Dubai April 20-21

Sometime during the night, as we crossed from the Arabian Sea, through the Straits of Hormuz, into the Persian Gulf, we passed through a time warp, bringing our ship many years into the future. Dubai is the tomorrow land we always saw predicted on TV. Amazing buildings one after the other, ultra modern mass transportation, crystal clear water ways, and every modern convenience that can possibly be imagined; all to the excess.

Our first day in Dubai started with a taxi ride through the heart of the city to the Burj Al Arab hotel, the world’s only 7 Star hotel, where we had reservations for the “Indulgent Tea” at the Sky View Bar. We had to present our reservation number at the security gate to even gain admittance to the hotel grounds. The hotel sits on a man made island at the end of a short causeway over the beach. There’s just no way to describe the opulence of the building. The lobby, the giant aquariums built into the sides of the walls lining the escalators to the second floor lobby, the elevators, the atrium, all amazing. I’d love to post a dozen photos, but you’ll get the idea, I’m sure.

We were seated by the window overlooking the water, and started with a glass of Champagne. From there, one course led to another then to another and another. A truly indulgent experience, and a great way to be introduced to Dubai.

From the hotel we took a taxi to the Mall of the Emirates, which houses the famous “Ski Dubai”, the only indoor ski facility in the middle east. It’s amazing to walk in from a 90+ degree day, to watch people skiing down hill at a pretty respectably steep and long slope, built into a shopping mall with every designer store imaginable.

On day two we decided to go into the center of town to see the new tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai.

News Flash: The race for the tallest building in the world is over, done, settled. This is it! More than 800 meters tall, it is more than twice the height of the former number one, Taipei 101. The observation deck on floor 124 looks up at another 80 floors above. Eighty story buildings are dwarfed by this building. It’s impossible to get the entire building in one photo without a super wide angle lens. Unfortunately we were unable to score tickets to ride to the 124th, but those who were lucky enough found it amazing. Another huge designer mall is located adjacent to the tower; this one with the Dubai Aquarium, an ice rink and more than 1200 stores.

Okay, Dubai is amazing, spectacular, and breathtaking, but it’s just not my kind of town. Nowhere, other than in a hotel, can you even find a place to sit down and have a beer. I mean nowhere. We walked along the waterfront of the large lake in front of Burj Dubai, looking for a place to have lunch and a beer and enjoy the scenery. Not going to happen! Five hundred years from now, after the desert has reclaimed all these spectacular buildings, archeologists will find not a single beer bottle and determine the real reason for the demise of the society. Now we have seven days at sea before our next port of Nosy Be Madagascar. This morning we had our emergency muster drill for pirate attack procedures. In case any pirates are reading this, we were all issued grenade launchers and automatic rifles. More soon.