Dubai: Desert Safaris, Bus Tours, Brunches, Waterparks, High Teas and More

July 7-11, 2009

We arrived in Dubai around 4:30 am, and were greeted by Mark and Erin. We rested a bit before going on the "Big Bus Tour" through Dubai. O, by the way, the heat there is ridiculous. You pretty much can't stand outside for more than a few minutes before you start sweating and your sunglasses fog up within seconds. Anyways, the bus tour basically became my nap time. It was fun because we got to see Dubai in a 3 hour nut shell! While I slept Aubrey paid attention the whole time and became our tour guide the rest of the trip as she pointed out all the sites and stated all the facts she had learned.

That night we went to a mexican buffet dinner with margaritas, wine, and beer included. Apparently, drinking is really expensive in Dubai if you don't do an event that is "all inclusive." The food was good, but didn't compare to authentic mexican food you find in Cali. However, they had a chocolate fountain which made my night. Anything you can think of to be dipped in chocolate, they had! Aubrey keeps making fun of me because of how big of a sweet tooth I have.

Wednesday morning we got up and went to a desert safari from HELL while Erin and Mark were at work. Erin and mark have gone on the tour twice because they liked it so much. Unfortunately for us, we had a really really bad driver. The drive out to the desert was about 2 hours. There were 5 of us total in the car, and we actually made friends with two of the people. They were a sister and brother from London about our age. We couldn't stop talking for 2 hours straight and then it happened... the driver went off the road into the dunes and started driving like a maniac. We were going so fast over the sand dunes, doing 180s, and driving at a practically upsidedown. Aubrey and I were in the very back of the car and were not doing so well. After about 2 minutes of pure screaming and joy, we all shut up real quick as we tried to keep everything in our stomachs. I thought maybe it was just me who didn't feel good but Raz was the first to puke and one by one people started puking everywhere! I somehow made it out okay, but 3/5 of us puked including Aubrey! The only enjoyable part of the day was getting to ride on Camels in the middle of the desert. That night we met Erin and Mark and Aubrey's friends from college, Salam and Sarah, at the BIGGEST MALL IN THE WORLD - DUBAI MALL. There we had dinner watched the fantasic fountain show. It is a million times better then the Belagiao in Vegas.

Thursday, Aubrey and I decided to make our own itinerary for the day and went to the Atlantis hotel for some fun in the sun (http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/aquaventure.aspx). We went on every single slide and had a blast. One of the slides is pretty much a pure vertical drop and then takes you through a tube that is surrounded by a ton of sharks and fish. It was so fun that we went on it 3 times. While we were there, we ran into Tamana and Raz from the safari and hung out with them for the rest of the day. After being in the sun all day, we couldn't wait to have some relaxing time. We went to the mall with Erin and picked up all different types of take-out including Mexican, Chinese, Persian, and Lebanese. We spent the rest of the night relaxing at the apartment and playing Apples to Apples. By the way, Aubrey is the most obnoxious person to play this with (just kidding) but somehow she managed to win 3 out of 3 games, I think it was a conspiracy.

Friday we slept in a little and prepared for a long but fun day at the famous Yalumba Brunch. The food was really good and the alcohol never stopped coming. Mark was pretty entertaining and managed to convince the male waitor to sit on his lap for a picture. 7 hours and lots of champaigne later, we took a cab back to erins. We were all so tired after dancing our hearts out all day that we were all in bed by 9!

The next day we took it easy until we went to the Burj al Arab for high tea. The hotel is the only 7 star hotel in the world, it was absolutely amazing. We enjoyed the food and tea, but were really sad to say goodbye to Erin and Mark. I guess we are all going to have to plan a trip for next year so we can meet up again. Dubai was so fun. Aubrey and I want to go back in 5 years to see all the change and hopefully less construction.