Dubai

At Wild Wadi, in front of the Burj al-Arab
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I landed in Dubai late in the evening and had no idea where I was going to stay.  This has become a very prominent theme during my travels and can be a pretty fun adventure, but it isn't for everybody.  I ended up booking a hotel in Deira, which is in the center of old Dubai right on the creek.  This was a great location since I found out there are really two distinct areas of Dubai.  The city center is where all of the old buildings, culture, and markets reside.  Outside this area, nothing is older than ten years and they don't seem to be slowing down the building frenzy anytime soon.  While in Dubai, I quickly learned that the city is addicted to luxury and nothing there is cheap.

My new friend
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The first morning, I explored the city center and the markets to get my fill of culture and sufficiently satisfy the nerd in me.  It was cool walking through the city and witness the call to prayer come over the loud speaker six times a day, it was really a culture shock for me.

The afternoon, however, was dedicated to some good old fashion fun at the water park in Jumeirah, Wild Wadi.  This waterpark is the only one I have ever seen where the majority of the rides push you up a waterslide with jets.  I found out that it was a Russian holiday that weekend, which provided a very strong contingent of banana hammock swimsuits that would make even Borat jealous.  You don't really want to be the person next on the slide and witness these being blasted with jet spray, trust me on this one.  The waterpark is located right next to the Burj al-Arab, which is a seven star hotel that is build out over the water.  It's amazing.  I also saw some of the construction on the sand islands that they are forming a few kilometers off shore for the super-rich.

Camel Rock after dune bashing
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The next day I embarked on my overnight sand dune excursion/camping trip.  It wasn't really roughing it, as the cars were luxurious four-runners with leather interior and the campsite was just off of the freeway.  Nonetheless, bashing through the sand dunes was awesome!!  They also took us to a camel farm before setting us up at their tourist-friendly bedouin camp.  At the camp, we could ride camels and sand board.  They also had a big dinner with a belly dancer.  I was brought up in front of everybody, but luckily this wasn't my first belly dancing experience.  As Jenna can attest, I honed my skills over ten years ago at Mataam Fez and thrilled the audience in Dubai.

Dune bashing in the desert
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The next day was my last in Dubai.  I had them drop me off at the Mall of the Emirates, which is the largest mall outside of the U.S.  As with almost everything in Dubai, it is committed to being the biggest and best.  It resembled America more than any other place I have visited.  It is also the home of Ski Dubai...yes, Ski Dubai.  It's this big indoor ski hill within the mall.  The novelty of skiing in the Middle East was great, but the hill only took about 10 seconds to ski from top to bottom.  I also took in the movie 300.  I figured it to be the most fitting movie as I was leaving on a plane from Persia to Greece later that day and the irony made me laugh.

Sandboarding!!
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In all, Dubai was a great experience, but a little strange.  They have so much money they don't know what to do with it.  Already they have plans to build a much larger mall around the Burj Dubai, which is planned to be the tallest building in the world (with provisions that allow additional floors if some other country tries to build a taller monstrosity).  I don't think I could live there, but it's definitely worth checking out for a few days, especially if money is burning a hole in your pocket.