A few weeks ago we went to Dubai for a day, our neighbouring city and emirate, where my husband attended a conference. A great opportunity to visit a few areas I had not seen yet. Besides our one-day excursion in March to visit Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Mall, the museum fort and the old souk we had not been back. Our Vancouver friends, Y and R, had found an article about the Green Planet in Dubai, a permanent exhibit of tropical rain forests and their fragile and unique ecological makeup, with a Canadian connection: the building had been planned and built by the Vancouver, BC, architect firm of GroutMcTavish.  The building by itself is worth a visit with its straight and curved lines and the round windows reminiscent of a ships portholes.

Signage outside

View to downtown Dubai from third floor window

Light-infused glass cylinder with spiral walkway

Upon entering on the main floor and enjoying a view from below an Amazon-waterway aquarium an elevator whisks the visitor up to the top floor for a journey from the canopy of an artificial tree via a spiral staircase along the windows to the ground floor’s gift store.

View from top floor

Real plants add green and a natural ambience

Along the way birds and butterflies flutter by, each floor has displays of the different ecosystems to be found in tropical rain forests around the world. I was fascinated by the animals small and big I was able to observe: from beetles and weaver ants to birds, sloths and pre-hensile porcupines. The porcupines were my absolute favourite.

Fluorescent beetle

Hyacinth macaws

Pre-hensile tailed porcupine

A visit to this green and lush tropical paradise is completely worth it to escape the sights and sounds of a bustling city. A great mini-vacation without the flying.

Another day brought us to the Mall of the Emirates and the other “end” of the climate range: Ski Dubai. I am not sure what you imagine when you hear that there is a ski hill in the middle of a desert city and in a mall. My picture of it was a big open space surrounded by stores with chilly air and a big pile of snow people would be skiing on. Kind off like a very big pile of Zamboni made snow outside a skating area. Well, it looks way more professional than that: very much like a skiing lodge in the Rocky Mountains or the Alps with a rustic wooden-beam look-alike restaurant lodge (Apres), storage lockers and benches and ski and snowboard rental places (including snowsuits, mittens and helmets). Only the bottom 10-20% of the 400 meter ski run is visible to the public but it looks almost exactly like a slope in the mountains with turns, groomed snow and some trees. Watching children and adults alike skiing down and taking the lift up again – there was even a T-bar if a chairlift is too easy – made me want to try it sometime.

For more information or photos have a look here: Looking at the snow made knitting these adorable mittens for the children of friend’s visiting Scandinavia this week even easier.

For an infant – no thumbs needed

For a 3-year old girl

Thank you for reading my blog!

Maike