Dubai - Land of Oppulence and Missing Luggage

In Dubai, I was fortunate enough to stay with Sanjiv who graduated a year ahead of me from Michigan. He works in Dubai as a consultant for Oliver Wyman. Leena Ray another classmate from Michigan met up with us in Dubai. It was actually coincidence that our trips were planned at the same time. It was good to finally meet up with fellow Michigan students.

Sanjiv's apartment was in the Marina. Like in the rest of Dubai, construction was going like crazy. People often said that one third of the world's cranes are in Dubai. Below is a photo from Sanjiv 25th floor balcony.



While in Dubai, I did something that I didn't think I'd do until this winter. I got back up on the snowboard and carved it up. That's right, my first run after dislocating my shoulder last winter was in Dubai, of all places. Ski Dubai in the Mall of the Emirates is an indoor slope that they keep at a constant minus 1 Celsius. We didn't have gloves so I can vouch that the snow was definitely cold. The result gives you all the gear you need except for gloves. Here we are outfitted out below. Nice gear!!!

I was amazed at how they built a slope indoors and took a lot of photos. Here's a shot looking uphill from the bottem of the lift.

The next day we set out to get a look at the Burj. The world's only 6 star hotel. Security is tight and we can only get in if you have a reservation there, be it a room, dinner or just afternoon tea. Alas, we weren't able to get a reservation for any of these and had to look from afar.

We did manage to sneak into another hotel in the area. Below is it's oppulent lobby complete with chandelier.

I neglected to mention that Dubai is the first place that my luggage was lost. After many unanswered phone calls to Gulf Air, I discovered that my bag had not even been loaded on the plane when I left Kuwait. It sat there for 2 days before being discovered. In the meantime, I did some shopping as I was running out of clothes and my travel insurance supposedly should cover it. Leena and Sanjiv went to see a movie while I did my shopping. I needed a pair of jeans and decided to get them at a place called Jack Jones in the Mall of the Emirates. I tried on 2 pairs but they didn't fit. They were a bit oddly shaped for me or I was oddly shaped for them. The sales clerk wasn't a whole lot of help so I ransacked the shelves and tried a some more jeans on. After some time and no help from the sales guy, I finally found a pair that fit. At the check out counter, the same sales clerk said to me. "You're a bitch." I said, "Excuse me." and he repeated that I was a bitch. He said it in such a way that it could be construed as a compliment or at least I think that's how he meant it. He wasn't mad at all, just matter of fact. I was befuddled and didn't know what to say. I managed a "Thank you" and made a hasty exit from the store.