Dubai

Our first family vacation this year was to the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It was a FUN-FILLED five days.

But it almost did not happen. Because Canada and the UAE have some political disagreements, it is not always easy for Canadians to visit Dubai. In fact, the airline in Doha was reluctant to let us on the plane thinking that we may well be turned away in Dubai and sent home on the first plane back. Tim took a quick trip from the airport back to our house in Doha to get some extra identification papers that would make our entry a bit easier. It worked and, in the end, some extra time and money made the trip possible.

We traveled with some American friends from Doha. They had no trouble getting into the UAE with less time and less money!

Dubai is a city of FUN. Our first stop was the Aquaventure Water Park at the Atlantis Hotel. This is a park overflowing with water fun! With 2 km of lazy river and rapids plus 6 slides that empty into a shark pool and aquarium, there was something for everyone! Tim was the only one that took the 27 metre (90 feet) "Leap of Faith" -- a straight drop into a transparent tube and through the Shark Lagoon. We spent a glorious day relaxing, tanning, being thrilled, and laughing our heads off.

Max is rolling inside this snowball

The highlight for Max and Simon was going to "Ski Dubai". This is a 61 metre (200 feet) indoor ski hill with five ski slopes. It also has a variety of other cold activities: a pool of penguins, a rolling snowball slope, a hot chocolate stand, several tubing runs, and a luge track.




It was -2 degrees Celsius inside and 30 degrees outside. We were outfitted in snowsuits, boots, and fleece mitts. Our noses and toes were frozen after three hours.

Tim's highlight was going up the tallest building in the world. At 828 metres (2800 feet) the Burj Khalifa is also beautiful to look at. It is made of over 26,000 glass window panels and is shaped like a bundle of tubes. It takes 36 workers four months to clean the exterior of the building.

"The hot humid air outside, combined with the cooling requirements of the building results in a significant amount of condensation of moisture from the air. The condensed water is collected and drained into a holding tank located in the basement car park." This water is then used to water the grass and gardens at the base of the building.

We ascended on the world's fastest elevator to the 124th floor. At night the view was spectacular. The Dubai Fountain, at the base of the Burj, is also a fabulous display of water, music and lights. Apparently, the movie Mission Impossible 4 has one scene where Tom Cruise is climbing the outside wall of the Burj Khalifa. We saw photos of this but have not seen the movie yet. 

We spent a second day at Dubai's second water park, "Wild Wadi". Another beautiful day relaxing.

And even more water when we went to the Dubai Aquarium and underwater Zoo. The plexiglass aquarium window won the 2008 Guinness World Record for Largest Acrylic Panel for an Aquarium.

Lisa's most interesting activity in Dubai was to go to a Fish Spa. People sit around a pool filled with thousands of garra rufa fish from Turkey. These "doctor fish" were originally used to treat people with psoriasis by eating off the dead skin to promote healing. Now the fish are used as Spa treatment for dead skin on feet. It feels a little weird to have all those toothless fish nibbling on your skin. But when you get used to it, the result is smooth skin much like a pedicure. Of course, the United States has shut down many of these Fish Spa treatments because of the potential spread of infection. Hmmm.