Our Neighbor, Dubai!

Dubai is about a 1 hour drive from Abu Dhabi... I have been there three or four times now and I absolutely love it. In fact, I may end up moving there when my contract here ends. It has a totally different feel. It's so clean and bright and shiny. Dubai seems to be much better planned and laid out than Abu Dhabi and it seems to have a lot more green space and parks. It is amazing to think such a place didn't even exist until after I was born. I made a little photo collage just to illustrate how quickly this place emerged.. The three photos depict the same road in Dubai.

I have actually been to Dubai several times now and I will try to roll all the pictures into one post..
So without further ado, heeeeereeee weeeeee gooooooo!


A cool photo I took of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building!

Me in front of the Burj Khalifa:

Shiny and pretty:

Here's an awesome video about the Burj Khalifa:

Camel in the mall:

An awesome waterfall/fountain in the Dubai Mall:

Those are most of my Dubai pics so far. Stay tuned for my next post which will show pictures from my first desert safari!

Oman Part 2 in Pictures

Well, I loved Oman so much I went back! This time with a different friend and we drove the 5 hours instead of flying. We also had a groupon for the Millennium Resort in Mussanah, so we stayed there, which is about a 1 hour drive from Muscat. I went back to the souk to finish my Christmas shopping, as well as get a couple items for myself that I had scoped out on the first trip. All of my family and friends are getting hand-made gifts this year that I found in Abu Dhabi, Oman, or Dubai..  They are mostly made in those places, but a couple were made in India and Turkey. I hope they like them, and I hope they make it to the USA in one piece!
Here are some pictures from my return trip:

Sultan's Palace Entrance:

 View from our hotel balcony:

 Out front of Sultan's Palace:

 Artistic Photography at the palace:

 Greenspace outside the palace:

 Palace entrance again:

 Outside the palace gates:

 Gold gatework:

By the Sea:

The Sultan's huge yacht:

Doesn't look so huge anymore!

The intricate design in the dome top of a park gazebo:

The gazebos in the parks:

Some more artistic photography:

 Fort atop a mountain:

 Walkway outside the palace:

 Artistic photography of Kirstin as we sat in a Thai restaurant on buffet day. This was before we ate. We had some sort of delicious peanut sauce dish. She was commenting how good it was and how tender the meat was. Hesitantly, I told her that the texture and taste of the meat reminded me of beef tongue. She got a disgusted look on her face.. We decided to ask the manager what meat it was.. Thank God it wasn't tongue, it was only intestines!!!!

 The amazing oil paintings I bought a the souk:

 A lantern that was handmade in India that I bought at the souk:

My lantern lit up (although blurry):

That's all.. until my next trip!!