Dubai - January 13, 2018

We left Mumbai, (Bombay) on January 10, and had two beautiful, relaxing days at sea. After the hubbub in Mumbai, a little R&R was really nice. We have accumulated a handful of "friends" we recognize and see often on the pool deck, at entertainment venues or at the buffet . . . some of our favorites are the beautiful dancers from England whose fluid ballroom dancing made me envious, there is the couple we chit chat with at the casino bar -- she has short, platinum hair and makes me think of a younger Annie Lennox. Then there was Nick and Carla also from England and Bill and Brenda, folks we met checking in to start our cruise and who are nearly our neighbors in Atlanta - we refer to them as 30342 (which is ITP--inside the perimeter--they reminded us to put us in our place). And of course, because there is assigned dinner seating in their standard restaurants on Celebrity cruises, there are the seven diner dates we met each evening: Julie, Kiera, and Jim from Glasgow and Andrew, Brenda, Paul and Carol from the UK. It's funny; it really does not take a long while to get to know one another when you share a leisurely dinner together for twelve consecutive nights. Over our nightly meal, we talked about our families, our careers, and our past and future travels. We told funny stories on one another too. After the first few nights, we truly began to feel and act like special friends and by the end of our time on the ship we were sad to say good bye and sad to end our nightly dinner parties.

Our last port was Dubai which was a stark contrast to our other destinations, even Abu Dhabi. Although Abu Dhabi is the capital of UAE, Dubai is the most grand. A point of interest is by agreement, the ruler of Abu Dhabi is the president of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai is Vice President. There is no election.

The wealth in Dubai is obscenely evident. The tall city skyline is ultra-modern and is growing in leaps and bounds. Construction sites are everywhere. New tall buildings are being built as well as new ritzy communities like Jumeirah that features the grand seven-star hotel, low-rise villas with hip retail, dining and entertainment. A popular building theme right now seems to be expensive living, shopping, dining and hotel developments situated on artificial islands like Palm Jumeirah, The World and Atlantis. One hotel currently being built will be the only 4-star hotel in the city; all others are 5-star and above. Some hotels offer nothing but suites. The main drag in Dubai is Sheikh Zayed Road. It is lined with fantastic hotels, each more grand than the other, exclusive shopping and plenty of opportunities for fine dining.

And Dubai boasts the worlds' largest everything . . . the city has Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building with 259 floors and total height including tower of 2722 feet. Dubai has the world's largest HD video screen which sits above the aquarium in the Dubai Mall (the world's largest shopping mall by the way) and the world's tallest hotel, the Marriott Marquis Dubai. It even has a large indoor snow park where people go skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing. Oh and the people of Dubai love to shop. Tourists from certain countries where high-end designer goods are not readily available come to Dubai to shop as well. There are at least five mega malls and a far greater number of mini-specialty malls. All appear to have a vibrant, well-heeled clientele.

Certainly we could not see it all in one day but we did see city highlights and spent a couple of hours in the Dubai Mall area, watching the dancing waters of the grand Dubai Fountain - possibly the best of its kind. This fountain sits in a large reflecting pool at the foot of Burj Khalifa and operates only about once an hour putting on a magnificent display, shooting steams high into the sky, all set to loud, vibrant music. Stan captured a video. I will try to upload it - it's really worth watching!

Yes, we could not miss a visit to the near top of the Burj Khalifa! This beautiful building merely exudes quality and luxury. Aside from being the tallest building, it is one of the most breath-taking. It can be seen from all points of the city. On our way up we expected a tummy-tickling, thrilling 77-second elevator ride from ground floor to the observation decks but there was little sensation at all. We simply glided up 125 floors. There were two observation decks, one indoor and the other outside and a floor below where 360-degree views of the city can be seen. When viewing cityscapes from other tall buildings Stan and I have always experienced a subtle movement as the buildings sometimes sway slightly in the wind - not so with the Burj Khalifa! There was no movement at all.

Before we left the area, we took the escalator which leads to the Dubai Aquarium and took photos of big fish swimming high above our heads. Meanwhile we were surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops, and confectionery boutiques that provided a swirled mixture of aromas - sweet, pungent and spicy. We commented that we'd like to capture that in a fragrance media and share that as well.

Our bus tour took us to the beach where people were swimming and surfing in weather that seemed just a bit too chilly for my taste. There we got a good look at the sail shaped hotel, Jumeirah, the only seven-star hotel in the world. Sheesh!

I'm not sure I want to revisit Dubai. While it is a magnificent place, the city is so new that it seems artificial. Yes, there are many things to do, and many places to dine and shop but my impression is that it appeals primarily to the very rich and famous. Unless your heritage is Emirati, visiting and living here is EXPENSIVE!!

For me, check! Been there; done that with Dubai!

Sunday is travel day for us. Sadly we left the luxury of the ship and are spending all day in the airport awaiting our 9:50 pm flight to Hong Kong. Get this; we will arrive at 9:10 tomorrow morning. I think this is going to be one of those hard day's night. I know, your heart is breaking!