World Cruise - Day 91 - Apr 12 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Part 1)

I got up at 5:56a this morning for the 6:00a sunrise.  It didn’t look very promising, looked a lot like yesterday morning with low lying clouds at the horizon.  And the sun would be rising on the port side of the ship (we are on starboard side), so I had to go down to deck 5 (promenade deck) and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And at about 6:15, the sun finally started to show itself through the clouds:

Today we get into Dubai at about 1p.  We will be going on a 4x4 sand dune rally shortly after we arrive, then off to a Bedouin tent for dinner and possibly camel rides.  I heard from someone that there might also be an opportunity to try sandboarding (like snowboarding, but done on the sand dunes).  I might try that, even though I am typically anti-snowboarding (I don’t think you can do sand skiing).

Another cool photo courtesy of Bing:

Krissie and I were debating if the photo is real or if it’s Photoshopped.  I think it’s real (since I’m pretty sure all of the pics have been real pics to date), Krissie thinks it’s Photoshopped.  What do you think?

It’s an outstanding photo, either way.  But having that background does make me think (at least momentarily) that I have water stains on my screen.  I have to do a doubletake to see that it’s not actually on my screen, but in my screen.

Paul and Sarah Su did a presentation this morning titled: Africa in 60 minutes where they covered their travels to 17 different countries in Africa in pictures and video: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and Ethiopia:

Can you identify the three flags being flown from our ship?  They are flying backward, so you will need to reverse to identify them.  I looked on my list of world flags and was able to identify the one on the right as being UAE (United Arab Emirates, the country of Dubai), but wasn’t able to pick out the other two.  I think the largest one on the left is Bermuda (which is where our ship is registered), but the Bermuda flag isn’t on my list (since they are a territory of UK).  Not sure about the other one.  Any ideas?

There are four other cruise ships in port here in Dubai.  The first two are Costa, then the Cunard Queen Mary 2, then another smaller cruise ship at the end (more our size).  Can you see the third Costa ship?

We were kidding that this is the third Costa ship in the harbor:

Sorry, bad joke.  Here is the skyline of Dubai, although it’s currently a little bit hazy:

You can see Burj Khalifa on the right, the tallest building in the world, more than 160 stories tall.  To put that into perspective, the tallest building in Milwaukee is 40 stories tall.  This building is 4x the height.  We are not planning to go to the top of Burj Khalifa for a few reasons.  First of all, you have to reserve in advance and due to the other cruise ships in port, the only time available was 11:00p tonight.  Secondly, the cost is quite high (about $35/pp in advance and over $100/pp without a reservation) for just an elevator ride.  Thirdly, it’s very weather dependent on what you will see (as it is today).  Lastly, the best view is actually outside Burj Khalifa, looking at Burj Khalifa.  So unless you’re Tom Cruise, the best view is from the ground.  If the weather clears somewhat, I do hope to get some good pics of it.  Otherwise, the views from the top aren’t really that impressive, since Dubai is literally a city built on sand.  Just a lot of skyscrapers and half-finished buildings (where construction has halted on most since they overbuilt in the last few years leading into the global recession).  Also, we would rather just focus on the old part of the city rather than the new.  We may get out for a portion of the day tomorrow to see what we can see-see-see.  But spending $65 on a cab to get there, $70+ to go to the top and $65 for a cab back didn’t interest either me or Krissie.  I like the idea of what we are doing later today, going out into the desert in a 4x4 vehicle and then a Bedouin tent for dinner.  That seems more culturally interesting to us.

Here’s a pic of three guys standing on the pier in traditional Arab dress:

I’m thinking they are perhaps the local customs officials, since they got on our ship once we put down the gangplank.

We spent the afternoon on a 4x4 desert safari and the evening at a Bedouin tent for dinner in the dessert.  I have several photo sequences (photos shot in a burst sequence at about 3 frames/second) of Krissie that I think are fun and interesting, so I’ll post those this evening and hold the dinner photos for tomorrow or the day after.

First of all, we learned why there was a “haze” over Dubai—it was a sandstorm.  They even had sandstorm warnings on the highway as we traveled to the desert:

Our driver was going pretty fast, look at the speedometer (170 KPH = 105 MPH).  Speed limit was 120 KPH:

Once we got to the desert, he deflated the tires to give better traction in the sand.  We were all in Toyota Land Cruisers:

Krissie and I got our pic with the desert as a backdrop:

Our whole group (30 people from the ship, organized by Jane McDonald, 6 vehicles) as we arrived in the desert:

Krissie decided she wanted to roll down the hill.  Rather than explain the heretofores and hithertos, just watch the sequence of burst photos as she made her way down the hill:

Dan decided to climb up a nearby sand dune, caught his pic when he reached the top:

Then Krissie decided to do some gymnastics with the help of Roberta:

I wanted to get a more closeup shot of them, so Krissie did another handstand in the sand:

…then Roberta stepped in to help:

Then watch Krissie’s right pant leg fall down (or up?) as she holds her handstand:

Whoo hoo, nice legs!

One of the other drivers said that our driver (Noumon) looked like a terrorist with his head dress and sunglasses.  Got his pic right after they said that:

Then we went off on our safari with the other vehicles through the desert.  We were busting through sand dunes, sliding sideways, having a great deal of fun.  Here is a sequence of photos taken during our safari:

Although most of the vehicles stayed on the same tracks, Noumon always looked for virgin sand on the sides to give us a very wild ride.

Our crew on top of a sand dune as we stopped to take a break:

Krissie and I caught in a kiss in the desert:

Tomorrow is day #2 in Dubai.  Tonight also begin the Last Day of Unleavened Bread for us, so we have a double holy day with Friday and Saturday both being Sabbaths.  I will post more pics tomorrow.