Well we just left Hong Kong and are arriving at the airport now! It's gonna be an 8.5 hour flight to Dubai! I'm really looking forwards to Air Asia all the way! I know we're going Air Asia because that's the one we always take and because Jay said! Wait... Our taxi driver just passed these signs that say which airlines is in which! I don't see Air Asia in Terminal 1 which is where we're going! Should I tell Jay because this is where all the fancier ones like Emirates and Etihad are! Well... Jay probably has it under control. Must just be a mistake. So should it have surprised me when Jay heads to the check in for EMIRATES?! I should've know! The UAE (United Arab Emirates) is Emirates' home territory! Well it was a treat to fly Emirates! They're my FAVOURITE airline.
When we landed in Dubai we didn't have a place to stay yet so we waited in the airport for an hour trying to find places we could stay. At last Jay found a place called Atana Hotel which (from what Max described upon seeing the lobby) is "probably the best place we've stayed" and our room is really nice too! After getting sorted in the hotel I did math for a couple hours and then we went out into the city!
We visited Mall Of The Emirates and they have a place called Ski Dubai there! It's a 5-run 'snow resort' with 'real' (using snow guns) snow! WE HAVE TO GO THERE! was one of my first thoughts! I mean if you guys get 3 MONTHS of skiing then shouldn't we get any?! We are hoping to return in two days! For dinner that night I had Indian food in the mall (Max had Pizza Hut [Blech!]) and both of our meals together cost $20 which is 60 Dirhams (the currency of the UAE) and so if you couldn't figure it out before then now you'll know: 3 Dirhams=CAD $1 so it's pretty close! The next morning we went down to breakfast and had what Jay says is the best breakfast buffet we've had on the trip! I vote for Hotel Sofia in Boracay, The Philippines because they have banana bread! But this one was still really good! I mean brownie muffins and hash browns? What more could you want? But the really cool thing about the restaurant is that there were people from all over the world eating with us!! Africans, Asians, Europeans, Russians, I think we may have been the only people from North America!! Someone told us that only 10% of the population in Dubai is actually Emirates. I believe it...it's truly a multi-national city! We went up to our room in the hotel once more (we did a lot of that in Dubai) and I did MORE math. Of course I don't enjoy it but it's because I NEED to go to Kitchi! Later in the day we went to the Mall Of Dubai and saw that they had an ice rink there! We didn't really need to have a vote though! Even if Max plays hockey we LOVE skiing (or snowboarding) more than hockey. We ate from Carrefour (French for Four Square) that night and got some cheese and bread! We can't ALWAYS eat for $40! The next day we JUMPED right up and out of our beds! We were so excited for Ski Dubai that we forgot that it was 7am! Well who cares! I got a new book on my Kobo (The Chronicles Of Elementia: The New Order!) and so I hoped that would last me for the next few days!
We also went to see the Burj Khalifa that day! It's HUGE! But to be honest it wasn't worth the $100 we had to pay to get up there. We only could go up to L124/L125 and it was like the CN Tower except no glass floor. I recommend just looking out your window when you fly into Dubai. Oh that reminds me! I've started a tradition of Time-Lapsing our landings! So far I've gotten our landing in Cebu, The Philippines, Hong Kong and Dubai!
When we finally arrived at Ski Dubai I looked over at Max and he was jumping around in anticipation! Who am I to judge? So was I! The skiing was AMAZINGLY realistic! Plus I didn't need to get used to skiing again so I was ready to go right away! Max opted to have a snowboard instead of skis but he was having a problem with it so he switched for skis instead. We decided to stay on the runs like 15 minutes after we were allowed because we felt like it (Shhhhhhh!) so we were taking a lot of runs up the J-Bar. For dinner we ate Burger King (because it's Canadian) to celebrate! I'd forgotten how hungry you get after skiing. For some special promotion reason Burger King gave us 2 free games on the arcade in the mall called Magic Planet and so we spent both of them playing this SUPER COOL Star Wars game that made us feel like we were actual pilots (because of the swivel chairs) so we had a blast! I blew up Death Star 1! Tomorrow we're gonna meet some friends of yours, Mel J!
Having a blast!
Sullivan