After wrapping up the Europe part of our trip, Mom and I bid goodbye to hubby and MIL, and continued our travels to the Middle East. Our travel 'bootcamp' continued as we hopped across 5 countries in 6 days - Turkey, Jordan, Oman, U.A.E, Qatar. Thankful that Mom was willing to accompany me to this part of the world as I continued my quest of exploring more new contries. =)
29 May 2025 (Thurs): Muscat - Dubai
After our speed sightseeing in Muscat, it was time to continue our journey to the next country... United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a 1-hour flight on Oman Air from Muscat to Dubai at 2.30pm.
Arrived Dubai at 3.15pm. This was my first time visiting UAE (not transit). Immigration was super quick and easy. No visa needed for Malaysians and they didn't even ask us any questions. No more rental car for us so it's time to explore Dubai's public transportation. Bought the 2-zones metro tickets for AED 8 ($2.10) per pax. We were able to pay with credit card at the machine so it was very easy and convenient.
All visitors also received a free SIM card which was valid for 24 hours.
Took the red Metro line directly from Dubai Airport Terminal 1 to Business Bay station. We had to walk about 10 minutes from Business Bay station to our hotel. As I was trying to figure out how to get on the overpass, a nice Indian lady said we could follow her as she was walking the same direction. The 10 minutes walk wasn't fun with the 36°C / 96.8°F weather.
Finally made it to our hotel - Holiday Inn Express Dubai - Safa Park at 5.10pm. This was our final Holiday Inn Express stay on this trip. Booked this 2-night stay for 11,000 IHG points/night. Our room had partial view of Burj Khalifa. We thought about heading out for dinner originally but decided to stay in for the evening after experiencing the heat earlier.
30 May 2025 (Fri): Dubai Sightseeing
Early start for the day at 5am as I bought the 6am sunrise ticket to visit Burj Khalifa. Walked to Business Bay metro station to take the metro to Burj Khalifa, which was only 1 stop away. We thought it'd be cooler in the morning but nope it was still hot but at least the sun wasn't up yet. Bought the NOL Day Pass for AED22 ($6)/pax, which includes travel on all metro and buses for the day.
Arrived Burj Khalifa station at 5.30am. I didn't know it was still a 20 minutes walk from the metro station through covered walkways and Dubai Mall to get to Burj Khalifa. Even though the walkways had travelator, it wasn't operating yet as it was too early so we got our steps in early in the morning. It was pretty cool to see an empty Dubai Mall, but the escalators were not operating yet as well so we had to put in more steps...lol!
After a 20 minutes 'workout', we finally made it to the entrance of Burj Khalifa at 5.50am, just in time for our 6am ticket. Thought we were early leaving the hotel at 5am but I certainly underestimated the amount of time required to get here. Luckily we didn't buy an earlier ticket. I wasn't crazy enough to come at 5am to catch the sunrise at 5.30am coz the metro didn't start running until 5am.
We bought our tickets in advance on Klook for AED159 ($39) per pax and was able to redeem our tickets easily at the ticket counter without any wait. The 'sunrise' tickets are cheaper and were limited for entry at 5am/5.30am/6am/6.30am. It provides access to levels 124 & 125, and includes a beverage and bakery item. There was no time limit as to how long we could stay up there.
We headed to the outdoor deck at level 124 first. Everyone seems to crowd and hangout at this outdoor deck on level 124 to take photos but the sun made it hard to take photos from this direction with the reflections on the glass. I still ended up taking way too many same same but different photos though.
Level 125 was actually better as it was indoor and we were able to get a 360 view of Dubai. Best part, we had the entire place to ourselves!
We spent about 1.5 hours taking way too many photos and videos before wrapping up our visit.
Redeemed our complimentary beverage and donut on our way out.
Didn't know that the Dubai Fountain was closed since April 19 for modernization work till Sept 30. Glad we didn't come all the way here the night before to see the fountains.
Walked about 10 minutes from Dubai Mall to The Palace for this perfect photo spot.
After a productive early morning, we wrapped up our visit of Burj Khalifa at 9am and went back to the hotel to enjoy the free breakfast (brunch) and took a break from sightseeing coz it was too hot to walk around. We also received a welcome fruit plate from the hotel. :)
Headed out again at 3.15pm for another round of sightseeing. Since we had the NOL Day Pass and I didn't have much planned, mom wanted to take the metro all the way to the last station so we went on a lil' metro tour to Expo 2020 station.
Then we rode on the entire tram line from Jumeirah Lakes Towers to Al Sufouh, and took bus 88 to Burj Al Arab. Fully utilizing our day pass...lol!!
Realized that we couldn't go beyond the guardhouse of Burj Al Arab just to visit, so we just took photos from far.
Found this good photo spot for Burj Al Arab at D-Marin Marsa Al Arab Marina.
We were surprised that the bus stop was air-conditioned...definitely needed here. =) We hopped back on the bus at 6.30pm and made a stop at Carrefour at Mall of Emirates to see if there was anything interesting to buy. No we didn't buy camel milk powder nor Dubai chocolate, but bought a bunch of Ritter Sport chocolates.
31 May 2025 (Sat): Dubai - Doha
Free breakfast at 7.30am to start the day. I enjoyed the breakfast food options here as compared to HIX in Europe.
Checked out of the hotel at 8am. Felt bougie today and didn't want to sweat before our long travel, so I decided to use the Careem app to get a cab to the airport instead of using the metro. The 15 minutes cab ride costs AED63 ($17).
Next stop...Malaysia!
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