Christmas in the Sandbox - Part 3 (Dubai)

The last part of my family's time out here was spent in Dubai.  We checked into the hotel which was in the Dubai Marina area.  You could see the Atlantis hotel from our room.

Hotel Lobby

Hotel Pool

View from Our Room Across the Water

Atlantis Hotel

After getting checked in and settled a little, we decided to go check out the Gold Souk which is over by the Dubai creek.  This souk is a lot more like just a bunch of stores on streets all crammed together, it's not like the one in Muscat where it was all in "one" covered pavillion and cars couldn't drive through.  I was enjoying walking around looking for a good deal, I can't say the same was true of the males in the group though :)   Eventually we made it to the gold part of the souk, and I don't really wear gold so I fond a silver place.  After much perusing, conversing, and then negotiating, I got a beautiful ring and another for a gift.  I don't know what it is, but I've really started to get an adrenaline rush from haggling over prices at the souks...I love it.  I never would've guessed that though because I hate confrontation, but I have definitely noticed that living out here has really made me stand up for myself more.

The gang strolling the streets near the gold souk

A typical store selling nuts and spices near the gold souk

My treasure

After we got back with my treasures, we relaxed a little and then it was time for dinner.  Now I have to give a shout-out to my family.  They were so kind and loving and understanding and sympathetic, because they flew half the way around the world to eat at On the Border!!!!  It was wonderful...there is really only one good Mexican place in Abu Dhabi, and while we did find a Taco Bell in Dubai (more on that in another post), we're always excited for some decent americanized mexican food.  The service was a little slow, and the waiter showed us his "trainee" menu to try to upsell us on our entrees, and I completely filled up on chips on salsa (see I don't only do that at DC!), but it was still wonderful.  The On the Border we went to was on the Dubai Marina Walk where really nice cars just drive by over and over.  I thought that maybe there was a reason for this (why? I have no idea bc most of the things here have no logical reason), but I was talking with my coworkers who live there and they said every Thurs & Fri night the locals all get in their crazy nice cars and just drive up and down the street.  I guess they don't have many other options of things to do?  Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the cars, but I did manage to catch the sign accross the street.

Only because I love you :)

Since being over here, Paul has adapted to the local lingo and decides to speak broken english to me sometimes.  Scoozi is by far his favorite word...which he claims to mean "Excuse me."  I love that guy :)

We got back to the hotel and then were going to go for a drive and see the Palm Island and Atlantis, but literally within 20 minutes everyone else was out except me.  Just passed out on the beds, most of the family was still in their regular clothes on top of the covers.  I think the time difference and all the activities finally caught up to them.

The next day the boys went to go play some golf and the girls went to the Antique Museum.  It's not a museum at all, but a souk-like warehouse place.  They have soooo much stuff, it's truly amazing how much stores can cram into their tiny buildings out here (although this was a big building). Needless to say, we spent like 4hrs there.  I found some really pretty green christmas ornament-like ballls which I think will be nice on tree (whenever it is that we actually get one) or in a big glass vase.  I also got some jewelry and a really cool arabic knife which Paul and I gave to C for his bday.  R found some pashminas and souvenirs to bring back home to friends.  And of course my mother found many things :)  It was a little funny because we both loved this one cabinet/side table thing that was made from restored antique arabic doors put into a new cabinet structure.  We had quite the time haggling with the salesman, but we ran out of time because we had tickets to go up to the Burj Khalifa.  We came back the next day and finalized the pricing and shipping.  I have to say that I think I did a pretty good job knocking the prices down on my mom's stuff, we basically got one whole indian looking small cabinet for free!  And the people there were so great and not at all shady.  They were in contact with us the whole time while we were waiting for it to ship out to the US, they spent a whole day trying to get us the best shipping prices, and then after it shipped, they called me and I came back and got $400 back!  I will definitely be a return customer!

This is just the outside of the Antique Museum...they have so much Stuff!  Arabic, Indian, Egyptian, etc.

Some of Mom's treasures--the chest/side table with the arabic doors and the indian mini-cabinet

So next was the Burj Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world.  It was a bit crazy trying to get in, so it was a good thing that we pre-purchased our tickets.  We went through the maze and watched the videos on the way to elevator that takes you up 124 floors in 60 seconds!  It really didn't even seem that fast though because you can't see out of the elevator.  It was pretty cold up there with the wind, but we walked around and got some photos.  I thought it was a little anti-climatic, I think it's because you only go 3/4 of the way up the building, but the panoramic view was still pretty cool.

Model in the lobby

View from the "lake" below from Observation Deck

View of Dubai from the Observation Deck

From there, we went to dinner at this great Japanese restaurant that was supposed to have  good view of the fountain (per the hotel concierge)--while we could see the lake, the fountain was on the other side.  But I think that might have been better because we were the only people in the restaurant which meant we got great service and we could actually talk to each other instead of being drowned out by the mass of people watching the dancing fountain.

Bridge over the water from the Dubai Mall / Burj Khalifa to Souk Al Bahar

Souk Al Bahar where we had dinner

Dancing Fountain (like the one in front of the Bellagio)

The Burj Khalifa at Night

The next day the boys relaxed by the pool/beach while the girls went back for the final negotiations at the Antique Museum.  Then we all had dinner together at the hotel's arabic restaurant which was outside under little tents.  It was a great buffet of all sorts of arabic food which both Paul and I have really come to love.  After that it was time for Paul and I to say our goodbyes and drive back to Abu Dhabi.  The family flew out early the next morning and we had to work on Thursday.

Our dinner tent

The dessert buffet...yumm!

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas with family.  Relaxing in the beautiful weather, at lovely places, with people we love.  Thanks Mom, Dad, R, and C for making the trip to see us!