London Layover

June 1, 2009

London, England

For me, a typical layover involves rushing to the departure gate, seeing the flight is delayed by 2 hours, then finding something that resembles food and settling into an uncomfortable vinyl chair to people watch and count down the minutes.  So, when Robbie, Hillary, and Tahra offered to save me from a 12-hour layover on my way home from Dubai by touring me around London, I was ecstatic.  This would be my first glimpse of Europe and, though it would truly be just a glimpse, I was determined to soak it in.

Unfortunate timing and an inability to sleep on planes conspired against me, making me already awake for more than 20 hours when I arrived.  I paused in the bathroom to brush my teeth in an attempt to ditch that fuzzy daze you get when you travel, and then we were off in Robbie’s Mini Cooper.

A pretty London street-- the city was full of beautiful old architecture.

The roads were marked to remind silly American tourist like myself to watch the right direction for traffic.

In those brief hours, we traipsed all across the city in a whirlwind tour that I’m still not really sure how I managed to stay awake for.  Somehow, we hit Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Tower Bridge, watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, walked under the London Bridge, snagged fish and chips for lunch, rode the underground, and tried to walk through the King’s Cross barrier to reach Platform 9 ¾.  (You’re never too old for Harry Potter.)

Big Ben

Hillary and Tahra in front of Westminster Abbey

Me in front of Buckingham Palace with my 99 Flake-- a delicious London dessert combining soft serve and Cadbury chocolate

The Tower Bridge (NOT London Bridge)

Shakespeare's Globe Theater, from across the river

Thoroughly exhausted, I finally said goodbye to London and hopped the train back to Heathrow.  I made it just in time to take a ride on the world’s longest escalator, buy a Cadbury chocolate bar with my last pounds, and board the plane back to the States.  By the time I made it back to Madison—again without sleeping on the plane—I calculated that I had been awake for 45 hours straight.  But it was so much better to spend that time seeing everything I could than sitting zoned out in an airport.  As they say, you can sleep when you’re dead.

The world's longest escalator-- picture snapped as I literally ran to catch my plane.

Dubai, Day 8

May 28, 2009

Dubai, UAE

This day's adventures included some henna artistry, a trip to the Mall of the Emirates (affectionately known as MOE), and a trip out for masala chai and barfka-gola.

Illika was very intricate about her henna. 

Yes, the mall did have an ice rink in the middle of it.  Crazy Dubai-ins.

Barfka-gola, something like a snow cone on a stick.  This one was rose flavored, the other flavor we tried roughly translates to "black sour," which was a crazy combo of sweet-salty-sour-coca cola flavor with spices on top.

Masala Chai, brewed over the course of a day.  It's what Starbucks wishes it's chai tasted like, and it costs less than a dollar AND it comes in a pot.  These "matkas" can be recycled at the end of the day by soaking them all in water and reusing the clay for the next day.

Dubai, Day 7

May 26, 2009

Dubai, UAE

Our one great touristy venture this trip was the desert safari-- a trip into the desert to experience dune bashing, belly dancing, henna, falconry, sandboarding, camel riding, and arabic food.  Pictures speak better than words.

The whole gang in the desert: Me, Illika, Olsen, Hilary, Tahra, and Link.  Dubai might be a huge advanced city, but it really is surrounded by desert.  As in, sand sand everywhere.

 Getting ready to dune bash.  Note the roll-over bars

Dune bashing-- driving around in SUVs, crashing through the sand.  Basically, the roller coaster of the desert.

Another car going sideways down a dune

Hilary and I riding camels

Sandboarding

Holding the falcon

Dubai, Day 6

May 25, 2009

Abu Dhabi, UAE

We ventured out to our second Emirate (Dubai is one of 7 city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates) early in the morning.  Hilary and I passed the long car ride by reading the arabic numerals on license plates.  Once in Abu Dhabi, we met up with Olsen, another friend now living in the area.

The mosque was made of white marble so that it wouldn't grow unbearably hot in the direct sunlight

After breakfast, we went to the 3rd largest mosque in the world, a brand-new, very impressive white marble structure.  The tour involved a lot of ooohing and ahhhhing, as well as much touristy picture taking.  Our guide was very informative, and Tahra (a practicing muslim), was able to supplement his speech with her own knowledge.

To go in the mosque, we were given burkas and donned the headscarves we brought with us

Everyone also had to remove their shoes

This is one of several wash rooms where those who wish to pray must follow a very specific cleansing ritual
The alcove allows the leader of the prayers to pray while facing Mecca, and his voice still projects back to the others praying

The worlds largest chandelier.  Actually quite unattractive compared to the other beautiful decorations.

World's largest hand made carpet.  I took this picture by setting the camera down on the carpet and looking across, but you still can't really grasp the size of it.

The inlays on every pillar were cut from semi-precious stones and depict flowers and plants, but never people.

After lunch, we went to the Palace Hotel, which was once the palace of a sheik, but now converted into a very posh hotel.  Walking in, you would think everything was covered in gold.  And it pretty much was, actually.

A gold mosaic wall.  If you look close, you can see a hidden door in the wall 

Dancing in the fountains outside the Palace Hotel

Dubai, Day 5

May 24, 2009

Dubai, UAE

Illika, Hilary, Tahra and I started off the day with shopping at the dirham store, which is the UAE version of the dollar store.  This was especially amazing when you consider that the conversion rate 3.6 dirhams to a dollar, so everything was even cheaper than we thought.

For lunch, we met up with Link, a friend of ours from Cornell who also lives in the Emirates.  After the delicious north Indian food, we headed to the Dubai museum, which displayed some history from Dubai's not so distant past.

Link and Illika in the courtyard of the museum

Hilary with an old abra

The walkways in the souks were open-air, but shaded

The textile souk

From there, we walked to the textile souk (market that sold all kinds of clothing and cloth).  After making a couple purchases, we took an abra across the "creek" (which was really a river, and far too large to be called a creek).  These little boats are the preferred cheap transportation of workers going from one side of Dubai to the other.

An abra full of locals

Illika, Hilary, Tahra, and Link on the abra

One of many shops in the gold souk

Another of Dubai's superlatives-- world's heaviest ring

On the opposite shore, we window shopped at the very extensive gold souk.  Once again, the shopkeepers were very aggressive about making sales.  

Indian sweets shop

To cap off our day's experience, we stopped in an Indian sweets shop and ate some pani pourri, a sort of street food that explodes in your mouth.  The fun part about this street food is the little race between the cook and the eater-- you try to eat as fast as they can make them.  The high pressure caused Hilary to (very gracefully) spill one all down her front.