THE DUBAI FOUNTAIN
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| The World's Largest Choreographed Fountain System |
Quite a long time ago I posted this
YouTube playlist on my Facebook timeline. It was a selection of The Dubai Fountain shows.
It had been sitting on top of my wish list of things to see in Dubai.
Shortly after my FB post, my sister responded to it, "That's why you should come here, see it live."
And here we were.
After spending some time in The Dubai Mall, my sis gave a quick call to her kids, "Do you want to see the fountain together with Mathieu?", and they answered with a big, excited YES. So we went straight home to prepare for the evening out.
Dinner done, kids warmly wrapped for night breeze (including Owen in his stroller), the complete family of us came back to the mall at around 7pm. The evening show started at 6pm daily with 30-minutes interval. One show lasted around 4-5 minutes, depending on the song's duration. We reached the mall's promenade just about time to see the 7.30pm show.
There were many points from where people could view the fountain. From Souk Al Bahar's promenade and the surrounding restaurants, Burj Khalifa's promenade and the Observation Deck, The Dubai Mall's promenade or from some restaurants inside the mall. Of course the best sight and sound would be from the outdoor points. (Viewing from inside The Address Downtown Dubai hotel or The Residences - Burj Khalifa was not an option because we had to actually stay there to enjoy the privilege).
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| Downtown Dubai at night |
For the first, we headed toward Burj Khalifa's promenade. It's right across Souk Al Bahar, with the widest view of the fountain.
And what did we do while waiting for the show to start? Owen was sleeping. Mat was running around with his cousins - Braden and Alex. And we, the parents, were spending our time chatting, enjoying the cool breeze, and .. guess what .. taking pictures .. night mode on.
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| The Dubai Mall, The Address Downtown Dubai, Souk Al Bahar |
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| Mat against The Address |
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| Cousins |
At 7.30pm sharp, fountain lights started to flicker. There were flickers projected out of some buildings around the lake. We looked behind us, Burj Khalifa was towering over our shoulders, and it was flickering as well.
Then the music started. It was
The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto, a traditional Chinese track, with the fountain dancing in soft choreography.
(I decided not to record the fountain shows. I wanted to see it grandly, not been bothered by the small vidcam display. I could always find bunch of videos uploaded on YouTube anyway.)
Right, videos could only do this much justice to what I'd seen live.
I read somewhere on tube, someone commented that you knew a country was very rich when they used water for entertainment like this, in the middle of a desert! I couldn't agree more.
While my eyes were set on the show, I placed my camera steady on the railing with one finger kept pressing on the shutter. From behind me, at elevated P.O.V, Andri was also occupied with his camera.
After the show's over, we went to the mall to get some coffee for the parents and hot chocolate for the kids. I got the hot chocolate. I always knew there was a kid in me who was eternally craving for choco liquid mixed with whipped cream and choco powder.
And with those delicious drinks in our hands, we went out again to catch the 8pm show. The Dubai Mall's promenade was already packed with people. We wouldn't manage to go across to our previous spot. So we sneaked in our way to a corner between the mall and the Burj, and stayed there.
Deep inside, I was hoping to see
Baba Yetu, my most favorite track. Apparently it was not the right time, cause instead, it started to dance to an Arabic tune that I didn't recognize.
We used another interval for restroom break and we got ice cream for Alex. Then we started to walk back toward Souk Al Bahar where we parked our cars. We intended to see the 8.30pm show from there. It's getting late for the kids and we wouldn't want to be stuck in the crowd when we're leaving the premise.
We found our spot at the corner, between the bridge and Souk Al Bahar's promenade. It was closer to the fountain, with view to the lighted Burj Khalifa.
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| The Tallest Christmas Tree |
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| Another successful shot to the top |
While waiting, we caught a sight of
The Dubai Fountain Lake Ride. I would love to get on that ride. But we had a baby in our group, and with the wind this chilly, we were not sure it'd be a good idea at this time. Though there was no doubt it would be some experience to be up, close and personal to the fountain.
Still no
Baba Yetu. However, to our delight, the fountain danced to Elmer Bernstein's
Theme from The Magnificent Seven. The music soared high, the choreography was magnificent with water jets. And be careful what one wished for .. getting wet was what we got.
We all loved it. It was the music we - as adult - had known so well. And for the kids, watching a fountain that sprayed water on their face was a definition of spectacular. Standing too close was fun.
And we're done for the night. Water, light, 3 multiculture tracks: Chinese-Arabian-Western, coffee, hot chocolate, ice cream, a sleeping child. Awesome.
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