Emirates

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The past two weeks have been the mid-semester break from school, so we took the opportunity to visit the nearby United Arab Emirates last week. Though we spent most of our time in Dubai, we also visited the capital Abu Dhabi, as well as the mostly-disappointing Sharjah, and the lovely desert oasis town of Al Ain. Here are the highlights of the trip:

Seeing Dubai's famous architecture

Tall

Dubai has a skyline that is quickly rivaling those of other cities like New York or Chicago. Sometimes it felt like we were in New York, and other times like we were in Las Vegas, or maybe Disneyland. Probably the most famous building now (and by far and away the world's tallest building) is the Burj Khalifa (and in case you were wondering, burj is simply Arabic for tower). We had planned to go up to the observation deck on top, but weren't able since the night before there was some electrical problem and the elevators broke and some tourists were stuck halfway down in the elevator for around 45 minutes before they could get them out. Since then, they've closed the observation deck indefinitely until they can get it fixed. We enjoyed looking at from the roof of the parking lot of the Dubai Mall next door, which also offered a great view of the Dubai Fountain show nearby.

Beach

Dubai's other famous building is the Burj al-Arab hotel, which is shaped like a sail and easily one of the most expensive hotels on Earth. We enjoyed looking at for free on the nearby beach, which Christian also enjoyed playing at.

Moment

The Oasis

Trees

Unlike Qatar, the UAE is surprisingly green. Yes it's a desert, but there are lot of trees and landscaping (well, from off the road at least). We took about a two hour drive south to Al Ain, which is known for its beautiful palm tree oasis which we wandered around in.

Touch

The only other thing worth mentioning about the town though, is that it's where an ATM ate my debit card.

Cricket

If you didn't know, I love cricket. Pakistanis and Indians here get confused by it, since I'm American and as such am not supposed to know anything about it. But I do, and I love it. There was a tournament going on in Dubai and Abu Dhabi while we were there to qualify for the T20 World Championship (think of i as more or less like the World Cup, only for cricket). None of the big cricket nations were there, like India or Australia, but rather smaller nations like the Netherlands, Kenya, and even team USA! (That's right, we have a national cricket team). So we made a point of going, especially since admission was free. We watched Afghanistan beat Scotland, and then caught the second half of the Netherlands against Kenya. Afghanistan ended up winning the tournament, which means they'll get to play in the actual championship this May in the Caribbean, which means that I'm watching them on TV, I'll get to say that I got to see them in person.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque

Mosque

Okay, since I'm the only one involved with writing or reading this blog that's interested in cricket, I'll move on to something else. On our last day in the country we visited the gorgeous Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The mosque is the 6th largest in the world and is spectacularly decorated.

Cover

For modesty reasons, they made all the women cover their heads with a shayla (a headscarf) and cover wearing an abaya (basically just a black dress).

Chandelier

The decoration was very impressive, though I couldn't decide if I completely liked it. The chandeliers, for instance, looked like they were made of candy.

Wall

Above the qibla, which is the golden crease in the wall there which indicates the direction of Mecca is written in Arabic "Allah." Surrounding this name are qualities given to God written in Arabic, including Al-Kareem (The Generous), Al-Kabeer (The Great), Malik al-Malik (The King of Kings), and a bunch of others I couldn't understand because my Arabic isn't very good.

Shopping

Apparently there's nothing to do in the Emirates except buy stuff. We were there during the end of the annual Dubai Shopping Festival so there were sales and other specials all around town. Around town were decorations for the festival which featured what looked like a family surrounded by a shopping bag. I felt like that was a good metaphor for Dubai: good place for families--but you're going to feel like you're trapped in a shopping bag.

Though we barely went shopping at all, we did spend a lot of time in the various malls. Of note was Ibn Battuta Mall, which is a theme mall which includes different sections based on countries the great Arabian explorer Ibn Battuta visited. The end effect is basically like Epcot Center, that is, if Epcot Center were a mall.

We spent a lot of time in the malls for Christian's sake, since there was always something to entertain him there. They had some gigantic toy stores where he could play and jump around on a trampoline.

Store

The only real shopping we did was at IKEA, which was nice since we don't have one in Qatar and home furnishings here are expensive and tacky. We just bought some shelves to put spices, and a few other things. I really only included the picture cause I like the way the logo looks in Arabic, that, and for the benefit of Lyssa's sister Tasha and her husband, IKEA-boy.

So I suppose it was mostly highlights and a very good trip. Besides losing my bank card, the only other annoyance worth mentioning is that when we got to the airport to go home, they couldn't find our reservation. We quickly figured out that the reason was because our tickets were mistakenly issued for March 11, not February. We had to wait stand-by for our flight, but were able to get on. Then when we got to the airport they lost our stroller, and we had to wait around an hour or so for them to find it. And as if the night hadn't been long enough, customs stopped us on our way out wanting to know what a certain item was in our suitcase (which turned out to be the shelves we bought at IKEA). Needless to say, it felt good to sleep in our own beds that night.