Asian Extravaganza, Days 2 and 3

OK... so I'm in the airport in Dubai, ready to head to Singapore to start the next leg of my trip. But before I go, I want to share my Dubai experiences, since they were pretty sweet.

My friend Orion (classmate at Presidio) moved to Dubai about 2-3 months ago for a new job in real estate development (because really, what else is there to do in Dubai?). So I figured since I was more than 8 hrs from home anyways, I may as well fly another 9 hrs to get from SE Asia to Dubai and hang out with him. Which is what I did. For like, 3 days.

I got in late Tuesday night after ~34 hrs of consecutive travel (no, that doesn't include time zone changes; that's pure travel time). Orion picked me up from the airport and gave me a driving tour of the city. I'll just summarize Dubai by saying IT IS INSANE. I'm going to have to write a separate post much, much later to give detail to the insanity. So you'll have to wait for that. Sorry! Anyways... he just moved into an apartment in the Burj Dubai area (the Burj Dubai will be the world's tallest building when it's completed in a few months... it will be nearly a half mile tall). We grabbed some dinner at the hotel attached to his complex, followed by a couple hrs of conversation and shisha (that's the hookah/smoking thing). It turns out it's Ramadan, which means no one in Dubai is allowed to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Yes, that includes water. Yes, it's over 100 degrees out during the day in what's very clearly a desert. So yes, no water means whities from the north like me are likely to die and die fast once it hits noon. But too bad, doesn't matter... no water for me.

Anyways... we had some meze (appetizers) and dinner, and shisha. We talked about all kinds of shit... then we headed over to the Emirates Towers for drinks at Vu's. Emirates Towers were among the first major new buildings in Dubai in the last 10 years' building spree, and Vu's is this bar at the top with great views. Oh, by the way, no public drinking in Dubai except in hotel bars. Of which there are plenty, thank god. Anyways, we took a cab over (there's a zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving with stiff penalties), and had $30 Caipirhinias. Yes, $30 EACH. O.M.G. Then we headed back and I slept on the couch and kept Orion awake all night with my snoring.

On Weds I got up and took a cab over to the Dubai Museum, which is in an ancient fort (circa 1800; hey, that's America ancient!). The Museum seemed kinda sad... a couple exhibits in the courtyard and side corridors. I was exploring the last side corridor when I found stairs down to a freaking wondrously modern and never-ending and AIR CONDITIONED museum complex. To summarize, I learned a lot about Dubai and I heartily recommend the museum. =D

I grabbed a cab back to Orion's, where he picked me up to take me out to see the current project he's working on. Orion's the sustainability guy for this project called The Lagoons. They're building this like 30-building project next to a protected wetlands area, and they're incorporating green development into the wetlands-adjacent bit. So I got to meet these consultant ecologists and this British guy Kevin who works for the Sheikh on ecology, and we toured the wetlands. It was pretty awesome. Lots of birds, lots of nature, lots of great views across Dubai Creek of the Burj Dubai and the downtown area.

After that we went back and Orion made Pho (I'm sure I won't have that again in a while... oh wait I'll be in Vietnam for 5 days in like a week), which was delish. We then took a cab to some random-ass part of the city to get our passes for our Dhow tour in Oman (more on that later), then took a cab back across the planet to the Burj al Arab.

The Burj al Arab is the world's most luxurious hotel. It's the one that's shaped like a ship's sail. 7 stars. No other hotel has 7 stars. So we decided to check it out. It was an absolute KLUGE to get reservations for the bar, but we got them anyways... except for the bar in the basement instead of the one on the top floor. :( So we hung out down there (250/person Dirham minimum... which is ~$80).... we each got a drink, and I talked the barman into letting us pay 125 Dirham to have an all-you-can-eat desert bar from the adjacent restaurant. We gorged ourselves on delicious deserts, hung out till the lights came on (we've shut down every place we've been to so far), then headed upstairs to the top-floor bar to see if we could get in anyways, despite their hoity-toitiness and our lack of reservations.

To our surprise, they let us right in. So we sat down by the window overlooking the Persian Gulf and had ourselves some drinks. Now, the drink menu is insane. The first page is about the 27,351, which is the name of a drink that costs 27,351 Dirhams. That's roughly $8000. Yes, eight thousand. For a single drink. The menu tones down from there, with most drinks costing about 100 dirhams, or $30 bucks. Ahhh good times. Orion tried one made from Camel's milk, while I had a martini made with bbq sauce. Yes, bbq sauce. Dude, I had to. If you know me, you shouldn't be surprised. And it turns out it was very good... quite like a Bloody Mary. I'll make one for you sometime. =D

OK... damn, I'm writing a lot. I'm going to close out this post and come back to do Days 4 and 5 in a 2nd post. Be back shortly!