Dubai, Day 4

May 23, 2009

Dubai, UAE

We slept in late and had a breakfast of parahta and an amazing array of fruits, including the best mangos I have ever had, fresh figs, chikoos (a sweet, slightly gritty fruit), and lychees (a round white fruit that tasted like rose water).

The showroom was definitely "showy," designed to attract money from potential investors

The day's outing took us to the Dubailand Show Room, an elaborate set up displaying the amusement park now under construction.  When I say "amusement park," I really mean a crazy city with themed districts, rides, attractions, and a lot of superlatives, like what will be the world's largest ferris wheel.

The largest model took up an entire room and had a raised walkway around it so you could look down on the whole thing

This bored tiger paced an enclosure in the lobby

Illika, being a dinosaur

After the showroom, we drove to Jameira Islands, a housing development made by digging moats to make a grouping of small "islands," each with a different theme.  People in Dubai seem to have an interesting fixation on water, showing off as many ponds and fountains as they can.  But they're still in the middle of a desert.

Houses in Jameira Islands

The view back towards Dubai.  Check out all those cranes on the horizon.

We went next to the Mall of the Emirates, where we saw the famed Ski Dubai, the one and only indoor ski slope.  Only in Dubai...

It even had a chair lift.  And check out the people, all in the same clothes.  No one in the desert owns a coat, so they all have to wear rentals

Hilary with an arabic Barbie

A Ferrari rocking horse, for the children of the really, really rich.

We capped off the day with a dinner of crab, from the fish market the day before.  This meal was made even messier by the fact that in Dubai, they use tissues instead of napkins.  There's a reason tissues are for your nose, and not your messy fingers; they just can't hold up to crab dinner.