DUBAI

In January Peter and I took a quick trip to Dubai. It was so fun. We left the kids with a wonderful family in our Branch, the Haynie's. They love our kids and everything turned out wonderful.

So, if you've ever wanted to see Dubai; here you go. Basically it's a whole lot of malls. But what can I say? It's hot here in the Middle East, they make giant malls so people can do and see everything without cooking to death. I don't like malls, as you know. But these are like cities within walls.

The first photo above is of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It is quite a sight. Although I thought many times that I have been to the 'real' tallest building in the world, the World Trade Center in NYC - until folks from right here brought it down. I'll admit, I had mixed emotions. It was pretty though.



If you didn't know, Dubai is super-extra-oober-totally-really, really RICH! Okay, the people that vacation here are rich. That is, Dubai itself doesn't really have a lot of money (no more oil), but they make a ton off of tourism by all these rich Arabs. And cars, cars, cars are the thing here. And Ferrari's are the fav. (well one of them) They even have a giant indoor amusement park called Ferrari World.


I saw more fancy cars than ever before in my life. BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Land Cruiser, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Audi. You name it - it was in Dubai.


Well. You know me. I can't blog about a place without a couple of bathroom shots. These here are at a Metro stop. I mean, pretty darn nice for public rapid transit, I'd say.


Still got the hose!


Peter at the Metro stop. Who knew the Middle East could be so nice. I mean, it's all desert around here right? What makes them so nice? Oh. That's right. A little thing called FREEDOM!


Dubai skyline. That space looking thing in the middle front is the Metro stop. Birj Khalifa in the background.


Real art? On the street? Of HUMAN FIGURES? What is this place, anyway? Just kidding. I thought these were lovely.

Okay. Here we go into the Malls.


I got a pedicure at this spa. Deeeee-lightful.


Three story waterfall with diving statues.


Indoor ice skating rink. Favorite part? Men trying to ice skate in thobes. Really? REALLY? Please. Wear jeans. You just can't skate in a full length dress.


Yes. You will see me and my fav's from America. And here is one; Bath and Body Works. Don't forget folks, I don't get stuff like this in my neck of the woods. I almost cried. Oh, and I sniffed a lot! Heaven...


CARTIER.

Sweet European fashion in Dubai. Rock on, dude.


Tiffany and Co. I walked though for fun.



P.F. Chang's baby! I don't care you don't think they're the best Chinese food. They are by far the best in the Gulf, and what a treat! Lettuce Wraps!!!! I died afterward. Well... I could have.


Worlds biggest candy store. I only spent 28 USD on Jelly Belly's alone. What can I say. They are the flavor of America, are they not?



Outside of Candylicious. Huge Aquarium. You can pay to dive and feed the fish if you want.



This if for Aimee. Eat Happy. If that isn't her motto, I don't know what is. I mean, I don't refer to her as Sister Wonka for nothing.


We saw Mission Impossible 4 while we were here. Really fun to be watching the movie under the building where it was filmed. Really good movie too.


Spa where Peter and I had our massages. Mmm. Did I say it was a heavenly weekend?


Dancing fountain.




Atlantis. Super fancy. The resorts here are unimaginable. AND their prices are the same. Photos below are resort scenes. We did NOT stay at anyplace fancy, we just stopped by to enjoy what they have to offer. Beauty.







Inside another mall, this one with Ski Dubai. See below.


ANNNNND. Into the Souks! You know by now that Souks means markets, right? So this is the old part of town, with shops, people, laborers, etc. Not as clean or nice, but I really liked it.


Sweat shop.



I think this part of town is the real Agraba. You know, from Aladdin? Seriously.




Did I mention they are famous for their Gold Souk? Well. They are, and you can see why.



The Souks are connected (or separated) by a canal. So for .25 cents you catch a boat to the other side. We only almost died once.



Back at the mall....

Can you say Pottery Barn? Laugh if you must. Go ahead. I seriously went numb in here. Ask Peter. It was almost holy. Not because it was Pottery Barn, because it was America. The furniture, the smell, the decor - home. Land of the free home of the brave...made in China. Okay, fine. But it sure was fun.


And last but not least, at Texas Roadhouse, drum roll please....

A CHERRY LIMEADE!

And then I died.

The end.

*NOTE* Flying there from here was only 166 USD. Everything else so was totally ridiculously expensive, it wasn't even funny. Luckily, I'm happy to just look. We stayed at the Crown Plaza, business district - nothing fancy, for 300 USD a night. (and had a discount) Way too much. But, our massages and my haircut and pedicure were comparable to U.S. prices. So that wasn't too bad. And one other note of info, this place is the Eastern Block's play ground - in other words the Russian Mafia is everywhere. SO many Russians. Arabs and Russians. Peter served his mission in Russia, so that was kind of fun. And we (he) knows a little Arabic, also fun. But of course, they all speak English. Over all? Totally worth seeing this place. Like Vegas without all of the filth, I'm sure the filth is here, but you never see any of it. Very fun.