Al Bustan Centre Dubai

Usually, one would go to bed early after having packed his luggage considering that one has planned a 24 hour trip to Africa the next day.

Well, I started my African experience in a slightly different way – I went out until 3 in the morning, just having 3-4 beers and surprisingly woke up the next morning with one of the worst hangovers of my entire life and my luggage still unpacked.

I managed ...

... 50 to ride "motorcycles "(four wheelers) in the "dunes" (sand) or buy souvenir junk. I was pretty annoyed that were wasting our time being sold to, and so were the others. No one in our group paid for anything. We ended up spending more like 35 minutes there, bored out of our minds. The only thing interesting was when the owner of a couple of monkeys let them come together and play/fight. It was pretty sad when they were tied up alone before, so at least now they had something ...

... got out his prayer mat and did his praying as the sun was going down. When it was down behind the haze and the dunes we continued on our journsy to the camp out in the desert for our BBQ dinner. This compound was something out of a movie and the tables were cover with tableclothes and white line napkins. Evidently this is a nightly occurance as long as the weather holds out and we were very lucky. The food wasn't the greatest but it was edible and ther was ...

... but not today so he will have taken us to where we want to go. Len tells him to just take us back to the mall and that we are not going to pay him. We head back after finding an overpass to get to the other side. He isn't happy and his driving is fast and taking corners sharp. He is still looking for the race track now on this side of the highway. We pass a sign that says Dubai 25 kms. We have been in the taxi for over one hour and the meter still running is 160 ...

... money wet. Any money you don't spend is refunded when you hand your wristband in. There are also photographers on some of the water rides and they tie a photo wristband to your wrist, and you can go and view the photos later on. They did a clever one with us and the Burj Al Arab in the background, which we really liked so we bought it. The rest weren't that spectacular. After the water park we had a couple of hours back at the ...

... the waiter I didn't order that. It turns out a sheesa is like a hookah... I had no clue. Day 2 was a whirlwind. I went on a desert safari with Shan from arabian adventures. We cruised around the desert in our powerful, manly Chevy Tahoe. I saw a few orcs (sp?) and gazelles and many camels. I then rode a camel. The funny this is how many pictures ...

... We were able to find a nice place that was near the Mall of the Emirates, (which is all we set out to visit while in Dubai).

We arrived sometime in the morning and surprisingly enough, there really weren’t many people traveling. As my luck never fails me, I was asked to join the customs agent to a table in the middle of the room. After he emptied my bag, checked my pockets, and combed through my wallet, he decided ...

IT IS HOT! Almost 115 F everyday, but still does not compare to what the soldiers in Iraq must feel when they are outside away from A/C. Welcome to Dubai, home of oversized buildings, in door ski arenas, man made peninsulas in the shape of palm trees, a Hotel on the water, hotels under water, and the largest building, amusement park and mall in the world. Common misperception is that Dubai has money from Oil, which is wrong. They have generated most of their ...

... to waste more money on a hat. Then I sat around cursing myself about my lack of glamor. However--you can tell the rich from those aspiring to be rich by whether or not they lay the glamor on thick...so maybe everyone assumed I was upper class! [Giggles to self.] I wish I had pictures to show you, but ah ...

... Mumbai docked here to load and unload cargo. They aren't that big and don’t look seaworthy for such long journeys. We first walked through the Spice Souq which smelled great with big sacks filled with spices, nuts and dried fruit. Next we walked through the Gold Souq, lots of little jewellery shops. We wandered down little side streets and ...