Sheikh Zayed Road

We finally paid a visit to the Dubai London Clinic a few days ago. Bruce had a British doctor examine his knee, but has decided to wait for an MRI scan till we're back home. The doctor told him he's doing everything he should be doing (keeping it wrapped, elevated, etc.), and Bruce remarked to me later, "Of course, I didn't need to pay a doctor hundreds of dirhams to tell me that."

The dirham is the form of currency used here (1 USD = 3.67 AED).

To save on dirhams, we recently picked up and moved to another hotel. Our habit of moving around gives us a chance to explore different parts of Dubai. But this time we're in a hotel apartment outside Dubai at the Ramada Sharjah. Sharjah is one of the seven emirates of the UAE. Abu Dhabi is the largest and Dubai the second largest and most developed. In fact, "New Dubai" (downtown Dubai) is so Westernized that I can sometimes forget we're in the Middle East, especially when driving down the renowned Sheikh Zayed Road, lined with Dubai's illustrious skyscrapers.

Yep, it's easy to forget where I am. That is, until I spot an image of the ruling sheikh (or his sons). His face is everywhere in Dubai.

The Lost Chambers

On Friday, Bruce and I drove out to Palm Jumeirah, one of Dubai's man-made islands shaped like a palm tree and topped with a crescent.

We headed for Atlantis...

...where we toured the Lost Chambers, an aquarium and maze of underwater passageways and tunnels.

As I'm sure you guessed, Bruce was definitely in his element.

Of course, he insisted we get pictures with this guy.

And if it hadn't been for his bum leg, our next stop would have been the Ambassador Lagoon, the largest open air marine habitat exhibit in the world. Instead, we grabbed a table at Kaleidoscope.

Dinner was buffet-style, so we got to try a little bit of everything from a wide range of North African, Mediterranean, and Arabic cuisine. The food was incredible, the dessert presentation extraordinary. I'm ready to go back. ;-)

Ski Dubai

We've heard talk of ski slopes here in Dubai, so Thursday night Bruce and I thought it was high time to go have a look. Sure enough, we discovered the Middle East's very own ski resort. It's known as Ski Dubai, located in the Mall of the Emirates. It was quite the attraction, complete with alpine, snowmen, and ice sculptures.

There was even a “fire” going in the “lodge.” Ok, it was just a TV-screen to simulate a blazing fire, but it still looks inviting, doesn't it? ;-)





Strolling through the Mall of the Emirates was quite an eye-appealing experience, too. Just take a look at these fancy escalators.

Flamingos and Fast Food

Bruce spotted a wildlife reserve during one of our trips downtown, so we stopped to check it out on our drive into the city yesterday.

The Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary was home to a flock of flamingos, and we watched them through a telescope from an observation deck. I could have sat there admiring those exotic, pink birds for hours.

Later, we stopped for some popular Lebanese fast food.

They served a pretty impressive mint lemonade. Not bad for "fast food," huh? ;-)

Simple Pleasures

It's been 2 weeks since we left, and I think I can finally say we've adjusted to life in Dubai. Although we still haven't covered many tourist attractions, it's been pure vacation for me here. While Bruce has been hard at work, I've been doing a pretty good job at entertaining myself. Most of the time I'm either occupied on my laptop or engaged in a book. I've been enjoying the downtime and finding pleasure in the simple things.

Simple pleasures like our trips downtown and the views from my window...

...large cappuccinos and good books...

...palm trees and warm weather... and of course, Starbucks, too.