Dubai

Burj Khalifa at night - tallest building in the world

Once again trying to catch up on the blog and find myself needing to write several entries.
 First, my trip to Dubai which was amazing!  I found myself mesmerized and absolutely in love with Dubai. I was there at a very interesting time as the crises in Egypt hit its peak while I was there! I became very aware of the events in Egypt as I was in Dubai to meet three of my Egyptian colleagues who all work in Saudi Arabia. They were understandably worried for their families and thus got many live on the ground updates as the days unfolded.

Water Show at the Base of the Burj Khalifa over dinner

Very top of the Burj Khalifa

Dubai itself though is simply stunning!  I think the best way to describe it is Las Vegas picked up and set down in the middle of the desert.  Everything is new and modern. They also seem try quite hard to mirror American hotels, buildings and shopping malls.  My first evening there I went to see the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa.  It is a very modern building that is so large you cannot even photograph the whole thing.  At its base is a very large shopping mall and outdoor plaza with restaurants. In the midst of this plaza, at the base of the Burj Khalifa, is a very large lagoon.  Every 30 minutes a water fountain show set to music runs.....sound like the Bellagio to anyone else?  I have to say though that this water show far outdoes the one in Vegas!  Its easily triple the size.  It was an enjoyable evening!

Ski Dubai

Ski Dubai

My second evening my work companions took me to the Mall of the Emirates.  This is easily the largest and most luxurious shopping mall I have ever been in.  The mall is interestingly sectioned in a way that as  you walk down the hall you move through "areas" kind of like one big department store.  Meaning, if you want to shop for shoes you walk to the shoe area of the mall and have three floors of every shoe shop contained in the mall. Same with childrens clothes, toy stores, beauty shops, department stores or home interiors.  The decor in the mall is again very similar to Vegas.  The ceiling is made to look like the outdoor sky and changes from day to night.  My favorite section of the mall is the entertainment area.  Here you could choose to see a movie in a 60 theatre movie complex, bowl in a 50 lane bowling alley, roller blade, skate board, ice skate or even ski!  Ski Dubai is an entirely indoor winter playground. Your admission ticket entitles you to use of sleds, skis, and ski lifts and even winter coats, snow pants and snow boots. 

Enjoying Sheesha at the Lebanese Restaurant

My Egyptian colleagues from the Saudi office

After exploring the mall we dined at a delicious Lebanese restaurant.  The food was delicious with options including lamb, couscous and turkish tea but the real attraction for the locals was their 40 different flavors of sheesha.  Sheesha is a regional past time that involves smoking flavored tobacco through a large decorative water pipe.  It was truly a different sight to walk into a restaurant and see everyone sitting with these giant sheesha pipes.  Luckily, the smell tends not to be smoky but more sweet as the flavored sheesha is typically mint, lemon, apple and other sweet scents.  Definitely not something I would want to endure while dining on a regular basis but it made for great people watching!
All in all I really enjoyed Dubai and would love to take everyone back to experience what Dubai has to offer. The architecture was so amazing it seemed futuristic. Enjoy a few photos of the amazing skyline.

Building currently under construction near the Marina, it appears to "twist" into the sky

I thought the juxtaposition of these modern metropolis skyscrapers against the relaxed atmosphere of the marina with its yachts, sailboats and palm trees was interesting