Rob and I were fortunate enough to hitch a ride to Dubai with some teacher friends of ours, last week. We spent four days there, and our friend Tom planned the entire trip filled with awesome activities each day. Here is a little about our first “out of kingdom” adventure.

About Dubai:

Dubai is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. The capitol of UAE is Abu Dhabi, only about an hour drive away. Dubai is very popular for tourists because it is sort of the “hub” of the Middle East. It’s very cosmopolitan with over 230 nationalities living there — more than are represented at the United Nations. Dubai is known for it’s “go big” attitude, boasting the Burj Kalifa (the tallest building in the world), an indoor ski slope, the palm island (human made islands in the shape of a palm tree), The Burj al Arab (a hotel shaped like a sail built on a manufactured island), not to mention their new project the “World Island” — human built islands in the shape of the globe. Also I most recently found out that the Dubia airport is the largest in the world, and the topic of a new show on Discovery Channel. Here are some pictures from our Dubai adventures.

This camel outside of our hotel sums up Dubai for me. When the Middle East goes flashy!

We took the metro to the mall from our hotel. It was so crowded people were packed in like sardines. The mall was no different! Once we got there we realized why. Inside was an aquarium, starlit night sky, and a fountain to rival that of the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The picture above is our little friend Pablo enjoying the “night sky” ceiling.

We took a sea plane to tour Dubai from the air! Here are some of the shots we captured.

Dubai by Sea! We took a small Fellucca across the waters to the “old town” where we visited the souqs and were supposed to visit the spice market, but because of the Eid holiday it was closed.

And last Dubai by land. We took a “desert safari” where a 4×4 vehicle took us “off-roading” into the dunes of the Empty Quarter. This was followed by a huge dinner and dancing in the desert.

We had a blast exploring Dubai. We feel so thankful that we were able to go on this trip. A big thanks to Tom and Maria for letting us tag along!