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Published: November 3rd 2008
Skiing in Dubai!
Had always heard about this ski resort but never thought I would be skiing here! Your seeing a very excited Dave!March 31, 2008
India was by far the hardest country for me to travel in. After being in a bus crash, auto rickshaw crash, getting scammed for a lot of money I was so happy to be exiting India. India had gotten the best of me. Originally the plan was to travel to Kenya, but with the recent violence I chose to go to Greece instead. I had a layover on my original flight in Dubai so I decided to just keep that the same and booked a flight 3 days later to Greece. Why not spend a couple days in Dubai to see the craziness. I say craziness because I am not a big fan of new modern cities. I often hear about Dubai on the news though so thought because of the newsworthiness alone I should check it out.
The flight leaving India was pretty cool, in that, they had cameras mounted in several locations on the underside of the plane so you could see what the pilots were seeing on the screen on the back of the seat in front of you. Clear as mud? Emirates had the fanciest planes that I flew on. They were the
Burel Al Jareb Building
Trademark building in Dubai newest as well.
The flight was shear elation as I was so. so. so happy to be leaving India. I was on cloud nine (rim shot).
Nothing to dramatic was noted at the Dubai airport. I found a taxi driver to take me to my hotel location after several tries. For some reason the drivers did not want to readily take me to my hotel. The drivers were predominantly Indian and Pakistani. I learned later the main reason the drivers would not take me to my hotel was it was a long ways away. The drivers make more money taking people short distances.
After much driving, and the driver asking many directions, we finally found the hotel. The hotel was a long ways from downtown Dubai. The room was really cheap, I assume because of the long distance from the main tourist area of Dubai. It was a very nice room though as there was a living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. I was trying to justify a way for me to stay there two nights as some days when your traveling it feels good to just chill out in a location. I guess I was
beginning to get tired. It is amazing how when you feel tired you just keep putting another foot in front of you and you move on. Obviously until you experience a situation a lot of sick people experience in this world it is hard to complain about getting tired of traveling. Most people really have nothing to complain about.
I spent an uneventful night there and got outside around 10:00 to check things out. I walked around looking for a place to get some breakfast and really did not find what I was hungry for after about 45 minutes of walking. I finally walked into a Pakistani Restaurant that had several other customers, so that was reassurance to me that the food must be okay. I didn't really know what to order so I just asked the waiter to bring me the more common dishes. The waiter asked me several questions and I told him I was from the USA. He said he liked the US and we talked for awhile. I am never sure if people just say that for business reasons or if they are genuine about it. After talking to him for awhile I really became
fascinated with him. This was turning into a great morning and I had pretty much concluded that nothing interesting was going to happen. After eating I told the guy I was ready to pay and he said no he would pay for the meal. I was floored and over joyed at that same time. What a great gesture. I realized I probably was making a lot more money than this man but yet he was buy my meal. I felt a little bad though too. I realized he probably felt joy in buying my meal and I did not want him to lose that feeling but I also wanted to contribute a little as I felt guilty for him buying my meal. I asked him if it would be ok if I bought the two sodas and he could pay for the rest of the meal. He said that was ok and I asked him for a picture so I could commemorate this great morning and meal. He said okay, but I could tell he seemed a little embarrassed.
I left there and headed back to the hotel. I used a local internet cafe for awhile and tried to
log onto the couchsurfing website but it was blocked. The person I was couchsurfing with said he logs onto a computer that is outside the United Arab emirates and is able to access the couchsurfing website that way. It was quite interesting and the place shut down for prayer and I left. I checked out and grabbed a taxi to the location where I was to meet the couchsurfer. He worked near the airport and I waited around for him to get off work. I did some journaling until he was ready to go. We spent most of the night just talking about miscellaneous things. He is from Canada. He said he takes his jeep into the desert and drives around the sand dunes. He said he could do that tomorrow morning when he takes me to a bus stop from which I was going to take the bus into downtown Dubai.
In the morning we drove through the dunes to the highway. It was quite fun. He dropped me off at the bus station and man the heat was on. I took a pair of shorts out of my backpack, wetted them (with water silly) and waited patiently
Camera under Plane.
Can see what the pilots see. for the bus. I got on the bus and headed downtown. There is a lot of mosque. I walked around the downtown area checking out the shopping area and then taking a boat ride across the river to check out a museum and the activities on the other side. There was a lady on the boat who asked me if she could take a picture with me when I told her I was the USA. I said sure and asked her where she was from . She said Iran. Man it is amazing meeting these people from the AXIS OF EVIL. These people are not evil at all. Again these are the moments I cherish the most during my travels.
Man it was hot and I decided to spend money for a taxi to drive me around, as this was the only way I could see everything I wanted to see before my flight that evening. There was a long line for the taxis at this mall I was at. It was good though to see this line as I so got tired of people not forming lines in China a little over a month ago.
I got
a driver and he took me around the City and to the Burel Al Jareb building the most prominent building in Dubai. We had also driven by the tallest building in the world. The folks in Dubai must have crazy money as they are building all over the place. Everywhere you looked there were buildings and roads being constructed. One area near the Burel Al Jareb building there was a harbor with buildings around it which was beautiful. I assume this was the high rent district.
I then had the driver take me to the Mall of the Emirates primarily to see the indoor ski resort. Outside the building you could see a big metallic object which was the ski run. I was getting excited to see this. His meter had some sort of problem and he was losing power. I was a little scared he would try to overcharge me but I do not think he did too badly. I hated to spend the money on the cab, but with my limited time this was really the only option I had. The mall was beautiful and I immediately walked to the ski area. They have restaurants around the
ski area and it was truly amazing. It was better than I expected and checked the prices. It was only around $30 for 2 hours. I then told myself no I am not going to do it but I did ask them if they had size 15 boots which they did. I hoped they didn't as that would make the decision final that I could not ski. I walked to a restaurant deciding I would just have a sandwhich and watch for awhile. The cost of the food was outrageous and I started doing the math again and thought man instead of this meal I could pay for 1/2 the cost to ski. I went to the food court area and decided to get some food there which was still plenty expensive but not nearly as costly as the area with the view of the mountain. After some thinking I asked myself when again will I have the opportunity to ski in an area where it was 100 deg outside. I went and bought the ticket. Again proofing the ability of the human mind to rationalize anything.
I felt like a kid at Christmas. I was so excited I
Bought my Meal
This nice Pakistani guy who worked at this restaurant bought my meal. Nice people all over this world. could barely contain myself. After getting suited up I headed inside. It really was much better than I expected. There were kids learning to snow board. It seemed like you were in Colorado skiing almost. The lines were not too long so I could really get a lot of runs in. I had a great time and was really glad I spent the money. The run was just long enough to stay interested. If the run was any shorter, I would have gotten bored.
From there I grabbed a taxi and headed to the airport. Again there was a long line for taxis. There were some folks who were getting in Lamborghinis and Porsches and all sorts of fancy cars. This is definitely life styles of the rich and famous.
I arrived to the airport and checked in. Before I knew it I was headed to Greece. I was glad I stayed in Dubai for a few days, but for me this is not one of my favorite places. Way too modern with little soul.
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Whiskeyspoke
Clover & Scott
hey you :)
Trippy, skiing inside. I heard about that place a couple years ago in Dubai. What did you think of it? Take care out there :)