Top 5 Things I’m Missing About the UAE

     

1. Coffee

This is so petty, but if you know me, you know I LOVE my coffee.  It was deliciously smooth and satisfying.  I didn’t need to add anything to it at all.  I usually add cream and sugar to my coffee until it looks a bit like really light hot cocoa.  

2. Welcoming People

We were obviously very out of place everywhere we went. In the states even the most polite of people avoid or sidestep a situation where people don’t look like they are “from around here.”  Others might take it to the opposite extreme and be rude or condescending to the people who are out of place.  This was not our experience in the UAE.  Most people said hello to us.  They asked us where we were from, what we thought of the country, were we enjoying ourselves, etc.  These weren’t just hotel people who are paid to be nice or shopkeepers looking to make money.  Everyone was amazingly nice to us. 

They were especially welcoming to the kids.  I can’t count the number of high fives and fist bumps they got or the times that people asked their names or considered their feelings about things.  Lynn’s name was the name used for our family at the Rogo’s restaurant. Joe’s afternoon tea was free because he didn’t really like it.  We didn’t complain or ask for it to be free; it just wasn’t on our bill when we were checking out of the hotel.  The lifeguards at our hotel and at the Atlantis Aquaventure played with and talked to our kids like they were the paying guests. Lynn gave a picture she colored to Jerome, one of the doormen at the hotel, and Joe named his stuffed camel for this same doorman. Everywhere we went, the people enjoyed our kids acting like kids and they wanted our kids to be satisfied.  This was a very sweet change from our lives here where we feel like we always need to keep our kids in check, seen and not heard, when we are out in public. 

3. Weather

This is obvious coming from a Midwesterner at the end of winter.  We were in the UAE at what we were told was the best time of year.  It is about to get extremely hot there, but we enjoyed temps of 70-85 degrees most days.  There was usually a cooling breeze out in the open and one could always escape inside to uber cool air-conditioning if they sun got to be too much. Our hotel had lounge chairs with umbrellas set up at the pool and the beach at no extra charge.  This bit of shade was really enough to make the hotter afternoons more comfortable.  Don’t get me wrong, I am sure I would miss the seasons of the Midwest, but the idea of sun and beaches everyday is more appealing than anything I can think of.

4. Highway System

Yes, this is a weird thing to miss.  The UAE’s infrastructure is so new.  The system is well thought out and marked very well.  We learned very quickly to trust the road signs and not our GPS.  The one thing I miss the most is the dedicated truck lane.  Trucks were only allowed in one lane and they had different speed limits than cars.  This just made the highways so easy to navigate and seemed to move things along at a better pace. 

5. Public Transportation

We did enjoy driving between Abu Dhabi and Dubai and around our hotel’s local area.  However, we also were extremely pleased with the public transportation system.  The train system in Dubai was highly efficient and inexpensive.  There were also taxis everywhere that were very cheap.  Getting a taxi wasn’t a fight either.  In the places where we needed to catch a cab there were organized lines for the people waiting and everyone took their turn.

Excellent coffee at breakfast our first morning

Afternoon tea

Dinner at Rogo's in the Yas Mall

Joe retrieving his dinner from the roller coaster at Rogo's

Lynn trying on different hats in the souks.

Gorgeous day on the Persian Gulf

Underpasses and tunnels were all decorated in different mosaic designs.

The highways were so well planned and easy to navigate.

Waiting for a cab in line at the Abu Dhabi Mall

World Records in the UAE

The UAE boasts an extensive list of World Record holders.  We were able to visit quite a few of them during our week in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  Here are a few pictures and links if you'd like to learn more about all this big stuff.

Tallest Building:

Burg Khalifa 2,717 feet

http://www.burjkhalifafaq.info

Most Visited Mall:

Dubai Mall -12 million square feet

http://www.emaar.com/en/what-we-do/malls/the-dubai-mall.aspx

Inside the Dubai Mall:

Largest Candy Store:

Candylicious in the Dubai Mall 10,000 sq. ft.

http://www.thedubaimall.com/en/shop/chocolates_confectionary_ice_cream/candylicious.aspx

Largest Indoor Aquarium:

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo- 10 million liters of water

Largest Acrylic Panel:

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo - 32.8 m X 8.3 m X 750 mm

http://www.thedubaiaquarium.com/en/Default.aspx

 

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the 3rd Largest Mosque and holds 3 world records. http://alshindagah.com/shindagah83/culture_2.htm

Largest Hand-Knotted carpet:

1,200 artisans, 2.2 billion knots

Largest Chandelier: 10-meters in diameter and has a height of 15 meters, incorporates one million Swarovski crystals.

Largest Dome of its Kind:

32.8 meters in diameter, height of 70 meters from the inside and 85 meters from the outside

Largest Man-Made Island:

Palm Jumeirah 

http://www.nakheel.com/en/communities/palm-jumeirah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGlzeCbM-Ek

Largest Truck Stop:

This record holder, the I-80 Truck Stop, is in Iowa, not the UAE, but I had to include it. We stopped there on our drive home from Chicago, and I just had to laugh.  I am proud that Iowa has anything that is the “World’s Largest,” but it seemed funny after seeing such extraordinary things in the UAE. 

Best Spring Break EVER

Our family recently had the amazing opportunity to go way outside of our box on the other side of the world.  Through my husband’s obsession with “deal” websites and our out of the ordinary ability to make a snap decision on Christmas Day, we purchased really inexpensive plane tickets to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  We were able to spend our Spring Break week at the gorgeous St. Regis Saadiyat Island Hotel on the Persian Gulf.  We saw this trip as a once in a lifetime chance, but now that we are home, we are already making lists of what we want to do when we go back.  And we will go back. I’m sure of it.

I could go on for days about everything we did, everything we saw, the people we met, the fun we had, etc., but I won’t.  Instead, in the next few posts, I will share lists of Top 5s or Top 10s of different aspects of our trip.  I might even have a guest post or two from my family. 

The first question everyone has asked is “What did you do there?” so here are the biggies.

Top 5 Activities of our Trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE

1. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – The shear size of this structure was breathtaking in and of itself.  However, the details in every inch of the mosque made it truly amazing.  This place glorifies God, but it also humbled me.  The hours and talent that went into building and furnishing the mosque is extraordinary.  Each tiny mosaic tile, each knot in the world’s largest hand knotted carpet, each carving in the marble, every crystal in each massive chandelier, was touched by human hands.  Human hands that were working to create a place of worship.  I was humbled by the fact that I was welcomed in openly even though I don’t practice the Muslim religion.  There was no fee for entering, though I would have gladly paid.  I don’t expect to ever go into another structure that will take my breath way like this mosque did. 

2. Pool and Beach Time at the St. Regis Saadiyat – The pictures do the talking here.  Imagine relaxed family time, gentle breezes, and a lifeguard staff that throws dive sticks for your kids when they are the only people in the pool. (Yes, the entire staff was this nice to our kids, as well as to us.)

3. Souk Shopping – Souks are markets in the UAE. We visited a fresh fish souk, a fruit and vegetable souk, and a few different clothing and souvenir souks.  The most popular items were dates, scarves, hand made carpets, various textiles, and jewelry.   Negotiating prices is expected in all of these places so we had a lot of fun haggling with the shop owners to get the “best price.”  We happened to be early morning customers in a few of the shops and they were willing to get their day started by giving us even better deals than they would when business started picking up.  The funny thing about this is that we were the first customers in a lot of the souks and it was after 10 in the morning.  The cities are certainly fast paced, but they aren’t in a hurry to get started too early.  That part of the    lifestyle is something I miss already.

4. Atlantis Aquaventure Water Park on The Palm – The Atlantis Resort is on the world’s largest man-made island, the Palm Jumeirah, near Dubai.  We didn’t have a lot of time to spend at this water park after our late arrival in to Dubai, but the time we had was well worth it.  Lynn and I did several of the water slides multiple times.  She loved the “Shark Attack” slide.  It ended with a tunnel through an aquarium that housed several sharks and large rays.  The boys did the “Leap of Faith,” but couldn’t convince the girls to try it out.  The idea of a near vertical drop was just too scary for both of us.  We didn’t get any pictures here, but if you want to see the park, check out http://www.atlantisthepalm.com .

5. Burj Khalifa – This building is the tallest in the world at 2,717 feet.  It has 160 habitable floors.  We went to the 124^th floor observation deck.  We could have paid more to go higher, but that seemed unnecessary considering how high we already were. Check out http://www.burjkhalifafaq.info for more interesting facts and stats.  As a note to anyone who may someday want to make a trip to the Burj Khalifa, the time on your ticket does matter.  We were under the impression that it didn’t and we were very late and very wrong.  We paid more money to change the time on our ticket.  That being said, the man who had to pull us out of line to do this also took us back to the front of the line after we got new tickets.  The staff was all extremely nice even in an uncomfortable situation. This is tourist attraction that must be experienced, but once is enough.