Our first trip to Dubai, UAE

Since Eric and I hadn't left Qatar since our arrival in February, we figured it was time to travel a bit at the end of May. Unlike when we were living in France, we have to fly anywhere and everywhere we want to go from Doha (unless we're staying in Qatar) so it makes it a bit more difficult to take weekend trips. Before our four week long separation, we decided to head to Dubai, probably the better known of the Emirates.

We only had a few days so we hit the ground running...and I mean running. We saw everything! We arrived late Thursday afternoon. A long time friend of Jedd's (Sat) lives in Dubai so he offered for us to stay with him. Sat ended up having to go away on business last minute so we were sorry to have missed him but it was so sweet of him to host us even while he was away.

One of Jennie's friends, Serena, from HS lives in Dubai with her husband, Rahul so we met up with them on Thursday night for drinks, dinner and then a night on the town.

Even though they're not far, I think Dubai might have more humid than Doha at this particular time. You don't have to cover up as much either so it's a lot more tolearable.

Eric and the world's 7 star hotel, Burj al Arab.

The next day we woke up early to get to the Famous Burj Kalifa - AKA the tallest building in the world. We thought we'd be impressed, but to be honest, we were blown away.

It's three times the size of the Empire State Building!!!

Views from the top.

View of the man made island "The Palm"--similar to "The Pearl" in Doha

We just couldn't get enough photos. It almost looked fake.

Fountains for the water show

Then we hit the mall and found this: One of Dubai's Gold Souks..definitely different than Doha's very old, run down gold souk...but still has some worthwhile shops where you can get custom made jewelery.

Being Silly

Then we hit the aquarium...

which was at a mall in Dubai. Lots and lots of shopping in Dubai and almost everything can be found at a mall including ice skating rinks, indoor downhill skiing and, you guessed it, an aquarium.

They even have a "glass bottom" boat (Eric pictured in the boat below) so you could see all the fish and sharks. We even got to feed them. You could even go scuba diving inside the tank but we didn't have enough time for that. Only in Dubai....
Ugly!

Then we met up with Serena and Rahul again. They took us to Dubai's museum....not quite as impressive as Doha's Islamic Museum.

Then we went on a boat ride across the Dubai Creek.

Tired men sleeping in the shade

Dhow Boat

Catamaran

And we ended up at the souq, similar to Doha's Souq Wakif

We then hit the well-known "Ski Dubai" for some slope time before heading back into the heat and humidity. It was such a strange sensation to be in warm weather clothes and then be in a jacket and hat. It was only one slope but it was pretty impressive for just a ski slope in a mall!

Unfortunately we didn't get any photos inside where we skiied because it was too cold for our camera!

A glimpse of the Ski Dubai Resort.

That night we went to the water show at the Burj Kalifa

After the impressive water show, we planned to get drinks at the Burj al Arab (world's 7 star hotel). Only a $55USD minimum. Most drinks cost between $20 and $30USD.

Not terrible prices for a 7 star hotel.

This is a photo of the foyer looking up.

Entrance to the bar

Eric and Rahul with their very "manly" drinks.

We were all mesmorized by the water (below)....it was synced perfectly....if you've seen it, you know....just amazing. This video (from youtube) will explain it better....(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Gd7FMUAWg&feature=related)

Outside of the hotel

The next day, we went to Atlantis for the water park. Wow! We went on the slides and hit the lazy river. It was the perfect end to our weekend in Dubai.

Inside Atlantis

Until next time.....

Cul-de-sac Good-Byes

Not sure if I've touched upon this....When we to Doha, we moved into a compound (basically a gated community) with a lot of other people from Eric's company. We were lucky enough to be placed in a villa on the only cul-de-sac on the whole compound. Immediately our new neighbors introduced themselves and made us feel so welcome. We have grown close to a few of the families: Biny and Brian who have three kids: Jacob, Nathan and Matthew. They have been in Doha for 5 years. Karen and Malcom who have three children: Calam, Kirstie and Martha. They've been in Doha for 18 months. And Nick and Wendi who have three kids: Brooks, Barrett and newborn baby Georgia.

We recently found out that Brian and Biny are moving to Oklahoma and Karen and Malcom are moving back to Aberdeen. Luckily, Nick and Wendi will be here a bit longer! This news was sad to us for many reasons. When living abroad, I think your friends become almost like family and you become a lot closer than you would normally. You cannot imagine how many times I called these women last minute for help with something or just for some support after a rough "Doha Day".

. Here are a few photos from our good-bye lunch that Wendi put together very last minute. She was leaving for the states for the summer on Saturday and we found out on previous Tuesday that they were all moving! We ordered delicious Thai food and Wendi made some delicious dessert.

Brooks and Martha (she's moving back to Scotland :().

Everyone getting ready to chow down.

From left: Calam (seated), Nathan, Matthew and Kirstie.

Nick measuring everyone's height

Eric, holding baby Georgia (Nick and Wendi's newborn).

I wish I had gotten more photos from this day because we are sad we'll be returning back to Doha to a less full cul-de-sac :( We'll miss you!

The Great Canadian Snow Ball!!!

We recently were invited by some great friends to The Great Canadian Snow Ball!! Pretty much every country has their own ball each year put on either by the embassy or a group of people from that country. So, we took the opportunity to get jazzed up and went out to the Ritz for a night of dinner, dancing!

The cocktail room was pretty impressive.

Our table, the place setting up close and the different provinces of Canada

I sang "O Canada" in order not to be ousted from the Canadian Ball but my other American friends made fun of me...I was just trying to be patriotic for our neighboring North American Country :)

Friends, only 50% of them are Canadian

They took the dessert seriously.

Eric's new friend...he flew in from Dubai just for the ball! Of course Eric was grilling him trying to find out information for our upcoming trip to Dubai.

:) Between the two of us, we've got the "dress code" of white, red and/or gold covered. People did take it seriously though. One woman, who looked gorgeous, had an entire gold sequin dress on with a white boa and a red hair extension. Any other person couldn't pull it off, but she did. She had the most beautiful silver hair. I wish I could have taken a photo but thought it would be a bit awkward.

Love this photo.

Another Jennifer and friend from the American School.

Sunam, Tara and me...not a bad photo...except for Rob's scary face! Jimmy is laughing in the background.

Lauren and Rob-the Canadians and the reason we were at the ball. Lauren was on the planning committee...yeah Lauren! Next ball is the Canadian Thanksgiving in October :)

Diehard Canadians Karolee, Lauren, Rob and Chad.

Twins

Me and Lauren....Getting silly with the camera
Much nicer

At this point, we did much more dancing and those photos are just not even worth sharing. We ended the night around 1am with a free cab ride home provided with the purchase of our ticket...not a bad deal! Looking forward to the next ball :)