Skiing in Dubai

My first day in Dubai took some unexpected turns, but it went quite well overall. In the morning, I woke up to a nice mug of hot chocolate and some turkey bacon. After my whole family got ready to leave our place of rest in Abu Dhabi, we set off on the highway to Dubai.

The ninety minute drive to Dubai was pretty interesting and brought us away from the vegetated paradise of Abu Dhabi to the impressive concrete jungle of Dubai. Because Dubai is technically an emirate and not a city, the densely populated areas are spread all around the region. Downtown Dubai, the Burj Al Arab, and the Ski Dubai ski slope are all about 15km or 10mi apart. The planned attraction for today was Ski Dubai, the world's largest indoor ski resort.

As we entered the Mall of the Emirates, the location of the resort, we could see the massive towering Burj Khalifa almost 20km away. We also saw the incredibly fancy Burj Al Arab hotel which was slightly closer. Seeing these structures in real life was simply far more impressive than seeing photos and hearing stories about them, even when they were more than 10km away.

In the parking garage of the mall, we missed a turn,so we had to exit and find a way back in.
This was not at all as easy as it sounded. We left the parking garage and found ourselves on a freeway to the downtown area. We were completely lost in some remote industrial area when we took the nearest exit in attempt to turn back. We first stopped a cab to ask for directions to the Emirates Mall, but he simply got us lost further in this remote area. We finally found our way back to the mall after a group of what looked to be like clueless teens surprisingly got us going in the right direction.

The interior of the Mall of the Emirates was impressively larger than any other mall I've been in, but it's supposedly dwarfed by the Dubai Mall downtown. The crowded entrance to the Ski Dubai ski slope was pretty intimidating for me. I've never skied before in my life, but my friend assured me that he would teach me well. After buying the ticket and picking up all of the ski equipment and snow gear, I stepped inside the slope area. What I saw was both awe-inspiring and frightening. The ski slope which looked relatively small from the outside was absolutely massive. People on the top of the mountain-like slope looked like ants.

My friend kept assuring me that I would be fine, but I began to have second thoughts. The ski lift up to the top felt like a true mountain lift. We got off on the first exit to go on the smaller slope, but it was of no help. The moment I started off the slope, I fell on my back and unwillingly began to fall down the hill. I struggled a lot to ski down the rest of the hill and ended up losing a ski. I stood out quite a bit as skiers sped all around me. At the bottom of the slope, one of the employees informed me that I needed a lesson to continue skiing on the slope. I completely agreed, since my friend underestimated my ability to learn from him.

At the ticket booth, I found out that I wouldn't be able to go back on the slope after the lesson, so I was able to get a 150 dirham refund in exchange for a lesson (I originally paid 300 dirhams for the day pass). Because the lesson was scheduled for 4PM, I had about forty minutes to readjust my equipment and get new skis for the lesson.

Despite my previous failures at the main slope, the lesson went extremely well and I had a lot of fun. The rest of the people at this "Discovery Lesson" had never skied before, so I knew I was in the right place. Our group started with the very basics of walking with skis and getting into the stopping position. After a bit of practice, we moved onto the beginner ski slope, which was much smaller than the the recreational slopes. Here, I was able to slide down the hill of artificial snow at a very controlled and comfortable speed. I was even able to stop at the bottom without falling over. After about ten descents on this baby slope, the lesson was over, but I felt significantly more confident about my skiing skills. Now that I've learned the basics of skiing in the desert city of Dubai, I'm going to be able to ski as a hobby in my snowy homeland of New England.

I met outside the Ski Dubai entrance with my friend after the skiing experience to have an excellent Chinese food dinner at the mall's P.F. Chang's. Although I was incredibly full after my shared meal of chicken dumplings, crispy honey chicken, and Mongolian beef, I still managed to fit in an entire Coldstone Creamery milkshake after the meal.

Although we didn't do much in Dubai for the first day, it was time to go the hotel as we were completely exhausted. Unfortunately, the hotel was completely booked for the night, even though we had reserved it the day before. Our reservation for New Year's Eve was still guaranteed since we made it a month ago. We were luckily still with our friends from Abu Dhabi, so we went back to their home to stay for another night.

After getting lost one last time on the way back to Abu Dhabi, we were home before 9PM to relax. Because of the extra time, I was able to upload photos from previous days, so check out the links at the bottom of this post to see them. Tomorrow, we'll be going to Dubai again, first to see a few of its attractions, and later to join in on the spectacular New Year's Eve celebrations. So far, this trip has had a huge amount of strange twists and unexpected events, but I must say it's been an absolutely amazing experience and hope that it stays that way.

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Another Day in Abu Dhabi

Today, we spent our time mostly exploring the rest of the city of Abu Dhabi. Before we actually went into the city, we first took a tour of the brand new Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

This Muslim house of worship was the most incredible piece of architecture I have ever seen. The eighty-one domes and two one-hundred meter tall minarets stand out from miles away, and are even more impressive close-up. We were scheduled to attend the eleven o'clock tour, but were about ten minutes late. Luckily, the nice people running the tours showed us the way to catch up after my mom put on the robe she was required to wear. After our tall, Egyptian-looking tour guide showed us around the main courtyard of the mosque and its surrounding hallways, he asked us to take off our shoes to enter the prayer halls.

The moment we stepped inside, we were absolutely stunned. The floors were made of several different kinds of marble, the chandelier was absolutely massive and ornately decorated, and the interior of the dome above us was beautiful. It turned out that this was only an entrance foyer to the main prayer hall. The main hall was significantly larger, had the most amazing chandelier I have ever seen, and was home to the world's largest single piece of carpet. One interesting thing I noticed is that the back wall was decorated in Arabic script naming the god Allah and his ninety-nine other names. The inherent beauty of Arabic script allows it to blend well with the rest of the mosque's beauty. Any type of Roman script would kill the mood and beauty of the place.

By the time we were done with the tour and ushered out of the building to allow for real Muslims to pray, I felt that I had a better understanding of Muslim faith and culture. We took a walk around the beautiful outside area of the mosque before we were picked up to drive to somewhere new in the city.

The first site we visited was a famous cafe that is quite popular with the expat community in Abu Dhabi. The owner of the place converted a massive three-story villa into a very homey cafe with all sorts of art and decorations from around the world. The food selection was also very broad and contained dishes from all around the world. The menu even had a notice asking for new recipes, as the cafe is very involved with the expat community. I had an excellent falafel dish before we continued on.

Next, we went to an indoor marketplace in one of the more remote parts of town to get great deals on UAE souvenirs. Because our friend knew the shop owner's language, we were able to get really good deals. These kinds of shops offer very interesting and interactive shopping experiences since no prices are listed. You have to be willing to make deals with the shop owner, but ultimately you get much better prices than in tourist trap souvenir stores. We walked out of the store after nearly forty-five minutes of haggling with bags of souvenirs that ended up being much cheaper than souvenirs on other trips.

Today, we got a chance to go into to the Emirates Palace Hotel as I was actually wearing long pants. Unfortunately, the tours of the hotel rooms and ballrooms were limited only to the ballrooms, so a very nice receptionist offered for us to simply walk around and explore the public areas. Not only did we get to save about ninety dollars, but we got a chance to catch a glimpse of the absolute luxury that many rich travelers to Abu Dhabi get to enjoy. The craziest thing we noticed was that all of the items in the antique galleries around the hotel with items as old as 4000 years were for sale. Each item had a price of at least 3000 dirhams (~$1000).

We weren't allowed on the hotel's 1.5km private beach, but we got to see the massive Christmas tree and grand halls inside. There was also an exhibition about some of the new museums and institutions being planned for Saadiyat Island by the year 2030. The Guggenheim Museum, Louvre, and National Opera will keep Abu Dhabi an interesting place to visit for the next century. Unfortunately, the cheapest room in the hotel was over $1200 for a single night, so we won't be staying there anytime soon.

Before it was time to get dinner, we spent about an hour and a half checking out apartments in two nearby complexes, the Khalidiya Palace (pictured), and the Etihad Towers. All of the commodious and comfortable luxury apartments in these buildings provided absolutely stunning views of the Emirates Palace Hotel, the Presidential Palace, and the city of Abu Dhabi. It seems like looking for apartments in a city you're visiting is a great way to get excellent aerial views of a city and its attractions for free.

After this unique experience, my parents went out for their dinner, and myself, my friend and a couple of his friends had a small dinner at a Mexican food restaurant and spent the rest of the night eating and hanging out on the Corniche, a boardwalk type area by the beach that was unbelievably crowded for Thursday night. Because Friday is the main Muslim day of prayer, weekends in the UAE are Fridays and Saturdays, while the week starts on Sunday and ends on Thursday.

Now that I'm "home", I have a chance to relax after an incredibly tiring three days in Abu Dhabi. Tomorrow, we'll be going to Dubai to spend the next few days and New Year's Eve.

Disaster in the Desert

Today was a long and painful day, but I must say we're all very lucky to still be alive after what happened.  The desert safari that was supposed to be a nice day of fun turned ugly very quickly, but we're luckily still alive to tell you the story.


We began our crazy day in the city of Abu Dhabi where we visited an apartment that our friends were interested in renting. The view from the 37th floor balcony was absolutely incredible and gave us breathtaking views of the city and lagoon (see on the right). I've never seen a view from any building that was quite as beautiful. Afterward, we had a small lunch at a nearby bakery to fill up before the safari..


Next, we visited the Central Market Souk. I originally thought this was going to be large open air food market, but it was in fact a very fancy indoor mall, exquisitely decorated with wood. I got a chance to taste some gourmet chocolate and smell some authentic Asian and Middle-Eastern spices. I've never seen a mall quite like it.


By the time we were done exploring the market, it was time to go to the pickup location for our safari, a mall in the city. After waiting a little while and looking around for the driver, we finally found him. Together with an Indian family of tourists, we got into the rugged Lexus SUV, driven by a young Arab who couldn't speak any Engiish.


The forty-five minute drive to the first meeting point was relatively smooth, and provided us with amazing views of the surrounding desert.. At the first site we were given the opportunity to see a real camel farm. While we were enjoying the camels and the views of the surrounding desert dunes, the driver of our car started to deflate the tires to make the dune bashing experience easier and more comfortable.


After waiting for about twenty minutes, we were finally ready to get going. The seatbelts weren't working on the drive to the first area, so we had to essentially force the driver to get them working. The thrill of the dune bashing once we started was absolutely incredible. Driving rapidly through the sand and making sharp turns on the dunes was a thrilling experience that I thoroughly enjoyed, but my mom seemed to be too frightened  to fully appreciate it. 


After one small stop to see other cars riding down the dunes, we thought the ride was over. There was still in fact a short drive to the campsite. I offered to not have a seatbelt for the second ride, as one seat was missing one and my mom was very nervous without one before. I thought it would be nice to calm her down, and I may have saved her life later on. Our driver wanted to do one last stunt to impress us and the others before going to the campsite for sunset and dinner.


As our car started to race up the last, incredibly tall dune, we noticed that the other cars had already parked by the camp . We were a bit nervous, especially at the top of the hill where it felt like we were simply falling.


Well, the friction of the wheels on the sand simply wasn't enough to prevent our car from slipping and rolling down the hill. The four times that we rolled over down the dune hill felt like the longest ten seconds of my life. I heard glass shattering and aluminum getting crushed as I held for dear life on the seats. Because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, my head got hit on the roof of the car a few times as we were rolling. When the car finally came to a stop, I stood up and yelled to ask if everyone was okay. I found my brother at my feet, but I had to get out of the car to be of any help. 


With the help of an insane adrenaline rush, I climbed out of one of the shattered side windows and stood up on top of the car. I was absolutely covered in sand and felt bleeding in some places, but I felt okay overall. After I jumped off of the car, I quickly ran around and saw that other people were helping my mother and brother out of the car. I saw that the Indian family that were with us had slightly more serious injuries. One man couldn't lift his arm all the way and the other had a large, bleeding lump on his head. We were all in shock and couldn't believe what had happened.


As one of the other drivers gave us water and drove us off safely to the camp, I saw the manager of the group scolding our driver for getting into the accident and destroying the car. We were extremely lucky that everyone made it out without any life threatening or serious injuries.


At the camp, we were able to wash off a little bit and lie down to relax. Supposedly, the police were called, but we waited almost ninety minutes and nothing happened. We finally decided to call the police ourselves, and the other employees and managers suddenly got concerned, with the police arriving nearby in about 15 minutes. Whether they actually called the police in the first place we may never know.


In the two hours before we were taken to the police on the main road, we got a glimpse of the belly dancing and a small taste of the barbecue, but we didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the other tourists with all the adrenaline rushing through our bodies . 


A short drive from the camp to the main road brought us to the police and ambulance. We knew we were mostly fine, but the other group with us needed to go to the hospital to treat some small injuries. We asked for the best and safest driver to take us home, so of course we got another young driver who couldn't speak any English. 


Our first problem on the drive home wasn't even a mile from the camp. It was pitch dark and at the intersection of the dirt road and the main paved road, the driver stopped and got out of the car to talk on the phone. We tried to talk to him, but he had to call his manager for him to have any chance to communicate with us. Apparently, even though the police told us we didn't have to be involved in any investigations or reports, the manager wanted us to sign some papers. We refused and pushed for the driver to keep driving us home. Next, on the roundabout intersection with the main highway to Abu Dhabi, we saw the sign going to Abu Dhabi, but he passed it and went towards some small Arabic village. We were immediately concerned about getting taken somewhere and called the manager again to see what he was doing.


It turns out that the driver had forgotten to reinflate the tires after the dune bashing. Driving through this authentic Arabian village, we had no idea where we were, and no one spoke any English at all. After about ten minutes at the local tire shop, we were back on the freeway to Abu Dhabi. The last problem we had was a simple misunderstanding of the drop-off location. We were picked up at a mall in Abu Dhabi, but wanted to be dropped off at our friend's home slightly outside the main city. One last phone call to the manager solved this problem and we were home within minutes.


We're now able to finally relax and and reflect on what happened. I'm incredibly lucky to have survived this kind of accident without a seatbelt, and I'm glad everyone else was okay. I hope the rest of our trip will go well, and that this will be the closest we come to real danger. I'm sorry I haven't been able to upload many pictures, but I will try at the soonest good opportunity. Tomorrow we'll tour the Grand Mosque and spend our last full day in Abu Dhabi before we go to Dubai for the rest of our trip.

The Journey to Abu Dhabi

The last two days of my life have been quite hectic with this new trip, so I was unable to write my blog yesterday on arrival in Abu Dhabi. Because of this, my entry today will be especially long, covering the time from my departure to the end of the first full day in Abu Dhabi.

My lengthy and exhausting journey to Abu Dhabi began two days ago, in the relatively small TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island. We were initially told that our flight to Washington Dulles airport was delayed by 15 minutes. We thought nothing of it, so we went to Dunkin Donuts, where I had a nice, refreshing hot chocolate. On our arrival to the gate, we discovered that the flight was delayed by ninety minutes. This gave us quite some anxiety, as we were only scheduled to have two hours to connect in Washington. Once we finally boarded the cramped, propellor-powered plane, our worry increased because we were told the bathroom on board was clogged, further delaying the flight. We also later found out that the reason for the initial ninety minute delay was that a flight attendant was "unhappy" and did not want to go to work on Christmas Day.

Thankfully, the United Airlines flight attendants knew that we, along with many other people, were making tight connections. They allowed us off of the plane with the first groups of people at the end of the ninety-minute flight.

The moment we exited the plane at 5:25, the race was on. We had to run through the massive Dulles airport to catch our 5:55 flight to Kuwait. International flights typically close their gates 15 minutes before departure, so we only truly had 15 minutes. As we ran through the airport, we saw that a few other people had unfortunately missed their connecting flights. Once we finally arrive at the gate after 11 minutes of running and train riding, we were greeted by the gate attendants who informed us there we had plenty of time. We took this as a sign that we had made it and began to enter the plane.

After entering and taking a seat in the massive Boeing 777 that would take us to Kuwait, it was 5:45. We had made it safely in time for departure. One thing we did notice was that the plane was old, uncomfortable and slowly falling apart. We soon discovered that the reason the plane hadn't departed yet was a "hydraulic leak"  that the crew had found. After waiting 40 minutes, it was announced that we would be changing planes, eventually departing at 8PM.

This delay didnt bother us as much, because the layover in Kuwait was originally scheduled to be 3 hours. We'd still have a full hour to connect. The new plane was  definitely newer and more comfortable. The 12 hour flight to Kuwait was the longest and most turbulent one I have ever been on. Finally entering the Kuwaiti airport was a relief from the chilly, turbulent flight.

After a final one hour flight to Abu Dhabi, we cleared customs and immigration to discover that one of our bags went missing in transit. All they could do was take our address, so we drove to the house we were staying with our friends at and after a nice Indian dinner, we promptly fell asleep.

We spent our first day in Abu Dhabi, today, sightseeing in the city with our friends Mary and Jacob (and their son) who now live in Abu Dhabi . On the half an hour drive to the downtown area, we passed by the incredible grand mosque, larger than the Taj Mahal. Our first stop was a small informational museum on Saadiyat Island. The museum's exhibition was about the incredibly ambitious projects planned for the massive artificial island by the year 2030. New branches of the Louvre, Guggenheim Museum, and British Museum were all part of the huge plan.

Next, we took a short ride to the port area to see the impressive indoor fish market, full of fresh fish and their merchants. The next part of our plan was to enter the incredibly expensive Emirates Palace Hotel for a tour, but because I was wearing shorts, we weren't allowed inside. Despite this small problem, we were still able to get impressive views of the hotel, as well as the nearby Etihad Towers.

Before we had a small lunch at the Marina Mall, we stopped by the Arabic Heritage Village. Here, we got to experience a bit of traditional nomadic Arabic culture. I find it amazing how they found a way to manage such a hot climate so comfortably.

After lunch, I went jet skiing for the first time in my life. I spent about one hour in the Abu Dhabi lagoon after departing from a small marina behind the fish market. I was incredibly surprised by the remarkable speeds the jet ski could attain. I think the fastest I went was about a ninety kilometers per hour. Speeding through the lagoon with a view of the Abu Dhabi skyline and the beautiful desert sunset was quite a thrilling and enjoyable experience. I did get soaked, but the warm desert sun made it comfortable until we got back to land and the sun had set. The seemingly freezing feeling after the ride was certainly worth the incredibly fun and thrilling experience.

For dinner, we ate at a traditional Lebanese restaurant where we ordered a 1.5kg tray of assorted meats for our six person group. The beef, lamb, and chicken appetizers from the dish were the tastiest I have had in my entire life. I have always been a fan of middle-eastern food, but I had never actually had the real, authentic stuff until now. Before we returned home to plan the rest of our UAE trip, we made a quick stop at a local mall (that felt exactly like an American one) for some small things and groceries.

Tomorrow, we will most likely go on the exciting desert safari after visiting the Grand Mosque. On Friday, we'll go to Dubai where we'll spend the majority of the remainder of the trip. So far, this has been the most unique country I've visited and I'm sure that after a few days, I won't want to go home. I'm sorry I didn't upload any photos yet, as it's past midnight, so I'll try to get them uploaded by tomorrow morning. Until then, I'll finally catch up on some needed sleep.

Holidays in the Emirates

I'm very excited to say that this holiday season, I'll be visiting Asia for the first time in my life, specifically the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. Thanks to some friends who currently live in Abu Dhabi, my family was given the great opportunity to visit the country for a first-hand experience. On Christmas day, I'll be departing from TF Green Airport on a ten-day experience I'll never forget.

After three flights encompassing 21 hours of total transit time, we'll be in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi. Once we get a long night of sleep to cure some of the inevitable exhaustion, we will do a variety of exciting things. First of all, we'll have some time to explore the city of Abu Dhabi with the guidance of our local friends. This will be my first true taste of middle-eastern lifestyle and cuisine.

On another day, I'll be going on a desert "safari" in the deserts surrounding the city. On this day trip I'll have the opportunity to drive through massive sand dunes, ride a camel, see a traditional middle-eastern belly dancer, and go skiing in the sand. After a middle-eastern barbecue dinner, I'll get to see a beautiful desert sunset before returning to the city.

The pinnacle of the trip will probably be the visit to Dubai. This incredible city has grown more in the last ten years than many other cities have in a century. After ascending to the top of the world's tallest building for views of the spectacular city, I'll get an opportunity to check out the world's largest mall and the world's largest artificial island. Seeing a trend here? I think one of the most unique opportunities I'll have is to learn how to ski. Yes, Dubai, whose average summer temperatures sit around 100F, is home to the world's largest indoor ski resort. Because I've never gone skiing before, I thought that Dubai would be a fun place to start.

New Year's Eve is one of the few holidays that is universally celebrated around the world, and Dubai is no exception. I'll be in the middle of the incredible excitement that is Dubai on New Year's eve, where the entire city will light up in celebration of a new year. Unfortunately, on January 2, we'll be departing from Abu Dhabi for an even longer and more exhausting trip back to the United States.

I still don't know the full extent of what this little vacation in the Emirates is going to bring me, but I'm certain I'll never forget it. I'll try sure to keep this blog as daily as possible to let you know what my experiences are like so when you hopefully get an opportunity to visit this incredible place, you'll know where to start.