Day 62 - Dubai
With the end of Ramadan brings Eid Al-Fitr, or a 3-day celebration of feasting. It is declared a national holiday and most businesses close. That left my brother and his wife with an unusual 5-day federal holiday with no reason to go to the office. (The 3-day became a 5-day because of the Friday/Saturday weekend right up against the Tuesday-Thursday Eid celebration.)
We went down to the Dubai Creek Golf Club, and swam in the pool. It was a great way to spend a few hours in the middle of the day. While there I managed to pick up one more souvenir for my trip back home - a sunburn. Funny that, all this time out here and I only get a sunburn on my last day.
We headed back home where we changed and relaxed a bit before heading back to the Deira City Centre for some souvenir shopping. In particular, I was after a coffee table book of Kuwait that I was unable to get while I was there. It's going to feel like cheating that I bought the Kuwait picture book in Dubai, but I won't tell if you don't! ;-)
For dinner we all headed over to Elements, a restaurant at the Wafi Center. This restaurant is a favorite of my sister-in-law's, and it was wonderful! It had everything on the menu - soups, salads, sandwiches, pizza, pasta and sushi. Looking for something light I opted for a chicken salad, my niece nibbled on bread and steamed vegetables while my brother and his wife targeted the sushi selection. One of the rolls he ordered was called the "Dangerous Roll". I had to laugh at the name, but then he asked the waiter to exclude the mango from the roll. I thought to myself, could the mango be the source of the danger in this roll? I tried a piece, and I can assure you that the danger comes from two sources: Spiciness and tendency to addiction. It was dangerously hot and dangerously delicious!
After a delightful dessert course we headed back to the house. I'm leaving the house at 4:00am to make my flight, so I'm looking to pull an all-nighter. I said "Good-bye" to my sister-in-law and my niece, and they headed off to bed. Meanwhile my brother found a Rugby Union game on TV, which we are enjoying as I write.
Tomorrow is the Big Day. While it will be good to be home, I am not looking forward to 16 hours in planes. I'll tell you how it went tomorrow.
We went down to the Dubai Creek Golf Club, and swam in the pool. It was a great way to spend a few hours in the middle of the day. While there I managed to pick up one more souvenir for my trip back home - a sunburn. Funny that, all this time out here and I only get a sunburn on my last day.
We headed back home where we changed and relaxed a bit before heading back to the Deira City Centre for some souvenir shopping. In particular, I was after a coffee table book of Kuwait that I was unable to get while I was there. It's going to feel like cheating that I bought the Kuwait picture book in Dubai, but I won't tell if you don't! ;-)
For dinner we all headed over to Elements, a restaurant at the Wafi Center. This restaurant is a favorite of my sister-in-law's, and it was wonderful! It had everything on the menu - soups, salads, sandwiches, pizza, pasta and sushi. Looking for something light I opted for a chicken salad, my niece nibbled on bread and steamed vegetables while my brother and his wife targeted the sushi selection. One of the rolls he ordered was called the "Dangerous Roll". I had to laugh at the name, but then he asked the waiter to exclude the mango from the roll. I thought to myself, could the mango be the source of the danger in this roll? I tried a piece, and I can assure you that the danger comes from two sources: Spiciness and tendency to addiction. It was dangerously hot and dangerously delicious!
After a delightful dessert course we headed back to the house. I'm leaving the house at 4:00am to make my flight, so I'm looking to pull an all-nighter. I said "Good-bye" to my sister-in-law and my niece, and they headed off to bed. Meanwhile my brother found a Rugby Union game on TV, which we are enjoying as I write.
Tomorrow is the Big Day. While it will be good to be home, I am not looking forward to 16 hours in planes. I'll tell you how it went tomorrow.
