Tea at the Burj Al-Arab Dubai

It's been really busy around here.
The other day I went on a desert safari in the "Empty Quarter Desert" which is a sand dune covered wasteland extending up into Saudi Arabia. Tay came with me. We were picked up in a SUV with two other couples and driven an hour into the desert, where we did four wheeling up, down, and sideways across the massive dunes. Some of these dunes were bigger than A mountain in Tempe. That was pretty fun, better than the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Then there was the obligitory camel photo-op, the camel ride around in the little circle, etc. They served us dinner in this tiny encampment. Taylor said the last time there were 30 tourists in the group. There were 6 of us total this time, so it was definately a more intimate engament. Drinks, then dinner of chicken and beef kabobs. Someone must have tipped them off about american children (us) being on the trip because they also served spagetti and chicken fingers, which nobody touched. After dinner, we sat around smoking shesha, which was a new experiance for me.

The next day, we got up and had a late morning before driving into Dubai. We hit the Ibn something mall first, named after the Arab explorer. Scottsdale may think it has malls, but the malls in Dubai make scottsdale malls look like convienance stores. This was a themed mall, with several different sections made to look like reigions where Islam spread with this explorer including India, China, Spain, Egypt, and Persia. This would have been really cheezy, except for the fact that it was done on a monumental scale. The domes really did soar over our heads, and the spaces between the "halls" were made out a bit like the Ceaser's Palace market in vegas, with cobblestones and a fake sky. Tons of luxury boutiques. We found a sale at Pierre Cardin and got Tay a great suit for $60, dad a bunch of linen shirts and and a suit, and also a white linen blazer. It was fun watching everyone try on clothes. After trekking through the mall for a few hours, it was time for tea at the Burj. This is the iconic tower on its own island, the tallest hotel in the world, and the only 7 star hotel. To get in, we had to stop before the gate, and give them our name on a list. This tea was set up several weeks in advance. They let us pass and we dropped the land cruiser at the vallet.

The exterior of the tower is really cool, and the architecture is really cool, fully deserving of it's iconic status. The interior design looked like a cheap vegas hotel or a sleazy cruise ship interior. Brushed gold everywhere. Fountains everywhere, tons of gaudy glitz and ornamentaiton. It was retched. Sequins and feathers so to speak. Really a dissapointment, and it clashed especailly hard with the phenomenal, cool, fluid, and restrained architecture. The tea itself was also a dissapointment. Monstorously expensive, with poor service, and crappy food. When mom paid the money for the tea service, they didnt even include the tea. However, we got our money's worth wandering around the hotel, up to the really cool cantilevered sky bar for a view of the hazy sunset. They used to charge $100 just to come in and look around. They dont even offer that anymore. You have to deal with thier crappy expensive tea. I wouldn't trade it for anything though, because I had a great two hours chatting with my family in a world famous icon of architecture. Anyway, after tea, we decided we hadn't had our fill of malls yet so we decided to go on to the Mall of the Emirates. This is another amazing, huge luxury mall only a few miles from the other one. This mall had a Denhams, a Carrefour, and an indoor ski moutain with actual snow and a chairlift. The upper floor also had a section devoted to traditional Arab goods, carpets, silks, fabrics, perfumes, robes, and clothes. We wandered around here until 9, when it was still packed. Wednesday is the friday night here, as thursday and friday are the Islamic weekend days.

The UAE is such a strange and interesting place- everyone is here. Brits, Aussies, Pakistanis, Indians, Chinese, Russians, Europeans, and Philippinos, all wearing the usual day to day styles of thier own country, mixed in with the white and black robes of the UAE nationals.

Today I took it easier. Went with Tay to a beach/fitness club at one of the major hotels. Normally this costs $25 per person, per day, but we got a free week membership. The beach was a mudslide into water from the gulf which was body temperature. The pool was cooler and more refreshing so we ung out there for a bit before laying out for a tan. Taxi ride back home. Taxis here cost about $1.50 to get anywhere in the city. It's great. The only problem is the fact that theres no street adresses. After I got home, I went out again with mom souvenier hunting. Found a few places that were cool, very inexpensive, lots of interesting stuff.

I fly home tomorrow night, or rather, very early in the morning the day after tomorrow. 2 am flight out of Dubai, not looking forward to it.