SUMMARY: UAE

After 35 hours of travel we finally arrived back in Waterloo, Ontario. While the trip was quite long, it went smoothly enough with no major hiccups. The length allowed us ample time to reflect on our stay 15 day stay in the UAE, which included trips on trains, planes, and automobiles. With no further ado.

Things we liked:

• Seeing Dad and Sheila
• Very safe city
• Weather (at least during this time of year) was perfect
• Extremely cool architecture...a hodgepodge of everything
• Biggest and best of everything: tallest building, biggest fountain, biggest mall, etc.
• Omar, our dune bashing buddy
• View of the Dubai Marina from Dad and Sheila's apartment
• Global Village, with the ability to eat and shop our way through the Middle East in one location
• State of the art metro system that is completely automated
• Bartering for goods

Things we didn't like:

• Sand, which seems to coat everything
• Obvious class system, with Emirati on the top, affluent westerners second, and those from India, Philippines  etc. last
• Food and drinks are very expensive
• Traffic signage is almost completely missing
• No sidewalks, making it difficult to take even short walks between locations

Interesting findings:

• Nothing is really made in Dubai...even traditional souvenirs are imported from Oman, Turkey, Yemen, and others
• While the desert is full of camels, each one is owned and tagged
• Camels are raced by little robotic jockeys, which replaced children about 7 years ago
• Emirates, the company that runs the airline and is government owned, has a share in almost everything, including a local pasta company and the Arabian Adventure tour that we took
• The rulers like to emblazon any blank surface with their pictures

As per usual, here are some additional photos we took that did not make it into our posts:

*A first look at Dubai Marina

*Dubai Marina area at night

*Daryl's new hat, featuring the Mighty Camels hockey team logo

*Dubai Marina

*Persian Gulf with downtown Dubai in background

*Palm trees in downtown Dubai

*The Dancing Fountain at night

*Dad telling the helicopter pilot how to do his job (kidding, of course)

*The Atlantis Resort on the Palm Jumeirah

*Burj Al Arab from Madinat, a shopping and eating district

*Daryl heading to the start line at the Dubai Half Marathon

*First shot of Daryl coming into finish line (blue shirt in background)

*Daryl's medal

*Parting view of Dubai Marina on last day

*Our bags, packed and ready to head home

*Tim Hortons, welcoming us home at the Toronto airport

Day 103-105: Dubai

After some debate the night before, we decided that we would spend Thursday at the Aquaventure Waterpark beside the Atlantis Hotel. Mike had some office work to take care of that morning, so Jackie and I killed time running and swimming in the pool before we headed out.

Jackie decided it would not be prudent to take the camera down any of the water slides so we do not have any photos of the park. We did have a great day going around the lazy river (loaded with rapids) and going down each water slide. The park's claim to fame is a slide called 'The Leap of Faith', a 27.5m tall drop that passes through a shark tank. Another novelty is a slide you board at the bottom and that shoots you and your tube up over a few humps to the second level of their slide complex. Unfortunately, on the second to last ride of the day Jackie really smacked her tailbone and now sports quite the colourful bruise.

After the park we went home for a quiet meal of salmon and spagetti. I needed a high carb boost for the run the next morning. We called it a night early since we needed to be up at 4:30.

Friday was the day that Jackie and I had been training for since we first planned the trip. Unfortunately, as most of our readers are aware, Jackie damaged her hip flexor in Vienna and had to put her training on hold, so I was running solo in the Dubai Creek Striders' Half Marathon. We got to the Dubai Creek Yacht Club and milled around in the athlete's village while waiting for the start gun. Here I am cold and anxious:

*My shirt of choice from our 5 mile run in MA

The goal Jackie and I set and trained for was to run a 6 minute kilometer pace for 21 kilometers. Those quick with math will notice then that my target time was 2:06:00, with my stretch goal to run in under 2 hours. I was a little concerned because in all my long runs up until now my pace was slower so I mentally prepared myself for accepting a 2:10 or even a 2:15 completion time. 

At 6:30 the gun went off and I started my run. Jack, Mike, and Sheila were waiting a little up the course to see me off. 

I know it was hard for Jack to watch me run knowing that she had put as much effort into training as I did. It was because of her we even started running. I really do appreciate all the support she has given and I can only imagine how aggravating the injury must have been for her. Instead of running, she had a more leisurely morning, going with Mike and Sheila for breakfast at the nearby Golf Club.

I ran the first 5k a little faster than my target pace, about 5:30 per kilometer. I was feeling excited and I think the adrenaline helped me a fair bit. I ended up keeping that pace most of the race. I started to feel a bit tired around the half way mark, but still was feeling good. By kilometer 17 (of 21) I was really exhausted and only by keeping track of the people around me was I motivated enough not to slow down. In kilometer 19 I was passed by the 2 hour Pace Runner (a guy who wears a little flag to be easily spotted who runs the race in as close to 2 hours as possible). I found that pretty motivating and struggled to keep pace with him. In the final stretch I turned it on as best I could and overtook him in the last 200m. 

My GPS watch read 1:59:24, which I was thrilled by. I was thoroughly exhausted and I think the photos show that:

For full disclosure, we checked my official time online that night and I was recorded as 2:00:36. So just shy of my stretch goal, but still very good. I do not know how I lost a minute between my watch and the race time, but I will let it go.

After a quick shower, we made for the Dubai World Cup golf tournament. It is the last tournament of the year in the European Tour. After some difficulty finding the road to the course, we were out in the beautiful sunshine watching the European Pros tee off. We spent close to two hours watching golfers come in on the 9th and then the 18th hole. We made sure to watch the pair Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy tee off at the first. McIlroy was poised to lead the European Tour if he wins the tournament this weekend. 

We didn't take any photos on the course, but we did later see ourselves on tv:

*Mike and Jackie over Sergio's shoulder (far right)

*Me and Sheila (far right)

That evening we went to a house warming party for Mike's co-worker who lives on the other side of the marina. We did not stay for the potluck dinner but we did have a good time and it was nice to meet Mike and Sheila's friends. 

From the house party we went to a favourite bar of Mike and Sheila's for a round of drinks. Afterwards we went to a restaurant at the Marriott Hotel for dinner. It was a great evening.

After dinner we came back and opened a bottle of wine from our wedding. It was a nice top off to a great day and stay in Dubai.

*The view from Mike and Sheila's apartment at night

This morning Mike and Sheila made us a delicious breakfast of omelets and hash browns, which we enjoyed outside on the patio, trying to soak in our last hours of warmth and sunshine before flying back to Ontario and its winter weather.

The day was pretty low key, with a walk around the marina, followed by laying at the pool. We are doing our best to rest up for the day ahead. Jackie and I leave tonight at midnight for a 28 hour trip home. We are going first to Doha then Rome. Then in Rome we have a fairly long layover to give us time to collect our baggage, enter the EU, turn around and re-enter security, then fly to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt we connect to Toronto to land at 7:30PM EST. Should be a ball. See you on the flipside.

Day 101-102: Dubai

Tuesday we had no plans so we looked through the "TimeOut Dubai" magazine which had a special dedicated to road trips. One of the recommended trips was out to Al Ain, the UAE's fourth largest city at 375,000 people. It lies on the mountain range separating the UAE from Oman. 

We left a little before lunch and drove the hour and a half south out of Dubai. We stopped along the way to buy some camel chocolate from a farm that was recommended by Omar, our dune bashing buddy. The guy working in the shop was pretty liberal with the samples which worked to his advantage because we all stocked up with more than we had intended. 

We arrived in Al Ain and found a place to eat a late lunch of traditional Middle Eastern fare. After lunch we went to the Al Ain zoo. The zoo was a reasonable size and focused on animals found in the Middle East and Africa. There was a large emphasis on large cats and the zoo even has some endangered White Lions and White Tigers. 

*African Lion

*Jaguar

*African Tortoise

*Small cat exhibit

*Mike and Sheila infront of the Meerkat enclosure

After the zoo we headed back to Dubai and had a light dinner. It was a pretty easy going day, allowing us to gear up for the very busy next day we had planned.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Christmas again, redeeming our present of a 30 minute helicopter ride over Dubai. This would allow us to see a whole new side of the city, and add another mode of transportation to our list during our stay (so far we have utilized walking, running, swimming, abra, speedboat, car, bus, metro, camel, and airplane). We drove out to the Atlantis Resort on the Palm to catch the helicopter ride. After watching an instructional video and being fitted with a life preserver, we boarded the helicopter and took flight.

*My view of Dad and She

*Their view of me and Daryl

We started with the Burj Al Arab, continued onto the Burj Khalifa and city center, then looped back around and headed out into the Arabian (a.k.a. Persian) Gulf to check out the World Islands, an artificial archipelago of small islands designed to represent the world. It was a fairly clear day and the ride was outstanding.  As per usual, we captured a few pictures of our view from above.

*The Burj Al Arab from the air

*Second angle of the Burj Al Arab

*Traffic heading into the city center

From the air, the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world standing at 830 meters, really stands out amongst the pack of other buildings. As a comparison for our Canadian readers, the CN Tower stands at 553 meters. For our American readers, the Empire State Building stands at 443 meters, including antenna spire. For all other readers, you will need to create your own comparison.

*The dwarfingly tall Burj Khalifa

During the flight, we learned that Dubai is the tallest city in the world, with more skyscrapers than New York or Hong Kong. It is all pretty amazing when the city looked like this just 20 years ago.

Daryl, as per usual, enjoyed himself. He tends to be fairly amiable no matter the situation.

While the World Islands project was greatly impacted by the economic recession, some of the islands have sold. Richard Branson, the British billionaire, purchased England for 100 million pounds.

*The world islands with the Burj Khalifa in the background

*Part of the world islands

On the way back to the landing pad we got a great view of the Palm Jumierah and the Atlantis Resort, including its Aquaventure Waterpark that we might hit on Thursday.

*The Palm Jumierah

*The Atlantis waterpark, our potential stomping grounds for the next day

*Our posse

After the flight we headed back to the apartment, regrouped, and then trekked out to find a good spot for lunch. We settled on a Lebanese restaurant on the Marina walk, where we split some appetizers and a grilled meat tray. It was delicious.

*Lunch at a Lebanese restaurant on the Marina walk

Around 16:00, we headed North to Global Village, a cultural, entertainment, and shopping destination. The park houses over 25 pavilions, each representing a single country from Asia, with a few European and African countries thrown in for good measure. Each pavilion features traditional food and wares from that country. In addition, there is a carnival area with some rides and games. All in all, it is a pretty sweet spot. We started off in Spain's pavilion, where we had fun with some cutouts.

*I think Daryl likes what he sees

We continued on to Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Yemen, and others, picking up lots of goods along the way. Purchase highlights include a lamp from Turkey and a turquoise necklace from Yemen.

*The usual suspects

*Turkish lamps

*Jordanian clay pottery...we picked up matching coffee cups

After shopping we headed over to the carnival side. At this point in the day it was pretty windy and grey. Surprisingly, it started to rain, although it was very light and lasted only a couple of minutes. Obviously there was no accumulation...this is the desert afterall.

*Clouds rolling in

*View from the ferris wheel

We all rode the ferris wheel, then us braver souls (me and Dad) went on a more hardcore ride while Daryl and Sheila looked on. On our way out of the park, I snapped a photo of Daryl posing with the leaders of the seven Emirates (at least when they unified in 1971). This logo is currently being used all over the UAE to celebrate their 40 years of unity.

*Daryl, the 8th Emirati leader

As if we hadn't already done enough for the day, we stopped briefly at home then walked over to the restaurant in the nearby Marriott Hotel. The restaurant is on the 52nd floor and provides great views over the Arabian Gulf and Palm Jumierah. It was cool to see the Palm all lit up at night.

*Dinner at the Marriott on the 52nd floor

For more news from Dubai, check out the next post. On Saturday evening we will be flying home to Canada, officially ending our 3.5 month tour. It is amazing how quickly the time has passed.