After 7 weeks we finally left SE Asia and headed to the Middle East to visit our friend Erin in the UAE. It was an 8 hour flight so we managed to watch 3 movies. I must admit that Ethiad is a really nice airline...even when your in "cattle class". We arrived at 11:30pm and Erin picked us up and brought us back to her house.
The next morning we slept in a bit before going out for the day. First Erin drove us to her school where we met her class. They are sure a multicultural school. We felt like we were at the United Nations! We then went into the city of Abu Dhabi to see the beach and the marina mall. Then we headed into Dubai and went to see the Palm Jumeirah which is the manmade island that is shaped like a palm tree and all of the houses are on the beachfront. The Atlantis Hotel and Aquaventure water park are also located on the island. Our next stop was the Dubai Mall (sorry WEM, it is the largest in the world) and the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world). We went for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which is right next to the massive aquarium in the mall (you can take dive lessons there). We went back to Erin's house and went to bed early as we were still adjusting to the time change.
The next day we decided to just lie low, hang out at Erin's place and do nothing. Because we only have just over a month before real life kicks us in the butt we decided to do some preliminary searching for jobs...boo! I don't know if our hearts weren't really in it or we are just being picky, but neither of us found anything of real interest. It was nice to have a day to just relax. That night when Erin got back from work we went to Dubai Global Village which is a huge fair like Heritage Days or Expo with displays/booths from counties all over the world. It was pretty cool to see and we had some good Indian food,
Erin had to work the next day so she took us to the airport on the way and we rented a car for a couple of days. We went and took the public tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which was massive and pretty amazing. It is made from white marble and has 24k gold "accents". Inside the main prayer hall there is the world's largest single piece carpet...they said that if you took all of the thread from this carpet, you could circle the globe twice and tie a bow in it. They also have the world's second largest (actually there are three of them) chandeliers made in Germany with Swarovski crystals. It was pretty impressive...but we think the Taj still takes the cake. We went to the Marina Mall for some lunch and then checked out the Heritage Village, which had a number of displays showing traditional Arab life (houses, craftsmen, and artifacts). To top off the day, we went and laid on the beach for a couple hours. The water was brisk but nice and refreshing. That night Erin brought home a wonderful roast chicken meal with pita bread and hummus.
The following day we went to Dubai to see the sights there. Our first stop was the Ibn Battutu mall. We were going for lunch the next day at the seven star Burj al Arab hotel so We needed some nicer shoes (other than hiking boots or flip flops). We wandered around there for a while before hopping on the metro to head downtown. We stopped at Emirates Mall and saw Ski Dubai, which is the ski hill located in the mall...pretty crazy, but not as impressive as I thought it would be. We took the metro further downtown, and stopped at Dubai Creek and wandered around the "old district". There was traditional architecture and a number of museums and art galleries. Finally we made our way over to the souks (markets). The gold souk was pretty impressive with endless jewelry stores, but the perfume and spice souks were rather disappointing. We made our way back on the metro, and headed back to Abu Dhabi.
The following morning we slept in and then got ready for our "fancy" afternoon out. We got dressed up, the first time in a while and headed to the Burj al Arab, the world's only seven star hotel. We went to the top floor and got a fabulous table by the window overlooking the Arabian Sea. We had a lobster appetizer, I had chicken and Jen had cod for a main course, and orange sponge cake and sorbet for dessert. The food was amazing but the price was a little hard to swallow after the cheapness of SE Asia. Erin told them it was Jen's birthday so we ended up getting this absolutely amazing cake to take home. During lunch the topic of Shopping came up especially about purses. That's when Erin said we should go and see her purse guy! So off we trekked to the wrong side of the tracks. We met the infamous purse guy. The first thing he tells us is that he has been caught by the police again, but he just got some new stock in. We were directed to an apartment building. The purse guy shows up a few minutes later and let's us in. Still we don't see any purses. Then all of a sudden the bookshelf opens and behind it is an amazing room filled with purses and watches galore. So the shopping began. It was hard to make a decision cause every time you turned around there was a new purse or watch being organized on the shelves. By the end of the afternoon Erin and Dave got watches and Jen got a Christian Dior purse. All we could say is that we needed to get out of the UAE as we were spending way too much money!! That evening we got takeaway shwarma (Arabic chicken pitas) and samosas for supper. That entire meal for the 3 of us cost less than a bottle of water at lunch. That definitely took us down a peg from the 7 star lunch! We had a few drinks at her house with some of her teacher friends and then went out on the town to the seediest bar they know. Drinks were reasonably priced, the live band was fantastic and the people watching was prime.
The next morning we headed back to Dubai and went to Aquaventure at the Atlantis hotel on the Palm Jumeirah. This is the water park that was on the Amazing Race a couple of seasons ago. There is a huge vertical drop slide that goes under the shark tank...it was pretty cool. They have some fun tube rides, including a 2km long one with rapids all along it. It was a lot of fun. We were a little late getting out of there and Erin had to drive like an Arab to get us to the Burj Khalifa in time for our trip to the observation deck. It is on the 124th floor of the building and the elevator only takes 60 seconds. I don't remember how high we were but it was an amazing 360 degree of the city and everything looked like it was part of a diorama. Unfortunately it was very hazy (sand in the air) so you couldn't see any great distances. We grabbed some lunch in the mall and then went and watched a movie (Just Go With It) at the platinum theatre. The platinum theatre is definitely first class. You start off in a fancy waiting lounge, the seats are amazing individual reclining leather chairs, they have a menu you order from and they bring your food to you and they give you a pillow and blanket. I don't know if we will be able to go back to watching a movie in a normal theatre. Before heading back to Erin's we watched the light and water show at the world's largest fountain (even bigger that the one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas).
The following day was our last full one in the UAE and Erin took us out to the oasis town of Al Ain. We went to the livestock souk and got to see cows, goats and camels and even got to pet a 4 day old baby camel. We also went to a lookout at Jebel Hafit, the highest mountain in the UAE, where we could see Oman. When we got back that night we headed to Masdar City which is an environmentally friendly concept city near Erin's house. You arrive and park your car and then climb into an unmanned electric pod that takes you into the city (no cars are allowed in the city)...very George Jetson. They are doing a number of studies/experiments with things like solar panels, high efficiency insulation and other environmental initiatives. It was pretty cool and we had a wonderful dinner at a sushi restaurant there.
And that is a wrap for the UAE. We left a little but light on the pocket book but had a wonderful time visiting with Erin and appreciate her hospitality and all the chauferring she did for us. It was nice to see a familiar face after being away from home for so long and great to stay put in one place for a few days. Thank you again Erin! Now we are off to Jordan for 10 days and from what everyone here has told us, it should be amazing! We will post again soon.