A Familiar Face from Home!!!

Scott arrived on Sunday, December 20 in the evening. Doug Bowsher, a Windsor native who is teaching in Abu Dhabi, was gracious enough to pick him up from the airport and deliver him to me. I heard them coming and was hooting out my apartment window. It was so surreal having Scott in Abu Dhabi and he felt the same. We chatted and caught up and then he had to sleep to quench his exhaustion. We inflated his queen, extra thick air mattress deluxe only to find it had a hole in it. Scott and I used double sided tape to temporarily remedy the problem, but in the morning, Scott explained how his butt was on the ground with the air mattress engulfing him from both sides during the night. He was forced to sleep on the couch and had a fitful night. Our day on Monday began with a trip to the department store, Carrfour, to exchange the air mattress. After successfully completing that task, we ventured along the Corniche in a leisurely taxi ride so he could see the beautiful waterfront and the modernity of the city. We made our way to the Emirates Palace Hotel, which is an awesome sight for all who visit. Its splendor and subtle opulence are inviting and awe inspiring. We visited the Guggenheim art display which is currently showing at the Emirates Palace. I took Scott to see the plans for further Abu Dhabi development in the form of "Sadiyaat Island" which will be the home of the 5th world Guggenheim museum, the extension of "The Louvre" from Paris, a Maritime museum, a performing arts centre, not to mention, more shopping areas and housing. He was quite impressed with these architecture marvels and such grandiose plans for this wealthy and growing city. Unlike the recent financial turbulence in Dubai, Abu Dhabi has all the money and the oil -- they are already the cultural centre of the Emirates and are poised to be the growth area of this country -- not Dubai. We ended our visit to the Emirates Palace Hotel with tea and tasty desserts listening to lovely music - so civilized!!!! I showed Scott Khalidya Mall which is home to my local grocery/department store called Lulu's. We also made brief stops at Marina Mall and Al Whada Mall so Scott could once again see the modernity of Abu Dhabi.

Later that day, we made a trip to my school, The American International School. We visited my classroom and I showed Scott the general school layout. We didn't stay too long, because they had just sprayed for "pests" and we were dying from the fumes. From there we went to the beautiful "Sangri-La Hotel and Souk". We enjoyed a lovely dinner at "The Noodle House" sitting outside on the waterfront balcony overlooking "The Grand Mosque" lit up at night. It was glorious.

Tuesday, we ventured to "The Grand Mosque" so Scott could see the magnificence of this structure which is the burial place of the much beloved "Sheik Zayed -- The Father of The United Arab Emirates". We had a date at 3:15 to meet our group and take off for our "Desert Safari". The Desert Safari is a "must do" activity while in the Emirates. I waited until Scott arrived to partake in this adventure. We were in a Range Rover with 4 other people for the ride. Khalifa from Oman, Rudolfo from Guatemala and newlyweds Christian and Tamara from Germany. We couldn't have asked for a better group. We were all fun-loving and we really enjoyed the day with each other. We went to a camel farm for photo ops and then we started the roller coaster ride through the desert in a caravan of Range Rovers (all white) going up and down the dunes. Thank God I took half a "Gravol" before the ride or I would have been sick!!! It was an amazing experience. We stopped again to rest our stomachs and scan the dunes all rolling on and on forever -- another photo op. Our final stop was at atop a huge sand dune to witness the sunset -- our last photo op. It was a great experience. We then drove to our camp where we had a camel ride and a lovely dinner on cushions. They had henna for the ladies and shisha pipes, belly dancing and traditional clothing for both men and women if you so desired. We dined with our adventure group and the Bedouin camp atmosphere was perfect. We had met great people and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Khalifa was an interesting man from Oman and he and I had a little vibe going on -- he most generously offered his phone number to me to make contact with him when I travel to Oman, but unfortunately, he will be in Morocco when I am in Oman. I invited him to call me when he is again in the Emirates, but I am doubtful I will hear from him again.

That evening Scott and I prepared for our departure the next day for Dubai. We left on Wednesday, December 23 for Dubai. We hired a taxi driver I have used in the past to take us there. He made a stop for us at "Yas Island" which was home to the recent Formula One races. It was an amazing sight with the track running through the grounds of one of majestic hotels. This city is really on the cutting edge of development. Upon arrival into Dubai, our taxi driver could not find our hotel called "The Place". It took some time and phone calling, but we eventually made it there. Our accommodations were an apartment which was much more than was necessary, but it is difficult booking when you have not been to a city to know exactly where to stay. We started our Dubai tour with a visit to "The Dubai Mall", an over-the-top, massive mall, which is home to all the brand name shops and beautiful people. After my delightful visit to a store called "Candylicious", we wondered around and finally said, "OK, it's a big, shiny mall, let's go". Its highlight was an absolutely beautiful and huge Christmas tree that changed colour. Outside of this mall is the tallest building in the world "The Burj Dubai", which has just been renamed "The Burj Khalifa", after Sheik Khalifa of Abu Dhabi, who funnelled a load of cash to Dubai during this financial crunch. The surrounding area included a large body of water that is bordered with the Abu Dhabi Mall, The Burj and gorgeous living quarters and restaurants. Very high end and very busy!!!!

We escaped the madness of crowds and headed to the monorail to take us to the "Palm Jumeriah" which is the palm tree shaped islands that include housing, malls, hotels, etc. Very "shi-shi". The monorail station was empty -- Scott and I rode the monorail alone and it was all very "Disney". We passed the "Trump Tower" sight which was an empty future construction site -- building is at a stand-still. We passed the future mall sight which is also an empty building site. We finally made our way to the "Atlantis Hotel" at the end of the tram ride. We disembarked and strolled around the Atlantis grounds which Scott claims are very similar to the one in the Bahamas which he stayed at. Once again, all the beautiful people were vacationing -- mostly from Europe and Austraila due to the geographical proximity. We decided to complete the day with "The Mall of the Emirates" which is the home to "Ski Dubai". It was fascinating to see all the people skiing and getting a thrill from the cold and snow and ice-skating/skiing. We once again walked around a beautiful mall and had a light dinner only to turn in exhausted from a day of traffic, hectic, crowded places and absolutely no middle east culture. We discussed how it was all a bit annoying, exhausting and wasteful. We concluded that the greener and better laid out city of Abu Dhabi was the right choice for me to live and teach in. There is so much more culture in Abu Dhabi and a lovely pace that has all you want without the chaos of a city developing too fast and recklessly like Dubai.

On our last day in Dubai, we decided to travel to "The Creek" area of Dubai, which is the old city. We dined in a funky garden restaurant for lunch which was recommended in our travel guide. It was great. We visited the old heritage area which we enjoyed and walked to the "Textile Souk". This was more what I want to see in the middle east -- not the shiny glass buildings and race to look like L.A mixed with Miami and New York. Walking through the textile souk and hearing the call to prayer was fabulous. We took a boat across the water to the "Gold Souk" and the "Spice Souk". I enjoyed this part of Dubai and I think Scott did as well. It was more authentic although a far cry from a Bedouin desert community. We made it back to our hotel, picked up our bags and hailed a taxi -- time to get the hell out of town and head back to Abu Dhabi. It was Thursday, December 24 and we decided to do a Chinese dinner at my favourite Chinese restaurant -- nothing elaborate just peaceful from a couple of hectic days in Dubai. We were also leaving Christmas Day for Egypt and needed to prepare for our next leg of our journey.