Dubai, United Arab Emirates (continuation)

Our stay of Dubai was definitely text book tourist activities, but then again, there is not a whole lot of history to the city of Dubai. One thing we'll say for sure, they definitely know how to throw the money around. After tea at the Burj al Arab and our first failed attempt at gaining access to the new tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai (it was sold out), we spent the following morning just lounging at the pool in preparation for our day at the biggest mall in the world followed by a tour in the tallest building in the world. Yes, Dubai seems to be taking all of Canada's selling features over. The world's biggest mall now apparently resides in Dubai. At the same time, we were still proud of our little West Ed. The mall was big, four floors of shopping, shopping shopping but sadly it lacked the entertainment of good old West Ed. Sure it had a huge indoor aquarium and a couple of waterfalls with a creek running through it, but where was the indoor water park hmmmm? The highlight for us had to be the Candylicious store. MMMMM, candy..... and supposedly the best ice cream in the world (according to who were nor sure). It was darn good. After a quick lunch we headed up the new Burj Dubai tower (which has had its name changed to the Burj Khalifa). An elevator traveling 128 floors in less the one minute whisks you up to an absolutely sensational view. On a clear day you can see 95kms. Yes, 95kms. We stuck around for sunset and then made our way to the legendary Gold Souk to window shop. Never before have we seen so much gold, gems, and jewelery. The next day we headed to Wild Wadi water park, a truly unique experience. The water-slides require no stairs. Elevators you wonder? No, the slides actually go uphill. No joke. You load yourself or you and a friend into the one and two man tubes and powerful jets push you up the slides to the top of the ride. Then, back down to the pools below. Incredible! The day was hot, the water was cool and we had fun. Then we had to prepare ourselves for the inevitable. The trip home. Yes it's official. The super tour must come to an abrupt end. Due to some difficulties with some health issues we have booked tickets and are on our way home to Canada 4 months early. We sincerely hope you have enjoyed our little tour and thank you all for your comments and emails to make us feel connected to home. As it is, this will be our last blog. We can't wait to see you all in Canada again.

Pictures:
1- first time boogie-boarder
2- Burj Dubai (aka Burj Khalifa)
3- Largest outdoor fountain in the world, located next to the largest mall in the world
4- Sunset from Burj Dubai
5 & 6- View from Burj Dubai (note the size of other sky scrapers)
7- Anelia preparing for ride to the top
8- Gold Souk
9- Dubai mall fountain
10- Best ice cream in the world
11- Candylicious. Oh yeah!

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Day 1)

Try as we might, nothing could have prepared us for the severe change in scenery and lifestyle once we landed in Dubai. We had heard rumors, some good and some bad, about what to expect but one thing is for sure, leaving a country that has the oldest buildings in the world and arriving in another where the oldest buildings are 15 to 20 years old leaves one in a bit of shock. The airport had palm trees in it. IN IT FOR PETES SAKE! The cabs outside the door were lined up, patiently waiting their turn as you approached the Taxi Pick-up area. A gentleman assisted you with your bags into the taxi and you were off. Gone was the pandemonium of Cairo's street, replaced with sleek cars actually using their signal lights to weave in organized fashion along the 6 lane highway. We cruised by modern skyscraper after modern skyscraper, passed buildings of incredible architectural wonder, and arrived at our couch surfing destination. The modest apartment of Salih and Ibraham featured a comfy pullout couch, big screen, surround sound, thousands of digital movies, pool, weight room and best of all Salih and Ibrahem themselves. They welcomed us in and made us feel at home. "This will do nicely," we thought. The following morning we took our time getting started and did a little wardrobe shopping at the Mall of the Emirates in preparation for tea in the afternoon. "Dressing for tea?" you ask. The answer lies in the location of set tea time, the Burj al Arab Hotel. But first lets touch on the Mall of Emirates. Its a fine enough establishment if you wish to spend a small fortune on designer anything (Jeff thinks he saw designer fundies there but Anelia says no... if you don't know what fundies are take a trip to you nearest San Fransisco store). The most notable attraction of the mall however is the indoor skiing. Yes when you tire of the shopping you can always don your skis and shoosh down the 1 or 2 thrilling runs at the indoor ski slope. (ummm, anyone who actually skis would not waste their time). From the mall we moved on to tea at the one and only self acclaimed 7 star hotel, the Burj al Arab. We pulled up to the gates of the hotel and leisurely strolled past the packs of tourists who were snapping photos, asking all the while how they could get in to the hotel. Flashing our reservation to the gatekeeper we (with as much pomp and self importance we could muster) raised our noses just a hair to look down at all these peasants and allowed the gatekeeper to open the gate and let us in. Then we took four thousand photos and ran around the hotel like a couple of idiots. It was opulent, it was grotesque, it was beautiful, it was ridiculous and it was spectacular, all at the same time. After some difficulty we managed to ascertain the location of our afternoon tea. It did not disappoint. The food was scrumptious! It was a seven course tea consisting of oriental crackers and sauces, Dim Sum, followed by some kind of porridge/soup (the only thing that was actually not good at all), some kebabs, then Chinese buns with jams (including a jam made of coconut leaves that was sensational...who new) and finishing off with Chocolate brownies and fried sugar coated banana. But that was not the best part. During the whole 2 and a half hour ordeal you were continually changing the type of tea you enjoyed while wolfing down the scrumptious repast. The teas were one of a kind and outstanding! Jeff did his best country bumpkin impression while although managing to catch himself from licking his knife early in the feast (which was halfway to his mouth) was kindly reminded by Anelia later not to drag his fingers across the plate and lick them. Anelia responded with equal quaff while attempting to get the last drops of tea from the pot with such vigor it resulted in a loss of the tea pot lid into the cup with a clatter. Buffoons! Lucky for us these indiscretions went without notice. Needless to say a grand time was had by all. The evening festivities included the grand opening of the Burj Dubai tower, the worlds newest tallest building. Standing 828 metes tall (just think about that for a second) it makes the surrounding skyscrapers look like Lego buildings. Although we didn't quite make the fireworks, a short drive past the newly crowned tallest structure ever built by mankind was enough to leave you breathless. All and all, a very different and wonderful day for the super tour.
Pictures:
1- Jumeriah hotel and beach. Nearby Burj Al Arab
2- Hotel Burj Al Arab (7 stars)
3- Tea time
4- Walkway to elevators inside Burj
5- View of man-made Palm island from top of Burj
6- Lobby of Burj
7- Lobby of Burj
8- Jeff in waiting room for tea
9 to 15- Our 7 course afternoon tea! Just like you were there.

New Years in Cairo

With just a couple more days in Cairo with our friends before they left and New Years on the horizon there was a lot to do. Not wasting any time we took off to see the world’s oldest stone monument the Pyramid of Zoser and the oldest true pyramid in Egypt, the Red Pyramid. These structures date back to 7^th and 12^th dynasty and were the predecessors to the great pyramids of Giza. Their size and shape as they were built got larger and more remnant of the great Pyramids suggesting a refinement to the pyramid building techniques and the craft of the engineers. Although not as impressive as their larger counterparts in Giza, the fact that these tombs have stood for 4700 years and represent the oldest structures of man. The trip was well worth it. We returned to Cairo for a little bartering in the Souq before heading out to celebrate the New Year. The streets were packed! Boats floated down the Nile with their neon lights sparkling on the water. We tried a couple of places to eat but found them full. We finally stumbled across Country Roy’s Kitchen and spotting the roast turkey in the buffet through the window decided that a turkey dinner might just hit the spot. Although not quite like Mom’s cooking, the dinner did hit the spot and just before new year, the restaurant staff past out the party favors and hats and we rang in the New Year Cairo style. The next day Lisa and Erik departed early (sad day), we left for Alexandria and after a couple nights we were off to Dubai!!

Pictures:

1- Step pyramid

2- Bent pyramid

3- Red pyramid

4- New Year's turkey dinner

5- Strike of 12!! Happy 2010!

Egypt desert tour

We booked a short four day three night tour through the desert, stopping along the way to see the various oases and to spend some time in the sun and sand (no sea though). The "limo" (as it was so coined by our tour organizer) arrived in the morning and we were not surprised to see that it did not quite live up to the expectations of our group. It was new but as far as we were concerned a Honda Accent did not quite seem like a Limo. The "Limo" term seems to be thrown around rather loosely in Egypt. Needless to say we managed to squeeze all of our luggage and the 4 of us in and we were off. What our guide lacked in car room he made up for in being truly a genuine man (not always easy to find in Egypt) full of good humor and lots of knowledge about the area. We left the fertile Nile valley behind and it wasn't long before we were surrounded by rock and sand. On route to our first stop Dahkla oases, we made a stop at the Necropolis of Al-Bagawat. The Necropolis is one of the oldest Christian cemeteries in the world. The mud brick tombs were a haven from the desert sun for pilgrims making the long journey to Mecca. Inside the tombs, ancient paintings depicted bible scenes (which would have been painted only 200 years after there supposed occurrence) and graffiti dates back centuries from the pilgrims as they offered their prayers for safe journey. We reached Dahkla and met Nasser, our guide who took us 4X4ing out into the Desert for some tea while we watched the sun set over the drifting sand dunes. A nights rest in Dahkla and a swim in the slightly warm and a little dodgy hot spring (the men swam but the women chickened out), we pressed on towards Farafra oases where we were to meet up with our White Desert guide. First though was a stop at the town of Al-Qasr. This 500 year old Islamic town is constructed purely of mud and wood! It's current state of repair is simply amazing! Due to the extremely low amount of rain and water in the area these mud brick homes have stood the test of time and a few still continue to be used today. The town is a labyrinth of small narrow streets with low doorways (to keep desert raiders on the horses from riding into town). We pressed on through the desert, stopping for a few photos and making a brief pause to pick up a few million year old fossils left behind when the sea retreated to leave the desert behind. In Farafra we made the switch from car to 4x4 once again and headed out into the White Desert. Wow! What an amazing piece of the world. Out in the miraculous wind swept shapes of white stone and surrounded by a a deafening silence, the White desert will make you feel as though you have traveled to another planet. Our guides prepared for us a typical Bedouin supper and we bunked out under the stars. The following morning we left the White Desert, traveled through the Black desert and finished our tour off in the Oasis of Bahariya.

Pictures:
1- Yes, we did ride on top of the 4x4 vehicle.
2- Sunset watching in Dahkla desert
3- Necropolis of Al-Bagawat (mud brick cemetery)
4- Jeff walking in desert around Dahkla
5- Tea in Dahkla desert
6- Late night hot spring swim
7- Al-Qasr (mud and wood town)
8- Sea of sand
9- Camping out in White desert
10- White desert formations (famous mushroom and chicken)
11- White desert (looks like snow huh?)
12- Walking in Bahariya Oasis

The Christmas Post

Yes Christmas has well passed but when you are in the desert there is no such thing as internet so its time for a little catch up. Christmas passed this year for us with little fanfare but a large amount of cheer. Well, for most of us. One of the crew, I won't say which (although you can guess which one by the pics) was rewarded with a bout of the Pharoah's curse on Christmas day but he remained in high spirits and recovered quickly. The great gift opening was postponed to the evening (giving the ill a chance to recover) and the rest went out for a delicious Christmas lunch. In the evening we ordered in some hot soup and began the exchange. Our little group put together an exchange in which the limit was 20 Egyptian pounds (4 CDN dollars). We picked names a few days earlier and each of us went out to barter and haggle our way into purchasing the best present for the price. It was no easy task although we all discovered that when you have a limit it is amazing just how far prices will drop at the markets. In the end, the presents went on to the Christmas chair to be opened in the morning (see pic of Christmas chair). Everyone did well but the winner for the best prize for buck went to Lisa who haggled a shop vendor from 22$ to 4$ for a little mock Egyptian instrument. If you are to ask Lisa she says she still thinks she over-payed. It was great fun. In addition to our little gifts to each other we were also lucky enough to get some cards and gifts from our family to really make the day special and we would just like to say thank-you for these little things that meant the world to us. Anyways, before we knew it Christmas had come and gone and we were moving on.