Dubai!

What do you think?? Nice Eh? Steve is in the traditional Dish Dash and I am in the traditional Abya (sp?)

Smoking the shee shaw...don't worry it is just flavoured tobacco
The belly dancer saw something special in Steve
Having lunch on the beach, Madi all bundled up, yep, it get s cold in the desert!

A lone camel
Steve by the truck that took us out to the desert safari
Desert sunset...breathtaking!
Such a great night!
My dream of riding a camel comes true

Putting our feet in the very cold Persian Gulf..Madi wasn't too keen!
Frank, April's boyfriend
Steve, April and Madi in the back of the truck
Steve and I at the Burj
At the Madinat, an upscale version of the old markets

The Mosque
Our chocolate fondue at the Burj
The Burj by day
Looking up the middle of the Burj
The Burj by night

Madi loving the camping expereince
A full sized boat in one of the fantastic malls
Nancy and I
Steve and I and sleeping Madi
Nancy and I at her place

Steve, Madi and I in the desert while camping
April and Frank
Madi wakin up the next morning
Frank and Steve, two peas in a pod, building a fire
While the boys build the fire, April and I have a drink while playing with Madi

Early February brought Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rat…doesn’t sound good does it! The Chinese New Year goes in a cycle of 12 years, much like horoscopes, 12 every year, the Chinese use an animal every 12 years, if you were born in 1978 you are a horse. Each animal has different traits, just as a Gemini or Libra would. In Chinese, the Rat is respected and considered a courageous, enterprising person. People born in the Year of Rat are clever and bright, sociable and family-minded. They have broad interests and strong ability in adapting to the environment and able to react adequately to any changes. They are gifted in many ways and have an easy going manner. So for those of you having babies in 2008..looks like you are getting a gem!Anyway, the other good thing was that CNY gave us a whole week off to go on a vacation and we went to Dubai! Why Dubai, so many have asked? Well, our friends April and Nancy both live and work there and we thought it might be fun to check it out. And it turned out that our trip to the desert was our best trip yet!We arrived on a Saturday night after about 16 hours of travel. April picked us up at the airport, which was so great, and we headed to their place. They had an entire apartment for us that we could sleep in, so it was absolutely perfect! We got caught up a bit and went to bed.We spent the week exploring and shopping and doing amazing things. Dubai is this amazing city that is really fascinating, it is so cool on one level and so weird on another. It has every amenity you could want and it is beautiful, but it is being built at warp speed and it is very tailored to the VERY rich. When they say that Dubai has 60% of the world’s cranes, they are not joking, I cannot believe how much building is going on!But, everything is beautiful, the malls are a sight to be seen, being the biggest in the world and I would guess the most beautiful and extravagant. We saw the one with the indoor ski hill and others that were just as cool. We went to Old Dubai to see the markets and way of life for the locals. We were able to visit April’s and Nancy’s schools. This was really wonderful as we were able to see the vast differences between the two schools and compare both of them to our own in Singapore. The highlights of our trip were our desert safari, we left Madi with April and Frank, they were so brilliant with her! The safari was dune bashing in the desert and seeing the sunset and watching belly dancing and having an authentic meal while also having shee shaw (sp?)and getting henna done and even dressing up in the local outfits!We had the opportunity to go to the famous Burj, we went for Chocolate fondue and it was amazing and the building was beautiful. We even saw a helicopter land on the helipad out side…the question is, Who are these people that are flying in on helicopter??We also had the amazing opportunity to go camping in the desert in the country of Oman with April and Frank which was so wonderful on so many levels! We enjoy camping and camping in the desert was a rare and wonderful opportunity. Madi loved it! Steve loved it more! Frank and April have a jeep so we went through the desert, Frank’s expert driving doing such a good job with Madi in the back! But getting to spend that time with April and Frank was really the best part about it! And who knew the desert could be so beautiful! We took literally hundreds of pictures, I know, what a surprise!Throughout the week we were also able to spend time with Nancy and see her life in Dubai, which was so great. It was great to try to experience the way of life in Dubai, should we ever decide to live there…not any time soon, don’t worry!Oh, another highlight was the mosque tour that I went on, I went by myself because they do not let children in under five, so Steve stayed with Madi. But the tour was so great, they spent an hour talking to us and explaining the Islamic religion, why they do what they do and everything, I learned so much!Anyway, I will post pictures and hopefully they help to tell our story better. But we had a fabulous time!! Thanks to April, Nancy and Frank for being wonderful hosts, it would not have been nearly as enjoyable without them. We are really hoping that we can return the favour soon…hint hint