United Arab Emirates

We spent the first night in a youth hostel in Sharjah, where we had an entire dorm room and balcony to ourselves, which we turned into a little mafraj with an old mattress for a couch. Sharjah is apparently the self-proclaimed culture capital of the UAE, but as we arrived late at night most of the city was shut down. Good thing for the case of Heinekens we bought in Duty Free! At the hostel we met two men from Morocco who have been walking on a peace mission, for the past year, from Indonesia back home.

First day in Dubai. Dubai Creek and part of downtown in the background. Our hotel was just a few blocks up from this area. Our hotel was a bit seedy, but definitely among the cheapest in Dubai. There was some sort of electronics smuggling operation being run out of the lobby, and our "bellhop" (room cleaner) sold black market Heineken.

Dhows, used as transport across the creek.

View across the creek at night.

Ski Dubai! Located in the Mall of the Emirates, this is the world's largest indoor ski course and boasts real snow, several runs, a quad lift, and a luge course. Definitely the highlight of our trip.

They even have a chalet with hot cocoa and Christmas trees.

Another famous mall in Dubai: The Gardens. This mall is divided into areas modeled after world regions (i.e. Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Andalusia, and Persia). Here's Nate in China.

And me in Tunisia.

Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building. Still under construction. It's hard to get a perspective of how big this building is, but the final structure will stand over 1,900 feet and will contain 156 floors (World Trade Center was just over 1,300 with 110 floors). It will also have the world's fastest elevators, moving at a rate of 40 MPH. The whole city of Dubai seems to be under construction. In fact, 24% of the world's cranes are in this one city.

Another famous structure in Dubai: the Burj al-Arab Hotel. Rooms start at $1,200 and include a private butler and chauffeur to drive you around in a Rolls Royce. The protrusion off the left side near the top is a helicopter landing pad, just in case...

Right around the corner from the Burj al-Arab is a huge shopping/hotel complex called Medinat Jumeria that has a beautiful river running through it. The Dubai International Film Festival is being held here (we were hoping to run into George Clooney who is supposedly in town).

The Persian Gulf. We spent a lovely afternoon lounging on this beach. Bless Dubai for having a more relaxed attitude towards women and covering!

"Dune bashing" is apparently a sport in the Emirates. We went on a tour (but unfortunately got stuck with the really cautious driver who refused to fly like the others). We went for the fun desert sport adventure, although the package included many other perks: Drink Arab tea and coffee! Ride camel! Take picture with real Arabic woman! Get picture taken in traditional Arabic costume!

The odd thing about the Emirates is that only 10% of the population is Emiratee, meaning that the majority of those working in the service industry are Indian and Pakistani. So while I didn't opt to get my picture taken in a baltoo (as I wear one everyday in Yemen), we did walk over to the "real Arabic woman" in her booth and were tickled to find an Indian in a burkah. Likewise, the man dressed in a thobe and traditional head scarf working the sheesha booth was definitely not Arab. So much at our attempt to have a "REAL! Arab experience."

Real Arab camels! Although on second thought, they might have been imported from India... We got to ride one of these beasts later in the night (in a really small circle). Nate's refused to sit down after the ride and started spitting.

sunset over the dunes

view from our balcony

our favorite billboard