in Dubai Mall

A Victorian-era-dressed doorman pulled the mall’s door open and I found myself within an alien for my world. This place was so sumptuous that, at the same time with being ridiculous, it also was impressive. And it was huge. I haven’t been to many malls, but in the few I’ve been to, I never remember asking for directions to a certain spot and, after being answered that ‘oh, it’s very far’, finding out that, indeed, it is far. 

Dubai Mall opened on 4 November 2008 as a part of the 20-billion-dollar Dubai’s Downtown complex to become the world’s 2nd-largest mall by total area and the 21st-largest by gross leasable area. It is one of the world’s most visited buildings, attracting a stunning 54 million annual visitors.

All sorts of things are to be found there: an ice rink, an underwater zoo, theme parks, cinemas, restaurants, and 1200 shops. No amount of zeros following whatever initial digit of the total amount of money spent there daily would surprise me. I, personally, after wandering around the mall for several hours, didn’t contribute much to it though. I spent an impressive sum of $0! Other than just strolling around and observing the curiosities of the place, the main reason that kept me in there was the very good, free wifi connection that works everywhere in the mall.

My original plan was to go up to the tower, but I had to change it after I inquired. I found the ticket ridiculously expensive, plus that I should have booked it online in advance, if I didn’t want to pay it even more ridiculously so. I can climb a great deal of the world’s mountains for free, so I can spare with a skyscraper. 

I got enough of extravagance and superficial consumption-worshipping around me for one day. It was about time to get out of there. Soon the sun would set and the festivities begin outside by the fountain. 

Dubai fountain show and light show

Out we moved together with a new American-Indian friend I just made inside the mall. We sat in one of the cafes by the pond and got a juice for refreshment. Out of all the various unusual blends that they had on offer, I got one with beetroot. Although I very much like to eat beetroot, I probably wouldn’t have it again as long as any other choice is available. 

As the sun was nearing the city’s skyline, the crowd beside the rail enclosing the pond was getting thicker. We got up and occupied a nice spot facing Burj Khalifa after the fountain.

There we made yet another American friend from Texas: a professional photographer the bloke was, whose photography tips I found very insightful. The three of us made a very nice company, indeed. 

The sky turned from blue, to orange, to red, to purple, to black. The heretofore cold and characterless, gigantic facades of the enveloping skyscrapers began to come to life, adorned by many megawatts worth of power on lavish lights. 

The shows began. The fountain show took place every half an hour and lasted for several minutes at a time. Numerous water columns were forcefully jetted against the sky, dancing rhythmically along with loud, epical Arabic and classical tunes. 

At intervals between the fountain shows, several light shows also took place. The entire massive surface of the imposing Burj Khalifa was transformed into a screen, displaying awe-inspiring, beautiful, lively patterns. 

The whole thing felt like that this was exactly where the heart of the global civilization beat. People from every corner of the earth, the world’s nations in their entirety, were there, assembled in the core of this splendid city, the most miraculous achievement of our times, the symbol of the 21st century, attending in rapture this most phantasmagoric spectacle!!!

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