Desert Camp Christmas

Our driver came to the house at 1:30 pm to pick us up. He had a hard time finding the house and he didn't want to listen to directions so we walked to a restaurant to meet him. He had already picked up Jens friend Rose who was joining us. Both Rose and Jen got upset with the speed at which he was driving and insisted he slow down to the limit. Emirates tend to drive very quickly, tailgate in the passing lane and have no tolerance for the car in front to get out of their way. There is a 20 km tolerance over the speed limit, so if it says 140km, then 159km is acceptable! ( Good thing the roads are straight)
After a 20 minute ride we reached the sand dunes where we were driven up sand dunes and down steep sand hills. I guess they know their limits, however, sometimes it was amazing we didn't roll over. The SUVs have roll bars which I hung onto for dear life. It was quite surreal. I just kept waiting for it to be over. Poor Rose in the front seat had already taken drugs and her head was between her knees in tears the whole ride. I think her reaction (starting to sob) slowed him down and consequently shortened our torture. I think it must be great fun for the drivers, not so much for the passengers.
 Then we arrived at the camp. There were a lot of tourists arriving, and they entertained themselves boarding down the sand dune and riding camels. We sat in the Majalis drinking tea and water. Roger and I tried on the customary clothing of the Muslims, looked at the falcon, and then we all sat down on cushions to eat the BBQ prepared for us. There was the camel stick dance preformed by the men and then a belly dancer who needed more clothes, or containment.  Finally it got dark and all the visitors left the camp except for the 4 of us. That's when it started to get interesting.
We sat around the glowing coals, smoked shisha. (not inhaling and it has a honey flavour)
The owner sat with us and told us about the history of the Emirates.
Then we headed to our tent where our sleeping bags were laid out for us. The tent smelled a bit like cat pee so Jennifer put some perfume on kleenex on sticks in the tent. We all had a very good sleep, and Jen, Roger and I headed up the dunes to see the sun rise.
Afterwards, we were brought breakfast by our driver. (pancakes and fried eggs)
We enjoyed a last camel ride, and Jen boarded down the dune. (as far as the sand would allow her to)
Then our driver took us home.

Jen on the dune at sunrise

Jen and Ali flying high

Up with the birds to see sunrise on the dunes

Final camel ride before leaving (Jen)

Tent

Roger saying good morning to the baby camel

Camp

Looking towards camp

The early morning light

Sand in my shoes

Sand texture

Our tents

Taking off in the sand dunes

Ali in an abaya

My man wears a dress

Nice camel ride

This girl knows how to get down! Rose in the background.

OOPS, we don't have Jens skill

Dubai over New Years 2015-2016

We drove into Dubai Dec 30th (1.5 hours from Abu Dhabi) and made our first stop at the Ibn Battuta Mall. ( He lived from 1304 to 1369) The mall is designed to celebrate the travels of this famous Arabic explorer, the greatest traveller who ever lived. (over 20 years of travel)

Entrance to Ibn Battuta Mall

Cupola, arches and tilework in one section of mall

 The mall is 1.3 km in length, and there are 5 sections decorated in Andalusian, Tunisian, Egyptian, Persian, Indian and Chinese decor. It is a mini museum while you shop. How brilliant! Something to entertain your partner who hates to shop. Especially in a country where it may be to hot to be outside for much of the year, and for those not inclined to go to the museum. Presently it is perfect outside at 29 to 30 degrees and cool in the evenings. It doesn't give you much time to enjoy your fancy convertible here. Jen waits inside until the taxi arrives at her door as it has been too hot to wait outside prior to our arrival.
We arrived at our Airbnb of which the location is absolutely amazing. on the second floor of the Lofts buildings on  Mohammed Bin Rachid Al Maktoum Street (the name of the Vice President), a five minute walk to the Burj Khalifa  (the tallest building in the world with 163 floors)

The Burj Khalifa during the day

We walked through the Dubai Mall to see the aquarium. On the top retail floor are ultra high end stores as Fendi, Channel, Valentino, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Versace, etc.

The Burj Khalifa at night

Next we found our way to the park (where we will go to see the fireworks tomorrow) to watch the water shows to music on the water while we ate fish from a restaurant where we got to choose our fish.  We actually watched 4 water shows.

Some of the interesting buildings

Aquarium at Dubai Mall

The water show by the Burj Khalifa

The next day we drove to the gold and spice souk.

Spices at the souk, where I bought Frankincense and Myrrh

This ring is the worlds heaviest gold ring  (Star of Tiaiba) 63.856kg (Saudi Arabia) in the store window

Gold necklaces at the souk

Gold necklaces at the souk

The Address Hotel (5 star) Before Fire

When we arrived back by metro, the crowds were pouring into the downtown area and we knew we would have to immediately head to the park to find a piece of ground to watch the fireworks from. We arrived at 5pm and at 9:30 (it was already jam packed) we noticed a fire on the large building beside us.
Roger got us out quickly before any exodus began. Debris was starting to fly in the air. This is a 63 floor building, the location is the best to view the New Years show from. All the surrounding Emaar buildings have fireworks on them. It took 6 months of preparation and 2 months of installation time. We had no idea what was going to happen, we could imagine a large loss of life and panic.
 We got back to the apartment and watched the development on tv. The evacuation went smoothly, taking 15 minutes. I don't think the evacuation would have been handled better,  There were only 14 injuries and one stroke. Despite the fire there was an amputated version of the planned fireworks which we watched from the street in front of our apartment building.

It took 7 minutes to reach the top

Fire at the Address Hotel

The next day Jen took us to Jumeirah beach where we saw the  the Burj Arab Building and I collected sea shells. After lunch we headed back into town to take an elevator ride up to the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. After seeing the fire we were a bit hesitant. If it hadn't turned out so well we probably wouldn't have. It would take a long time to descend the stairs. Half the viewing area was cordoned off. I guess they didn't want anyone viewing the still raging fire and taking a million pictures. The down side was that there was the same volume of people in half the space, the line to go down was at least 20 minutes, and I wanted to get down ASAP. I can at least say that I have been up the highest building in the world. Afterwards we had a great meal at a Lebanese restaurant across from the apartment and then walked around the residential area by the hotel where we saw drones looking into the still burning building. Perhaps they belonged to the fire department.

Burj Arab Building

 On our return to Abu Dhabi we stopped at the Mall of the Emirates to see the
ski hill. It was quite

Ali and Jen on Jumeriah Beach

amazing, inner tubes that took little children around in a circular turn style. There were
huge plastic "snow"
balls that a child can be inside, taken up a small hill and rolled down. There is a chair lift to take skiers up a hill, and an area for snow ball fights. Even a small luge area.
The mall was packed, everyone there to take advantage of the sales, free parking, activities and restaurants.
I found it interesting to observe the Emirate women eat under their burkas.

Central skylight in Mall

Moving water with surfers and waves on store front

Ski Dubai in Mall

Back in Abu Dhabi to celebrate Jens' Birthday at the Indian Palace

I couldn't refrain from adding a few more pictures from Dubai. There is construction going on everywhere! Many more tall and or creative buildings will be around in the next 5 years.

View from the 123rd floor of the Burj Khalifa