1001 Mall, Part V: Ibn Battuta Mall and the cirque du soleil

The cirque du soleil

The cirque du soleil is in town – and having heard a lot about their shows without actually ever attending one, I decided to use this opportunity to see the cirque and Ibn Battuta Mall, where the show takes place. Quite expensive – the cheapest tickets were 300 AED…

Of course I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, so all I can do is add this YouTube video to give you an impression of what I’ve saw:

The places Ibn Battuta has been and the things he bought there

Enter the dragon

However, I can show you some pretty pictures from the Ibn Battuta Mall itself: It is named after Ibn Battuta, a famous Muslim Berber who travelled through almost all of the (then) known world from Marocco to China. For once, this mall also contains some pedagogically valuable displays of Ibn Battuta and the discoveries made in the countries he travelled through. But of course it mainly serves one purpose: shopping. So you can follow Ibn Battuta’s journey through the gates of the forbidden city, past a big gym to the Chinese food court, where you will see Ibn Battuta’s vessel (as always you can click on the pictures to enlarge them):

Chinese Junk

Chinese Junk, slightly stranded

More Chinese junk - pardon, Canadian...

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From there, you pass by one of several starbucks (as was to be expected, all the other famouse chains are represented here as well: KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, you name it…), only to enter India, elephants and everything included:

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Just go ahead and enjoy the emormous spaces and cupolas by running around on the marble floor:

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Before entering Persia:

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From there, you’ll experience a short flash back to the Wafi Mall – Eyptian design and an introduction to their star-gazing galore:

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Five minutes later, you’ll stroll through the pleasant alleys of ancient Tunis – decorated with surprisingly modern street lamps…

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Tired and heavily burdened by our shopping bags, we arrive back in Europe – al-Andalus, present day Spain: