Yes it's Malls, Malls, Malls over here. Although I've never been a big fan of malls, I have become accustomed to going to them. For those of you familiar with the Emirates (or who will spend any extended length of time in the UAE) you will quickly find out the malls are the center of action here. Many people’s spare time revolves around which mall to visit and the UAE is constantly building more to make the choice more interesting. I think this can be explained by how hot it is here for a good part of the year, so the mall is the obvious place to go in order to escape the heat and walk around in a nice air-conditioned environment. The other explanation being mass-consumerism brought on by the massive petrochemical industry here and the resulting rapid growth of wealth. Malls are often huge so you can walk around for hours and give your wallet a workout as well if you so choose. These pictures are from the IBN Battuta mall which is on the outlying area of Dubai on the main road heading towards Abu Dhabi. This is one of our favorite malls as we love the Egyptian motif and massive tiled dome in the center. It's right on the metro line so easy to access from downtown and it's quickly becoming a transportation hub by offering numerous buses to Abu Dhabi. This is currently the only place to catch a bus to the new Dubai World Central (DWC)- Al Maktoum International Airport - which is Dubai's new international airport and set to overtake the downtown airport in the next few years. The first picture is of the IBN Battuta gate which has some hotels and restaurants and the mall is just next door (you can't miss all the buildings with hieroglyphs). There is covered parking structure and they will wash your car in there while you shop for around 14 dhs; pay the attendants in advance.
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