Happy Belated Turkey Day!!

Nov 29

Hi, hello - We're fine - I've received some emails the past couple days concerned about our well being (No worries here). Sorry, we've had some computer problems and have been off line for about a week. Slowly getting up and rolling again... Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was really good - we went to one of the local water parks:

Should be able to post some new photos and catch up soon.
Have a good day
xoxoxo

Does anyone else find this suspicious??

Nov 13

I ordered a coffee from room service and this is the creamer they brought...

...I disagree - I did not think it tasted like fresh milk.

Nite out in Dubai

Nov 13

Just logging some old events...

We went out last weekend with Steve and a new friend from South Africa, Louw. We ate some dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Madinat Jumeriah where the Burj Al Arab glows in the background. This night the hotel had sold out to Ferrari and was sporting a red glow and a yellow horsey in the middle. After dinner (in typical Dubai fashion) we stopped for some after-dinner-sheesha on the steps of Madinat Jumeriah overlooking the man-made bay.

Bean bags, beer & friends

We then stopped by the local 'pub' for some darts and a few more beers - Always a good pass time.

Good Times!!

xoxox

We're in Doha

Nov 11

Mark has a few days of work here in Doha, Qatar so he brought me along! We're staying at the Marriott on the outskirts of town because it is shortens his commute to approx 40min. I discovered today that taxis are pretty scarce so I haven't done any exploring yet apart from a quick cab ride our first nite here. I received a few timing tips as to when to catch a cab so I will try again tomorrow. I read a small visitor book today and it sounds like a pleasant city although much of it is under construction. They apparently are working on building up the city to attract more big business and tourism (Dubai #2).

Here is a view from the patio outside the Executive Lounge on the 7th floor. To the left is city, to the right the port and a glimpses of part of the petrochemical industry. It is actually a really nice view but unfortunately we are on the 2nd floor looking toward the industrial area.


Here is a closer look of the city:

Here is a view from the same balcony looking over the hotel grounds:
The pool is under construction so that means no pool side lounging and no outside dinning either which is a shame since the weather is beautiful now; sunny & in the mid 80s. There is a small private beach just past the palm trees that looks nice enough and does have a waiter serving drinks. The food in the attached restaurants has been really good and there is a spa... no real reason to leave the hotel really but I'm getting stir crazy... We'll see what tomorrow brings

Have a good one
xoxoxo

Happy Belated Halloween

Nov 4-11 (man this takes me forever!)

Just wanted to drop in and let you know that we had a great Halloween! We started the night before drinking some beer, eating some nachos and watching scary movies with a friend of ours, Steve. We wanted to get some classic Halloween thrillers like the 1st Halloween, or Children of the Corn or even the first Friday the 13th but none of those were available to buy or rent at the local stores. We ended up pulling from Mark's freaky collection and I struggled thru a Zombie movie (YIKES) and then we put in an oldy but goody that had worked its way into his collection, Cat's Eye. Evidently Cat's Eye was a little too slow for us - we each found ourselves nodding off a time or two. (Okay, so I actually grabbed a blanket and curled up on the chaise, so what- I happily answer the call when the Sandman rings!)
We woke the next morning (Halloween day) and went out for a late breakfast, checked out the craft market at the Marina Walk then headed out to explore the financial district.



Why the financial district you ask?? On a 'logical-Sunday' when nothing will be open?? Business may have been closed this day but there was plenty of activity...

(Here are a just few of the highlights, check the Photo link in a few days)

After dealing with those crazy Ants we headed to the Emirates Towers to browse around.

Here is a couple of items we found while window shopping:

While we were window shopping we stumbled on to a nice size terrace that had some great views of the city and goofed around up there for a while....

After running around outside with the Ants in 90deg weather we were hot and sweaty. What better way to cool off than to visit the ChillOut?!
This ice spot is located inside Time Square (yet another shopping venue here in Dubai). This was the first time any of us had been inside...

This place was so "cool"!!! We had to gear up before we went in with jackets, gloves and Steve & I sported some sweet cold-shoes because we wore flip-flops today.
As we entered Mark posed with an ice picture of 'Sheikh Mo'

(His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum; VP of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai)

The entire lounge was made of ice! Everything from the walls to the tables, chairs, the bar, the glasses, etc....

The lighting behind the ice slowly changed from blue to pink to white.

<-- the bar (ice glasses are on the glass shelves in the back)

Entry allowed us one drink (juice - no alcohol unless you are in a hotel--tsktsk). To our delight the juice was delivered in ice glasses!!

CHEERS!!

Of course there is always one...
Don't worry we called in first-aid to release him after we felt he had learned his lesson. :)

Mark and I blowing hot air








It was cold in there but it would have been fine if we would have had some decent gloves - the small knit ones they provided didn't really help much.


There was a small menu to order off of which included more juice styled drinks, ice cream and a few hot dishes. We didn't order anything but these people did and were nice enough to let me take a photo of them with their grill cooked skewers.







(more photos to be posted soon on the photo page)


_____________________
After the ice we had intended to go check out Ibn Battuta's Tomb of Terror (haunted house) that was set up in the middle of the mall but when we arrived the 'tomb' was on break and we didn't have time to wait... :(

... because we had reservations to go see Jumana: Secret of the Desert.
We had to catch a cab. Dubai has a strict Zero Tolerance for drinking and driving and we knew we would be drinking!! Plus - when you are traveling out to the unfamiliar desert, especially at night, you (I) do not want to be responsible for not getting lost... Leave it to the taxi man, he'll get you there! If you can find one:



The show is located about 30-45 minutes outside of town at a resort the Sahra Desert Resort that is actually still being built but the show and dinning area are up and running. We were greated with fire when we entered!


Let me tell you, I still don't know who Jumana is/was or what the secret is but the show was fantastic!!! It far exceeded any of our expectations. By the time we got in most of the stadium seats were full so we were able to get balcony seating. We had the entire balcony to ourselves and an awesome view!
The photo obviously isn't good but this is the
balcony we were sitting in ---------------------->

ahhh!!

(Check out photo link a few days, I'll post more pics)

When the show was over the disco beat started. People just hung around the stadium nodding there heads to the DJ's disco beat with a water/light show in the back ground. There was a mild Halloween theme and a few people in wigs and a resort Zombie roaming around, it was cool. We were told at midnight there would be a haunted dune ride, we were quite excited and waited around... Midnight came and went and there was no dune ride. We asked a handful of staff about it and they were all unaware and had no idea what we were talking about. (as is life in Dubai)
We had a taxi called and as we waited out front for our ride we saw in the distance, on top of one of the dunes, a gaggle of torches being led across the desert. I'm pretty sure this was our Haunted Dune Ride that no one knew anything about...
Our taxi arrived as promised (unusual) and we traveled back to the apartment.

After such an eventful day Steve was itch'n for some sheesha so we accompanied him to one of the numerous sheesha bars below our building; he had lemon-mint flavored sheesha, I had tiramasu ice cream and mark enjoyed a tasty water... we then parted and headed off to bed.
The moral of the story is that we had a lovely Halloween weekend!! Thanks for letting me relive it!
xoxox