More Is More

As if they didn't have everything here. Lets not forget the world's largest INDOOR ski hill. Ski Dubai. Yeeeahhh one day sandboarding the next day snowboarding? or even in the SAME day? Yes, it's possible here. I didn't want to bring my camera IN the ski hill, one because, I left the cold for a reason and 2 because I didn't want to get snow or cold wetness anywhere near myself and my camera.
It's pretty huge. From outside, it looks like a gigantic whale's tale sticking out of the ground. I should mention Ski Dubai is attached to the world's largest mall. The Mall of the Emirates. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the ski lift goes all the way up the hill and then turns the corner.
Since this is the desert, most people have to rent everything, including all ski equipment AND jackets, hats, gloves etc. Apparently I'm told lessons are cheap though, so people who move here and want their kids to learn skiing, they bring them here.
And if you're not privvy to the cold, you can always watch all the action from the restaurant. Those bastards! they have everthing. Why doesn't someone make the world's largest indoor beach in Toronto. Huh? HUH?
I took this picture by mistake, but then I decided I liked it, because you get a chance to see that hey, its not all desert. You see, it used to be, but one of the rulers decided that before he died he had one request, and that was to turn Abu Dhabi green. Which is why you see so many palm trees and such in my pictures. That stuff doesn't live in the desert. For 2 reasons, one, it's not soil, or even earth, its sand, and coral sand. Two, the water underneath the sand is salty. It's salinated from the ocean.

So anyway, so they say to this sheik, listen buddy, you're crazy, I mean, we'd have to bring in red earth from the north and transport it here, and then de-salinate the water, and feed every single plant, flower and tree it's own supply of water from tubes extending in every direction throughout the ENTIRE city? It would cost billions!

And that's exactly what they did.

Every single day, workers come in, and water every single plant. They even hose the sand off of the palm trees so that they can photosynthesize. It's pretty ridiculous. Anyway, I've gone enough Bill Nye on you guys...moving on...
Oh...I just thought these were some sweet yachts. Check out the spiral staircase on that boat house.
And what I really meant to take a picture of, a traditional "Dhow" fishing boat. You can still go on cruises on these.
This is all in Dubai by the way. It's gotten to the point where I have figured out my surroundings in Abu Dhabi and can walk around the streets, take the bus etc. Dubai is about an hour and a half from Abu Dhabi, the capital. Anyway....so then I went to the Dubai Museum. It was about as fun as all museums are...above is a traditional house they used to have in the desert...yeah a lot has changed because that was only in the 1930s.
And then you know, the museum was filled with lots of stuff like this ^
And creepy models like this ^
THEN I took a super cool water taxi across Dubai creek. Before, this was the only way to get across this NATURAL (not man made) creek before they built bridges and underground tunnels, so I gave it a whirl. It was awesome!
putt putt putt across the creek.
On the other side of the creek, through some tiny windy streets, I came to the spice market. spices of all kinds! and believe me, every stall I passed I was informed of what every single spice was. Jasmine flowers, rose hips, chilis, saffron, vanilla, dried fruits, dried ginger.....everything


mmm smelled so delish in there.
Then I continued walking through the town until we got toooo
The gold market! now this is a LOT bigger than the spice market, as you can tell. Here you can get all kinds of jewlery and PURE 24 karat gold. At good prices. On sale today! come on down! haha that was an Aladdin joke...
Hey look! little golden Burj Al Arab buildings! and little miniature gold Jumeirah Islands? See them? The palm tree island?
Oh hello lover. You were my favourite yellow diamond....drool.
Bracelets?
rings?
oooh pretty
blue!
AND what we all came here for, GOLD!
GOLD!
GOLD ITS EVERYWHERE!
And like the Grand Mosque is the most prominent mosque in Abu Dhabi, the Jumeirah Mosque, although a lot smaller, is the most prominent mosque in Dubai.
It was then that I peered down at my beverage...Hmmmm this has to be some kind of copyright violation...I don't know that spelling "Capri-Sun" a different way changes anything....
There it is! the REAL Burj Al Arab! revisited. This time I got out of the moving vehicle to take a picture.
um...this was the only picture I could get of me with a sliver of the building in the picture without getting killed by a cab.
Just around the corner was some kind of mall/marketplace/amputheatre where they have concerts. And since there was no one around, I decided to sit here and have lunch and enjoy the view. When in doubt when travelling. Go with Starbucks. There's one on every corner!
Later on in the day when I got back from Dubai, we decided to go out for dinner as my last non-technical day in Abu Dhabi since I am flying to India tomorrow.
In which we were seranaded by theyse guys, who were AWESOME by the way, Filipino guys playing Spanish music in the Middle East at a Thai restaurant? Only in the UAE my friends, only in the UAE.

Well, tomorrow I am flying to Goa, India. The weather calls for a high of 32 degrees. Phew...at least I eased myself into that kind of hotness. After some consideration, I'm bringing my computer, so you know what that means! blog updates in India! and its such a cool country.

I'm glad u guys enjoyed all my journeys so far!