Backtracking

A little over a month ago we flew through Dubai on our way to Nepal and had the opportunity to stay overnight. Before our connecting flight the next day we took a whirlwind tour of the city.  It is such a unique place I felt compelled to backtrack a little and make a quick post about what we saw.

Centerpiece of the Atlantis lobby, all blown glass

Maybe next time we will try it out!

Burj Al Arab Hotel, starting at $1500/night!

First of all a big thank you to Julie's old neighbor Doug for picking us up from the airport late in the evening, allowing us to stay at his house, and arranging a driver to show us the city.  Without his help we probably would never have left the airport.  

After being picked up (at midnight on a Sunday) we took a drive around the city so we could see the lights from all the buildings before retiring for a restful nights sleep at Doug's place near the now defunct "Dubai Land" development sight.  The next morning we were treated to a home cooked breakfast and had a driver waiting to show us the city.

Or first destination was to view the "six" star Burj Al Arab Hotel (the one that looks like a sail) which had to be done from a distance as you were not allowed anywhere near it without reservations.  After a couple of pictures we quickly jumped back in the air conditioned car - Dubai was much hotter than we expected!  The second stop was the Atlantis hotel on the palm, the man made peninsula shaped like a palm tree.  Because we only had two people and a very adventurous Asian guide, we pretended to be guests so we could go inside and see the beautiful lobby and the worlds largest fish tank.  A quick trip to an awesome view point of the Burj Khalifa followed where our guide parked illegally for our benifit and played dumb to avoid getting in trouble. For our last stop we headed to the Mall of the Emerits to see Ski Dubai, and it was hilarious to see people attempting to ski.

We ate a Lebanese lunch a before getting dropped off at the airport to continue on to Nepal.

Burj Khalifa, pictures can't explain just how massive this really is.