As Singapore was a sanctuary for us during the Southeast Asia tour, United Arab Emirates was a welcomed break from India. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an extremely modern country where you don’t have to worry about the water or food.

The city is a massive rising sight out of the desert.

We flew into Dubai which is the largest city in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Admittedly, we didn’t know much about Dubai before landing. But, we did know about it’s over the top projects including, among other things, the worlds tallest building, man made islands and the only 7-star hotel. It was lunch time for us so decided to stop off at Mall of Emirates before heading to our hotel.

They love their malls! Dubai alone has somewhere around 64 malls with another 10 under construction. I suppose when you live in the desert it makes sense to spend your time inside. They are gigantic. One includes an ice rink and an aquarium! The Mall of Emirates is the second largest at 2.7 square feet. The Dubai Mall is the largest at 3.7 million square feet, but it’s only the 9th largest in the world. They got to step it up!

You know you are in Dubai when back to school shopping starts at Burberry.

Lunch was amazing! In the mall, every cuisine and every restaurant is available. It’s overwhelming, but somehow we were lucky enough to land at Al Hallab Restaurant. They serve Lebanese cuisine and I’ll never forgot the olives, the hummus or the shawarma. Needless to say we went back a couple more times.

After lunch, we decided to walk back to our hotel (because that’s what we do). It was only a few blocks on the map, but the desert can be deceiving. Their blocks are huge. But, they did have decent sidewalks, crosswalks and vehicle traffic was very orderly. Best of all, no honking. Whenever you came across a sand-filled empty lot you were quick to remember that you are in the desert.

Hotels in Dubai are built to support the city as the global business hub in the middle east, so our hotel was more of an apartment with a full kitchen and WASHING MACINE! We spent the rest of the day washing cloths and going grocery shopping.

The next day, we thought we’d go snowboarding. Yep, snowboarding! Within the Mall of Emirates, they built a small ski resort. They designed it to look like a traditional ski lodge. Most people rent all their gear including the outer wear, but some of the locals bring their own equipment. It’s a little shocking with you see a teenager walking through the mall in trendy ski gear while carrying skis.

This is what it looks from the outside.

Here’s a video of our time there.

The snowboarding was great. The hill had a nice little park and they even host a monthly rail jam. The chair lift is painfully slow so it’s best to use the T-bar. The snow was legit and our rental boards and slick onesies did the trick.

After the slopes we decided to go the the Applebee’s that overlooks for the ski resort for a beer. No luck. No beer. Dubai doesn’t have a ban on alcohol, but it’s not common. And, if you do find a place that serves it, you’ll be spending $15-20 USD for a beer.

We wanted to head to Abu Dhabi and decided to rent a car. I was nervous. It has been about 3 months since I drove. Driving in Dubai turned out to be extremely easy. It’s no different than driving in the USA. Well, except for one norm. Dubai has tons of exotic cars. In fact, along the main corridor of Dubai there’s a exotic car dealership on every block. You name it, they’ve got it. And the people with these cars drive fast. When I was studying up on driving in Dubai I read that it’s not uncommon for one of these sport cars to race down the road and if you happen to be in the way they will tailgate you and flash their high beams until you pull over to the right. Sure enough, while heading down the highway, a Mercedes AMG came out of nowhere and proceed to flash his high beams until we got out of the way.

The first stop was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. This place is modern day Taj Mahal.

 

The inside of the mosque is expansive and extravagantly decorated.

On the way back we took a quick spin around the Palm Jumeirah islands. This is a man made island used for hotels and residences.

There’s a small tunnel that gets you to the outer rim. From there you can get some good pics of Dubai and the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel.

A trip to Dubai is not complete without going up the Burj Khalifa Tower, the world’s tallest structure. It is a mechanical beauty. Visitors go up to floor 125 of 163 (or pay a ton more for floor 148). The elevator only takes a few moments to go all the way.

We stayed on top the Burj Khalifa for the sunset. In the distance is the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel and the Palm Jumeirah islands.

Every night, there’s a water show in the fountains surrounding the building. We watched it from the top.

UAE was very enjoyable and a nice place to visit, but it’s not centered in reality. The amount of money to build and sustain these luxurious cities is mind boggling. The buildings remind me of the excessive found in Las Vegas. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the area as economies rely less and less on oil.