Dubai...The adventure continues!

Day Three

Jenny and I both had trouble sleeping in – we were both out of bed by 6:30! On vacation! We finally gave up and got up, but not without a few complaints!
The rest of the morning was rough… we ate breakfast and lounged by the pool! Then it was off to the spa for massages :). Life was good!

Then for me, it was back to the arduous task of laying by the pool while Jenny went horseback riding on an Arabian horse! She went riding on the beach while the sunset and had an amazing time.

Dinner was similar to the night before – Arabian meal with Arabian entertainment, but a bit more upscale. We took a buggy to a restaurant on the property and enjoyed pictures with Camels, Falcons and Arabian horses. We also shopped a little at the booths, sponsored by locals. Dinner was excellent, but all these all-you-can-eat buffets are going to be the death of me! After dinner, there was a show with some local entertainment and dancing, plus a camel and horse show (hard to explain what it was…but there were camels and there were horses…:))

Because we were still wide awake, we went to the rooftop bar and enjoyed the view and the guitarist, who tried to entertain us with American songs :)


Day Four

Today we left Bab Al Shams and headed to the city. The drive was about an hour and we were able to see a little more of the desert before we hit the big city. The amount of construction here is amazing. Jenny and I made a game out of who could get the picture with the most cranes in it – Jenny won with 6! Although, we did notice that a lot of the cranes weren’t moving – a sign of the economic crisis.

Pulling up to the Al Qasr (http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/) was very impressive The hotel and the grounds are massive! There are the most majestic statues of Arabian horses as you pull up the driveway and the entryway is amazingly intricate. Words and pictures probably won’t due it justice so I won’t even try. Dubai is extravagant!

We checked in to our suite – we were upgraded so life was good. We had rooms to spread out in and a balcony with a great view of the skyline. We didn’t waste much time exploring the room because we were eager to get started exploring Dubai!
We headed to the concierge with our list of “must-do” and “wanna-do” things and started planning. Once we fit in everything that we wanted to do over the next few days, we hopped on the Gondolas and just rode around the property – it goes on forever with a lot of restaurants, gazebos, pools, rooms, beaches, cabanas and shops. In theory, you wouldn’t ever have to leave the property at all!

After the Gondola ride, we ran back to our rooms to get ready for tea at the Burj Al Arab, the world-renown, self-proclaimed 7-star hotel in the shape of the a Dhow Sail. We had a tea reservation for 4pm and we were bound and determined to make tea last until the sunset. Tea was at the skyview bar, on the 27th floor, facing the ocean, and the view was fantastic.

We were easily able to stall long enough to watch the sunset because “tea” was a five course meal of a glass of Moet Chandon, finger sandwiches, scones, petit fours, fruit, and…tea. We thoroughly enjoyed it and it was really amazing to watch the sun go down.

Then it was back to the room to change and then we hired a car to the Gold Souq, which is shop after shop of gold and diamond jewelry. We wandered for hours admiring everything. We had a blast bargaining and exercised amazing restraint when we couldn’t get the price that we wanted. Sometimes I was just bargaining just to practice! However, we both did buy…jewelry. But I think that we were both happy with our purchases and that we got good deals.

So after a few hours of being girls and admiring shiny things, we hopped back in the car and back to the hotel!

Love,Kathleen