The Dubai Mall

Finally, The Dubai Mall opened to the public on November 4th after few delays in its official opening.

My sisters and I went on the 6th to see what's new with it and I honestly say I can't judge it as it is too early for me to do so. Only 500 shops are opened out of the 1200 shops, which is clear when you walk in the mall as it seems like a place for empty shops. The plan is to open shops in batches every month, i.e. 100 month or so per month.

The mall seemed empty, but the crowd was in two main areas: the acquarium and the food court. As for the acquarium, it reminded me so much of the one in Siam Paragon in Bangkok, Thailand. For Dhs. 15 you get to walk the what seemed like 2 meters only tunnel under the acquarium. It's quite interesting to see sharks and fish up close and personal. For Dhs. 50 you get to use the tunnel and visit the discovery center which is two storeys above the tunnel and it has different species of sea life. Loved the seals and the penguins !

The food court was so crowded and it had the same restaurants in any other mall, maybe few more, but it was so hard to tell due to the crowd and the fact that we were tired from walking such a distance in heels !

Hamleys of London has opened in the mall and I could see Jay Strongwater's shop is about to open. Galleries La Fayette is opening in the mall and Bloomingdale's due to open in early 2010.

When we walked outside the mall and we drove by it, we were fascinated by how big it was and we realized that we didn't get to see around 3 quarters of the place! It is that huge ! I understand now when they said it is the largest in the world.

So in order for me to judge it better, I need to visit it after few months wearing sneakers instead of heels (which is impossible of course)!

Take a look at some pics that i've taken at the Dubai Mall.

Ciao