Many many pictures (around 2500), they don't all fit on this page, so here are a bunch of sub pages (in order):

UAE is the union of 7 different Emirates, each with their own ruler and local laws, and different license plates:

This page has the summary of the trip and what didn't fit in the pages above. The packed itinerary started as soon as I landed:

Day 1: Landing in Dubai, Dubai Desert Conservation Preserve, and drive to Abu Dhabi

I got another covid test as soon as I landed because Abu Dhabi needlessly required a UAE covid test

the airport was pretty

Then, I got picked up for the Heritage Desert Conservation Preserve Tour (click me):

It was a great tour, they got me back around 22:00, a bit late given jetlag and when I woke up, and then I had to do the 1h30 drive to Abu Dhabi to my hotel for the next 2 nights (yes, very long day, but that made the most sense for the activities planned):

Day 2: Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, Ferrari World, Warner Bross World

Abu Dhabi was much more stringent on covid safety, the buffet was protected and you had to ask someone what you wanted

After the tour of the hospital, I went directly to Ferrari World, a bucket list item for sure:

After finishing the park without any lines (woot!), I had enough time to also visit and finish Warner Bross World next door, and that was fun too:

That was definitely fun, I got back to the hotel not too late for an enjoyable evening and some much needed rest :)

Day 3: Going Through Abu Dhabi

After a fun morning with breakfast, I went straight to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, where I ended up spending a lot more time than originally planned.

After spending much longer at the louvre than planned, I drove to Abu Dhabi proper to see the local attractions;

I went to visit a small fort on the way, fun but not essential if low on time:

former assembly house

Back on the road:

I did a quick stop at Emirates Palace, now a fancy hotel, probably spent more time there than I should have:

I actually stopped for a meal, so unusual for me to do that, it was yummy kobe beef :)

By then, I finally started going towards the Abu Dhabi Royal Palace, which was not trivial as the google maps entrance direciions, were all wrong. I barely got in in time (with just 10mn to spare), which is good because, OMG it was magnificient:

By then, it was dark (sunset at the royal palace), I hadn't had the time to go to the observatory 300, which would have been nice for sunset, but either way it was not possible to do sunset both at the palace and observatory. The night shots were still worth going up, even if driving there was a bit madening due to really silly driving directions (had to take a 10mn detour due to a pointless lack of road connection):

Then was the right time to go back to the founder's memorial, Shaik Zahed, which is only worth seeing at night. I did spend the time to watch the movie and learn about it. Overall, UAE has been lucky to have caring and wise rulers that apparently did not abuse of their power and really did their best to serve their people:

the memorial does not look like much during the day

But wait, the day was not over yet, that would be too easy :) Now, I still had to see the Grand Mosque, which was absolutely beautiful:

Cornice Road was very nice, day and night

The mosque closed at 22:00, which was finally the end of the day, well except that I had to drive back to Dubai for my hotel there. I was definitely tired when I got there :)

Day 4: Dubai flight, aquariums, dive, night view, and snowboarding

Next, I went to the Palm Hotel and Lost Chambers Aquarium

The aquarium was nice, but not a must go location, I've been to better ones, but it's a fun visit if you're taking the tram to palm fountain anyway. I also had the option to dive there, but I elected to dive at the Dubai Mall aquarium instead. There was a very nice water park that looked like it was worth a good half day, but I didn't have that time. Got some pictures from the tram that I took back and forth for fun (I actually drove there since I had a car):

After exploring that area, it was time to go to Dubai Mall, which would have taken a while by public transport, but was an easy enough drive:

the mall is the biggest in the world, didn't have time to go through all of it, but fun things there

I then went Diving in Dubai Mall's Aquarium, they were nice enough to accomodate me when I arrived early, and it was a fun dive for sure:

After the dive, I of course went to see the Dubai Mall Aquarium, which was another "not the best I've ever seen, but fun to visit if you're there":

One thing in the mall I went to check out, was the Virtual Reality Theme Park, it had a few fun motion rides you did while watching VR, that was pretty cool:

By then, my plan was to purchase Burj Khalifa "go to the very top" VIP tickets for sunset, but I didn't plan well enough, and they were sold out until after sunset, so I changed plans and hurried to the Dubai Frame to see sunset there. A bit of a detour, not super efficient, but the best remaining plan for the day:

Of course, the day was not quite over yet, now it was time to go Snowboarding at Ski Dubai :)

That sure was a lot of fun, I still had one last thing on the agenda, and went to get some sleep, it was a long and fun day :)

Day 5: More Dubai, Downtown, Souk, Museum of Illusions, Dubai Glow Park, and Burj Khalifa

But as I said in the post on the Grand Mosque, I have to give to UAE for being super respectful of other cultures and non muslims. You can even buy items forbidden to muslims:

After that, I went to Burj Khalifa for a day view from the very top (VIP tour at 12:00):

From there, I went to old town and the souks across the river, although a few things were closed on saturday:

found this poor hungry kitten, I fed it a bit

Dubai museum had been closed for a while during covid

took a cheap shuttle boat across the river to the souk

After the Souk, I checked out the India temple, hard to get in, no pictures allowed, and boring. Then did the Dubai Old Town Museum of Illusions:

From there, it was time for Dubai Glow Park, which was a *lot* of fun. Super pretty:

On the way back and forth, got some pictures from this wonderful sculpture for an upcoming museum:

Then back to Burj Khalifa at night

The day was not quite over yet, then went to Internet City for a nice meeting, although I was tired by then and needed sleep :)

Day 6: Google, Butterfly Garden, Miracle Garden, Dubai Expo 2020

Next was the Dubai Butterfly Garden:

and next door was the impressive Dubai Miracle Garden:

From there, my trip was almost over, I went to fill up the car, parked it by the hotel and took the subway to Dubai Expo 2020. I got there a bit late (close to noon, and it was closing early on sunday, 22:00 instead of 00:00), but still got to see a fair amount with good line management:

gas is about 10c/liter, 37c/gallon, nice

Of course, it takes a lot longer than a non full day to visit the expo, but that's all I had. It was not even on my itineary as I didn't know it was going on. That day was also the start of Dubai Airshow that I had no idea was going on either. It would have been fun, but I truly didn't have the time, and coudln't really reasonably extend my trip since I had to get home for EDC Vegas a few days later.

UAE Trip Wrapup

Thoughts about the trip:

I got picked up by private transport and taken to the preserve about 1h away:

We then had a falcon show:

The sunset was spectacular:

We then went to the desert camp for evening show and dinner:

some people could choose to sleep there

food was really good

It was a nice enjoyable night and I was quite happy they drove me back to town, I had a half nap during that drive so that I could do the 1h30 drive to Abu Dhabi to get to my hotel for the next 2 nights.

Wee!

One of the games was seeing how quickly you could change the wheels on a race car using a center lock:

I did ok-ish, but I didn't beat the best time

I did the driving simulator first. To be honest, it was ok, but not the the most fun I had. It takes a while to get used to a SIM, and while I can drive fast on a track, I'm just not as good on sims, because I don't get the feel of the road and G forces:

What was a lot more fun were the electric karts, I really enjoyed their consistent electric power and drifting around the track. I went twice and probably should have gone more.

I did well :)

Lots more rides to see, with nice decors:

lots of nice decors:

I then did the first big roller coaster, Formula Rossa, it was fun:

I had a quick look at what was left, and then the park was over. So much nicer and quicker without lines:

They had other rides for kids:

Last, but not least, I did Fiorano GT Challenge, the fastest roller coaster in the world. 0 to 200kph in less than 4sec. To be honest, it actually gave me a headache :)

That was a good visit, so glad to have been there. I think I wouldn't mind going back one day now that I know what is what and what I enjoyed :)

It's another entirely indoor amusement park, and it was pretty good. I got it done in just over 2H given the total lack of lines (woot!). Some of it reminded me of the Paris hotel indoors in Vegas, very nice:

A good enough amout of fun rides:

And it was fun to take pictures with a few cute characters :)

she's probably trouble, but the fun kind of trouble :)

More to see, and more rides:

While it was not a must go destination, it was definitely fun to visit after Ferrariworld, very glad I got to do both parks in one day

the hospital is the best in the country, it had many customers

falcon passport

We got a tour that explained the basics to us, and then took us to the hopsital/operating room:

falcon owners can put a radio on them so that they can be tracked and found if need be

patients waiting to be examined

they all get eye shields so that they don't attack one another

We got to see a routine operation on one of them:

ours got a nail trim

given the price of the birds, if they break a feather, the hospital has spares of each color, they can graft

if needed, they can graft an entire feather. They do regrow, but owners don't want to wait for that

beautiful

the ears are hidden

I was lucky enough to get one to feed

hungry bugger

menacing look, I'm happy it had a quail to eat

After the hospital visit, we got to see the exercise room where the flacons get to exercise and the makeshift museum inside:

while tolerance and Islam don't mix in many countries, UAE does its best to make it a reality

prayer times, 5 plus the optional 6th I didn't know about

And because UAE is not shy with business, they had a mall on the way out :)

After the visit was over, I went out to see a palace from the outside for the light projection show:

Saying that I was impressed was an understatement.

the section on old Paris from 130 years ago, was really cool

The outdoors were fantastic:

I probably stayed a bit longer than I should have (it made me late for the rest of the day), but things barely worked out.

So, I went with the Dubai aquarium, which I think was a good choice, it's still not cheap, but no aquarium is, 30mn felt short, but it was probably long enough given that I didn't have to go anywhere, and the extra I paid for video, gave me some good shots, when I'm usually never in diving shots :)

The dive center had all the gear you needed (but make sure to get the 5mm wetsuit, 3mm is too cold for 24C):

Like all aquariums, they have a small platform you go from:

And then I got a bunch of shots even if the quality was lesser than my own diving camera:

And interestingly, while the lost chambers aquarium might not be the best choice to dive (more limited hours for diving and a lot more expensive), that other aquarium is in my opinion the nicer one of the two to visit from the dry side :)

video summary:

I did enjoy diving in the main aquarium, that was definitely fun. After the dive, I did a visit of the aquarium on its multiple floors and that was fun too.

they had lots of tours for non divers

nursery for new jellyfish

algea

getting a new baby blue spotted ray ready for the main exhibit

I love nurse sharks, they are pretty and kind looking :)

The main aquarium had bigger fish:

that the tube I dived on the other side of, and photobombed a few people :)

random stuff that didn't belong:

Of the 2 aquariums, I think it's actually the nicest one of the two, although both are nice, but I elected to go dive in the other one which had more convenient hours and was less than half the price.

A few pictures:

Once in the air, we had fantastic views of course. Great way to see the Palm Jumeirah:

We then flew towards Anantara World Islands Dubai Resort:

this looks cool, but not very resilient to climate change driven sea rise?

We then flew towards downtown:

the subway stations were cool looking

Indoor snowboarding I went to

It was then time for landing:

They gave me a cool video summary:

pretty but the lights reflected against the windows and messed up many pictures

I had enough time to take plenty of daylight pictures:

Burj Khalifa, where I was hoping to be :)

And had nice sunset pictures:

Dubai Glow Park where I went the next day

They had a movie about future tech on the way out:

Very cool, golden ratio in the frame:

A few pictures from the outside:

Before people cry murder about how bad it is for the environment, it's all indoors and temperature is controlled beter than ski resorts that spent untold amounts of energy to make a lot of snow that melts away on very big slopes. I don't have numbers, but my feeling is that it's actually not that bad in comparison, and it's cool for people there to be able to enjoy the snow when there is clearly none nearby.

This is what it looks like:

Like other places in Dubai, navigation was a bit tricky, I missed one exit and had to find far away street parking and jump some hedges to get in the mall eventually (or it would have been a 15mn drive to get all the way out and back in to the correct entrance). Got there eventually. I got in kind of late on a weekday, so I was lucky not to have any wait and got my gear right away. The guy was surprised when I asked a board of 164 and stance of 15R 30F. That was a bit aggressive and powder-day like, which is almost all I do :)

really cool to see a groomer indoors

the quad chair was not detachable and a bit slow, but note the nice leather seats

After a while I figured out that the tow rope was faster than the quad chair:

The run is of course not super long, but they have a mini terrain park at the top, and it was fun enough for almost 2H. Here's a vid:

I tried again the next day with more planning, and had to go twice since I couldn't get sunset that day either. I paid way too much to get VIP to the top at noon when it opened. We got a quick tour of the build:

impressive build

We then got directly to the last floor, over 800 meters up:

we got snacks and drinks in the VIP room

dubai frame

main freeway with all the buildings

Dubai Mall with fountains

After a while, I went down to a main floor where everyone else, goes:

And the way out, I went to see the fountain show outside:

I then had to come back later to get the night view, and started by the fountain show too (it was actually hard to get there from the street where I parked):

I then went up with a normal ticket I had to buy (by then, it was over than $150), but unfortunately got lost in the VIP gropup that happened to go by, and went to the top again. It was inconvenient time-wise to have to go twice, never mind having to pay twice, but the night view was worth it even if I didn't get sunset too at the same time:

regular tickets, went to 125, VIP went to 154

Optical Illusions

Dinosaurs

Glow Park

I went to the UAE pavillion which was hard to get into:

renewable energy was cool:

lots of solar panels

Some countries showed how they could help improve the word, others how cool they were, and others had just displays on future things they were hoping to do (i.e. vaporware ;) )

Got to visit the Emirates (airline) pavillion, pretty cool:

virtual flight of the future

China was supposed to have a drone show, but did not on sunday, the day I came, they had interesting displays, but also showed how much of a surveillance society they were (I'm sure it wasn't their intent, but I guess I can't even tell):

Things got nice a night:

I made it to France just before closing time (22:00 on sunday instead of 00:00)

yum

and that was it, by 22:00 everything was closed. Spent about 10H there, and even with being efficient, definitely needed 3 days or more, but I feel I got a good overview. This was not what I was in Dubai for to start with, and spent more time there than any other place I had been to, so I think it was a reasonable tradeoff (actually that same day was also the start of dubai aviation expo, but I just couldn't be everywhere).

The cool thing were the frames they made with the dead butterflies:

Right after the butterfly garden, I went to check out the Miracle Garden, well worth it too

I randomly started with the impressive A380 covered with flowers. It seems to actually really be an actual airplane shell):

the rest is of course very nice too

The smurf village was very cool:

A nearby school had some "interesting" things visible, don't ask :)

this was cute

nice views

While it is hard to forget the horrible experience I went through to get the flight fixed, once I finally had it, it was really really nice. Finding first class checkin, for US bound flights (which was separate), was definitely challenging in DXB, I had to go back and forth the airport several times, but eventually got to the right place:

I didn't have a lot of time for the lounge, because I had fun late the previous night after Dubai Expo, and the flight was early the next morning, but still had enough time to go visit:

they also had a game room I didn't have time to visit

Dubai is totally fine with foreigners drinking

the lounge had its own kitchen and chef

I went with poached eggs next, they were quite good

but then I saw the sushi chef, so I had some too :)

As nice as the lounge was, I could'nt stay there forever, but let's just say that I wasn't starving when I left it and went to the plane :)

coach looked pretty good, almost matching business of some flights (not lay flat of course)

business was really really nice

and then first class, suites had 3 screens and a minibar

nice office with workspace and mirror with lights, side light, and flower

there is no overhead, you can just put your carry ons under your screen

cell phone coverage in flight

nice view of the flight

they actually had prayer times for where you were on earth and and arrow to show what direction to pray. I'm told few passengers use it though

Then, the food and drinks. The menu had lots of options and food made to order, you could have anything at any time. I may have eaten a bit too much :)

french opera cake, I'm impressed.

did I mention that I didn't starve? :)

breakfast, lunch, dinner, who knows? who cares? :)

The flight, being one of the longest flights in the world, didn't go east or west, but is a "fuck it, let's just go over the north pole and end up on the other side of the earth":

artificial stars were cute

after a long flight, we eventually got home

you can even score the landing

Despite the very shitty experience with Emirates wrongfully cancelling my account and flight and taking so damn long to admit their mistake and fix it, the flights were indeed great.