Visit The Lost Chambers Aquarium, Atlantis Palm, Dubai.

I've visited the Aquarium at Dubai Mall on numerous occasions so thought I'd take my mother to explore The Lost Chambers Aquarium at the Atlantis on the Palm using the Entertainer 2 for 1 vouchers, when she visited in December. Entry to the Aquarium and the adjoining Aquaventure, water park, are free if you're a guest at the hotel, check their website out for offers, there's free entry to the water park during your birthday week.

We took a drive around the Palm to see the view, which is stunning, before entering the Aquarium. I really recommend you do this if you get the chance. Turn right at the top of The Palm to view the Marina.

 Whilst the aquarium was stunning, it had nothing on the one at the Dubai Mall and I was slightly disappointed with the lack of information on the type of fish we were looking at.

Whilst lots of photos were taken we weren't in there very long. We didn't do a behind the scenes tour which involved an additional cost, but from now on I'll get my fish fix elsewhere.

We finished the visit with a walk along the Broadwalk and had dinner at Bob's. Ironically a fish and chip bar. There are some fantastic restaurants and coffee shops inside

I find watching fish very relaxing, even the photo's. Don't you?

Animal Tales and the cat has lost it's spot again

My mother is visiting, the cat and dog are happy to have her around as it means there is someone at home all day while Peter and I are in work.

There are strict instructions NOT to feed them, even though both of them will bother you until you do.

My mother is managing to ignore the cat's demands, however it keeps turning up randomly around the house and making her jump, like the bathroom.

Her resolve with the dog hasn't been as good and the dog has been 'sharing' yogurts and cheese sandwiches.

The cat and dog have their own bedroom, yes I know it's a luxury, but Peter and I live in a 4 bed house, so why trip over them all day and besides the cat has a habit of knocking on the bedroom door for attention during the night so we shut them both in their room so not to disturb our sleep.

The cat's sleeping place of the coffee table has been taken over by my mum, so we're back looking for her spot again, she's currently favouring random boxes and is back to demanding cupboard doors are left open for her to choose from.

I haven't seen our stray cat for a few days, I'm assuming it's found a house where someone will feed it, it's very friendly and has probably been a pet at sometime, if I see it again I may take it for a microchip check. Normally if it's lost there are posters around and I belong to several online animal groups, I'm assuming it was dumped.

With National Day over and Christmas on the way, the UAE is out in full force with their decorations, which include lots of animals. The Falcon is the national bird of the UAE and there are several light up ones at The Mall of Emirates.

 My Mother loves her gardening so we visited Dubai Miracle Gardens

And of course no trip to Dubai is complete without a visit to Dubai Mall to see the aquarium, we won't however be visiting this one as you can see so much from the outside, but we'll be going to the one at The Atlantis on the Palm for an afternoon as I've not visited there yet.

Christmas is shaping up in our house, and while not technically real animals, it does involve some Panda's this year as my alternative to 'Elf on a shelf'

The Aquarium and Underwater Zoo at Dubai Mall with #AnimalTales and #HDYGG

The kids keep promising they'll come with me when they are over in Dubai for their holidays, but then we never seem to get round to going so I decided to go to the aquarium on my own.

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is located in Dubai Mall, the world's largest mall, so there is no surprise then to discover that the aquarium holds many records also.

The most fascinating one being that the view below contains the world's largest single piece of acrylic panel which weighs 45,000kgs and measure 32.8 m x 8.3 m and is 750 mm thick.

It is also the world's biggest indoor aquarium. The tank is 51m x 20m x 11m and contains 10 million litres of water and has 33,000 aquatic animals from over 200 species.

You can view the aquarium from the outside from 3 floors. 

And from the back on the 3rd floor

I opted for the Researcher ticket at AED 100, which gave me access to the tunnel, behind the scenes and the underwater zoo. I also got to see King Croc and the feeding of the penguins. There is an additional charge to feed the fish, watch King Croc being fed, take a glass bottom tour and many other things.

You could watch the penguin feeding for free

I felt incredibly sea sick when I walked through the tunnel and surprised at how short the tunnel was as it seems much bigger from the outside. On exiting the tunnel, I had to leave the area and go up the escalators next to the rain forest cafe and discovered I could see the other side of the tank for free on the floor, which will be a nice thing to show future visitors who may not want to actually visit inside.

I was disappointed with the 'behind the scenes' area, there was little information available and we were ushered through each area, as we were passed from guide to guide.

The underwater zoo though was lovely and I was free to take my time and wander around, there are coffee and gift shops inside, loads of information of the fish, but not actually as many fish as I thought I would see compared to other aquariums I've visited around the world.

I loved the glass walk ways and especially loved watching the other visitors actually walk around them rather than on them, I did the same up the CN tower earlier this year, I'm more than happy to walk on the glass as you can see.

I was impressed with the decoration of the Underwater Zoo, despite the plants and flowers being artificial it was rather life like and made me feel like I was actually in a real environment, especially with the rope bridges in the jungle area which led to the bat and insect caves.

 Of course the underwater plants were real