Dubai, 10/13/04
Greetings from the Middle East!!! So...where do I start??? Well, I'll try to keep this as brief as
possible....
Lea and I had a great time in London. Since we had a total of 6 hours within the city, Lea got the
opportunity to do one of "Jen's Walking Tours". I made it my duty to have us walk everywhere
so that she could see as much as possible...especially since this was her first time to a country
other than Mexico. As can be expected, we got lost here and there (one of the downfalls when
I'm the tourguide :) ). Before we knew it, it was time to catch our next flight to Dubai!
It was pretty interesting doing two red-eye flights back-to-back. I'm still strictly sold that jetlag
is a psychological thing because all I can say is that I don't feel tired at all.
Well...now comes the part that's of more interest to you guys....my thoughts on Dubai and the
Middle East.... I LOOOOOOVE IT!!!!!!!! People here couldn't be friendlier. In addition, it's very
multi-ethnic. Lots of people have moved out here from various places (South Africa,
Philippines, Eastern Europe, etc.). My first impression of Dubai was obviously the airport. It's
fantastic and modern and just has TONS of shopping. It was a breeze getting through the
passport area and everything was taken care of for us with regards to the visa. Let me be
brutally honest...it was 10 times easier getting through it here than it was when I went to Banff.
Those Canadians must have asked 20 times why I was traveling there by myself to meet up
with friends. Here? They asked me one question. 'Is this your first time to Dubai?'. And with a
smile. They were simply happy to have you come into their country to experience it.
We got to our hotel and...um....how to say this....we were not very pleased. We were both
expecting a bit more from a '5 star' hotel (they MUST have an easy grading system). We went
out to explore other places on Jumeirah Beach (where all of the resorts are located) and found
this new one that I had read about on the Internet before we came here. It was just simply
gorgeous. To make a long story short, we decided that the difference in price was TOO worth it.
We were going to be moving into our lap of luxury the next day. In the meantime, we had a
desert safari to get ready for. What exactly does a desert safari entail, you ask? We were driven
out into the desert. There were 6 of us in our vehicle. Then the driver took us dune bashing in
the sand dunes. I was in the front and loving it--almost like a roller coaster that rides on no
rails. Lea was over it after 5 minutes. The girl in back was about to get sick. But to their dismay,
we did this for at least a half-hour. The whole thing felt very "Amazing Race" (for anyone who
watches the show). Once we got out to the oasis, there was seriously sensory overload. We had
camels to ride (even CUTER in person!!!), they adorned us with Middle Eastern attire, there
was an Arabian BBQ, areas with hookahs, people to do henna, a belly dancer, etc. I don't know if
I wear some sort of sign on my forehead that says "make a fool out of me" but I got pulled from
the audience to go up and belly dance with the belly dancer. AND with no alcohol in my system!
I held my own though (even if it did look like I was attempting hula dancing more than belly
dancing). We met some great Australians that we were chit-chatting with. There were
Pakistanis that we befriended as well that were on our ride out there. So that was our first night.
Day two. Checking into the Al Qasr resort. First, they take you into one of the rooms and sit you
down for some Arabian coffee and hookahs, if desired. Then they walk you over to the other
room where you sit down and they check you in. Our 'keys' are literally these silver plastic coins
that fit into a card. We just put this up to the key-card detector (like what we have at work) in
front of our room and our door opens. It really felt like we were in Indiana Jones or something.
So fun! If I start talking about our resort, this email might go on forever so I'll leave it at this
for now...it is one of the top three hotels of all times that I've ever stayed in. And quite possibly
even the top one. Every detail has been tended to. When you see the pictures, they will tell the
story. There are three hotels in this complex as well as a souq (a shopping area). The souq feels
so much like the shopping area at the new Aladdin in Vegas (this comparison feels like the one
I made when going to Venice for the first time and saying to my mom "Oh my gosh! This looks
just like the Venetian.") Not the most intelligent of perceptions...but it probably gives you guys
an idea. They also have abras (I like to call these Arabian gondolas) that take us to the
restaurant of our choice or to the other hotels.
Yesterday we did lunch at the Burj-al-Arab. This is the hotel here. It's even on all of the license
plates now (comparable to how Hawaii has the rainbow on their license plates). It's on all of the
travel stations. It's where there's a helicopter landing pad on the top of the hotel (this was on
the Amazing Race). We went to Al Mahara--the seafood restaurant. We took a simulated
submarine ride with our captain "Captain Mohammed" --or as he's been nicknamed "Captain
Shakey Baby". This ride was just like being on Star Tours at Disneyland! Anyway, we got to our
restaurant where we were surrounded by a huge aquarium. Lunch was great and there was the
tiniest of glitches that was brought to our waiter's attention. Upon this, the manager came to
our table and totally apologized. We told him not to worry about it at all. They brought us a
great dessert, on the house (keep in mind that desserts alone at this restaurant were almost
$30, no joke). Then they come out with a huge dessert sampler for us as well with a glass of
dessert wine for each of us. It was crazy at how bad they felt. We were just amazed at how our
experience there was getting better and better by the second. ;)
Well, my opinion of this hotel was that it was totally over-the-top. Definitely bordering on
tacky. But you do have to find it amazing that when you see the gold elevators, that everything
is real gold. Kind of blows you away--especially since there's a lot of it! But the Al Qasr is
definitely more beautiful and tasteful and the service is impeccable. But the Burj is definitely
something to be seen.
Today we went into the city center. (I'm going to try to summarize this the best as possible
since this is getting lengthy!) Saw the gold souqs, spice souqs, textile souqs...went on an abra
ride across the creek. Saw some mosques and got an idea of a few of the rituals since we were
there right before services started. Then we stopped at the Jumeirah Mosque on our way back
to our hotel and have been checking out all of the nearby stuff since then. Tonight we're going
to dinner with some friends of friends of friends to a place called the Sphynx. Supposed to be
awesome. Looking forward to that. In the meantime, it's time to go swim in the Persian Gulf
(that is absolutely gorgeous) and hang out by our pool.
Will write more later with more thoughts on the place. Just have to say that everyone would be
amazed at some of the places that are out here...to name a few....Old Navy, Coffee Bean and Tea
Leaf, and Jeff de Bruges (okay...so a lot of you don't know this one but it's one of my favorite
little French chocolate places that I discovered when I was living in Chambery....and it's here!
In Dubai! Crazy, I say.).
This place is awesome. People are extremely friendly. They listen to the same music we do ('we'
assuming you listen to rap and hip-hop like I do). Really can't say enough nice things at this
point. And if you are worried that you might not be able to visualize this, I have already taken 7
rolls of film. Eek!
