Never in a million years would I ever had envisioned myself celebrating Easter Sunday in an Islamic country and not going to mass but that is how I spent Easter 2010.  Not only that, we accidentally stumbled into the wrong building while trying to find a museum and they tried to convert us to Islam. Within a minute's time Candice figured it out and we made a B-line to the exit where incidentally they wanted you to take free cassettes and books.  Ah, that'd be a no-go!  Mind you we did have Father Gold celebrating mass at 5 p.m. but Dubai is so big, area wise, there was no way to get our hop-on hop-off bus to include our ship as one of their stops.

Two days in Dubai is not enough time to cover such a large area.  The old Dubai Creek area was the historical part of the city and very picturesque.  The first high rise buildings were built in this area starting around 1971, the time the UAE formed.  Years and years ago the creek was actually shallow enough to cross by foot when the tide was low but since then they dug it out and made it into the waterway that it is today.  

With our two day Big Bus ticket that we purchased we got a free one hour Dubai Harbor cruise on a traditional Arabic dhow, which is an old wooden ship that is still used today to bring cargo and goods up from North Africa and other various regions (no container shipping here - good old fashion, ancient sea route merchant trading going on here with original wooden boats).  There were plenty of these old fashion boats unloading their wares dockside.  Everything from cars to tires to floor tiles.  Good old fashion commerce at work!  Both banks of the waterway were busy with activity and tons of these boats operating on both sides of the 'creek.'  

The traffic on the streets around this area was congested and at times stop dead in its tracks to accommodate the shipments off the boats.  The boats were awesome and we sat up top on floor cushions with full English commentary up and down the waterway.  I felt like we were on some cruise along the Nile the way we were lounging around and leaning against small little wooden banisters that lined the top of the boat while Arabian music played in the background.  The weather was perfect; about 78 degrees, cool dry breeze, and sunny!

Once we got done with our harbor cruise we hopped a water taxi back to the other side of the creek.  These ferries were fast and efficient.  The cost was equivalent to thirty three cents.  Good price but Hong Kong had this price beat by 5 cents. It's only 28 cents to ride the Star Ferry.  These ferries only held 20 people but they could deliver goods in record time.  They were dark brown, flat and only had an elevated one foot wooden box that ran through the middle of the boat for a seat.  

Once over to the other side of the creek we walked around the boardwalk, shopped and headed over to see the mosque and the Al Fahidi Fort Museum.  The museum is actually housed in the old fort used to protect the city and dates back to 1800 A.D.  This is the oldest building in Dubai but it has been determined that the area is over 7,000 years old.  They recently uncovered a mango swamp dating that far back while installing sewer lines near Dubai Internet City.  The earliest settlers were pearl fisherman and traded with merchants on the old sea routes.   

We hopped back on the double decker Big Bus and rode over to the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House and Heritage Village.  The house is one of the oldest in the area and was inhabited by the Sheikh's descendants until just recently when the family handed it over to the government.  It has four wings surrounding a large courtyard and had one of the earliest forms of air conditioning ever known.   Sandstone towers were built above the room containing an open roof with burlap stretched in 'v' shapes from the outer four corners to the center.  This allowed the breeze to be caught from all directions and was thus forced downward into the building.  The four wings housed exhibits of money and coins from the area dating back to 1791 and various other artifacts along with aerial pictures of Dubai throughout the last one hundred years.   At one point in time it looked like it was just one big sand bar.  A far cry from today's hustling and bustling city.

The amount of reclaimed land is amazing and they continue to reclaim it today with the Palms and the World.  We transferred buses over to the blue line and headed out to these new developments of Dubai.  The World is only accessible by helicopter, plane or boat.  The Palm has rows and rows of tall condos and houses that are labeled and addressed as frond A, frond B, etc.  The Atlantis Hotel is out on top of the crescent and you drive under a tunnel of water to get over to it.  I wouldn't think there is much land underneath to dig a tunnel but surprisingly it was deep and long.  I'm only thankful I didn't have to figure out the engineering on that project!

The Burj Al Arab is close by and is the only self-proclaimed 7-star hotel in the world but who knows since they don't allow the general public in (unless you spend at least $170 per person on food/tea in their hotel).  It sits out on its own island and has a heliport at the top of the building for guests flying in from the airport.  That's a sure way to beat the traffic, eh!             

We swung by the Ski Dubai and checked the place out.  We were going to ski but the time constraints didn't allow us plus after being in the Rockies this was small potatoes.  Instead we headed over to the Burj Khalifa Dubai, the tallest building in the world.  We had a tour with the ship to visit this building and 'walk in the clouds' but they had to cancel since they had electrical problems.  Just our luck the observation deck was back up and running by the time we arrived in town on Sunday but we didn't know it until I overheard someone on the Lido Deck that night say they went up in the tower.

I found out Wayne and Hazel, a blind couple on the world cruise, had gone up.  Now Wayne hangs out in the casino and the smoking area by the casino bar so I knew just were to find him for all the answers to my questions about this Burj operation.  On the way down I remembered we were in port so the casino wasn't open and feared I wouldn't be able to find him but I turned the corner and there he was sitting all by himself, smoking and enjoying a drink.  I made quick work getting all the pertinent information for the next days visit.  Wayne was a wealth of info and he told me that he talked them into selling him the tickets for half price since he couldn't see anything anyway!  He's my kind of guy!

The second day we headed out to the newer part of Dubai with plans on being at the Dubai Mall which is located right next to the Burj Khalifa at noon since we needed to be back on the ship at 4 p.m.  We stopped out at the beach and some shopping at a hotel before hand.  The weather this day was a little hotter with a little less breeze although the buses were air conditioned very well.  They even have air conditioned bus stop booby-huts for public bus transportation.  I guess you would have to have something like this during the height of their summer months or people would just melt into the pavement.  

The stop we wanted was the last on the blue line and we got out to the building about 12:15 p.m. and got in line for tickets.  Seems the word got out that it was back up and running because we barely got a 2 p.m. ticket and some time slots for the next day and that night were already sold out.  We did a little shopping at the mall which consisted of Godiva Chocolate and Garretts Popcorn from Chicago.  There was a store called Bateel which looked like chocolate candy but it wasn't.  I said I never heard of this one.  Is there one that I'm missing?  I stepped inside only to find out that they sold candy but it was all date-filled or was wrapped in a thick jellied preservative.  They gave us a sample and I asked where they were based.  Saudi Arabia was the answer.  Well that explained everything!  Those people don't know how to have fun nor how to bone up on calories!  I told Candice that candy wasn't candy unless it contained chocolate.  

We were in heaven with our food alone not to mention we would soon be whisked up to the top of the Burj Khalifa.  We reported for duty at ten to two and had to check our bags and go through the x-ray machines.   After walking through some hallways we approached a moving sidewalk that had a video playing along side of the long wall showing the history of the area.  Next we went up an escalator and there were some displays showing the construction and building of the monstrosity along the hallway.  We approached the elevator and boarded.  Once inside the elevator with the doors shut, we were enclosed in something a little brighter than total darkness.  A checkerboard of 18" long by 10" tall television screens surrounding all three sides lit up and started playing video and music.  Pin lighted rows of lights in different colors started going off in a multiple level horizontally.  

Total time in elevator - 1 minute!  We went 124 floors in 1 minute's time!  No movement was perceived at all and the only way you could tell you were going up was the popping in your ears.  It's as if we stepped in a room, waited a minute and walked out but it was 124 floors later.  Awesome high speed elevator!  Not all elevators are created equally.  The doors opened and a flood of light came rushing in - blinding light since it had been so dark.

Once our eyes were able to focus, the view was just fantastic.  You could see for miles and the desert ran out beyond the city limits for quite some distance.  Looking down on every building, street and shopping mall was a sight to behold.  Things are big in Dubai just like they are in Vegas so nothing looked too small except the cars and I don't think you could even see the people from this high.  We could look out and see the 'World' development.  Half the floor was an outdoor observation deck with openings between the windows and the other half was an indoor, full glass floor to ceiling observation area.  Once outside you could look up and still see 36 more floors above you along with the lightening rod.  One hundred and sixty floors in all.  

You could spend as much time as you wanted but after 35 minutes we had to get moving towards our shuttle back to the ship.  As usual we ended up in a supermarket to purchase three six packs of Coke and two cans of Pringles.  Lots of labels that we knew were present in the store!  We decided our diet could live here!  Lots of foreign people visiting this city and they were mostly from western countries so we felt like we were right at home minus the sand.  Very few Dubai women out and about in society and any women we saw working were usually Asian or foreigners.  Most shops had male workers which was something you had to get use to.  

Dubai is all about the shopping!  Huge, beautiful malls everywhere you look.  Souk is the name they use for store/shopping areas and they have dedicated Gold Souks, Silver Souks, Spice Souks, etc.  The Dubai Mall that sits underneath the Burj Khalifa had a three story aquarium where we saw divers feeding the fish and an ice skating rink with a huge TV screen and sound system playing music.  Outside there was a water show that ran at night just like the one in Las Vegas at the Bellagio.  

Dubai is dripping with money, shopping malls and new construction.  If I were a shop-a-holic I think I'd have a panic attack trying to figure out where to start.  Close to the Palm they have a mini-Hong Kong already built and the plans call for it to be twice the size of Hong Kong when they are complete.

After talking with Lee and Joe we found out you need a license to purchase liquor in the grocery stores and the pork section is curtained off like a triple X section in a movie rental store which we thought was quite humorous.  Candice asked if the checkout person handled the pork or not and we all scratched our heads.  But then again, they probably get the foreign women to check you out.  Joe seems to think they are paying off the terrorist to leave the UAE alone since they have never been hit, especially now that they have the tallest building in the world.  Sounds like he grilled the taxi cab drivers pretty good while in the car.  

Dubai was not easy to get around but they are just now opening a new metro system down on the newer section of the city but only the red line is up and running.  Too much distance between the old part of the city and the new part much less too much distance just between the hot spots in the new area.  Too much ground to cover but we did the best we could using the Big Bus Company.  Lots of things to do in and around Dubai but you'd need about a week to do it justice.  Very clean city with flowers, shrubs, trees, and fountains all along the roadside.  You know - Disney nice but over long distances!  They use 2.5 million gallons of water PER DAY and have a large desalinization plant.  The contrast of green and color against the desert colors is just remarkable.   It makes you think the desert is a lush place and Dubai pulls it off with style.  Don't plan on coming to Dubai unless you have plenty of time and a fat wallet for all that shopping.

We docked right by the QE2 which someone had bought and was going to open up as a hotel but they went bust.  So the ship sits still and quite at the pier and looks a little strange and ghostly.   As we got off the ship the first day Candice noticed razor barbwire across the back deck of the boat!  I couldn't help it, I had to snap a couple of pictures!  Queen Victoria looked like some floating prison from the rear! 

We had our pirate drill this morning and the instructions are if you here the alarm followed by the words "Attention, Attention, Security Threat" we are to go the interior hall outside our cabins and hunker down.  A two-page sheet was delivered last night explaining that the ship is taking an internationally approved transit corridor and we will be transiting it under the protection of an International Task Force, including the Royal Navy, assigned to protect merchant vessels from pirate attack by a UN mandate.

Lights out and curtains closed after nightfall I just so happened to be up around 3:15 a.m. when I looked out the window and saw nothing - total darkness.  I went up top to check out the ship.  I walked over to the edge and looked down the length of the ship.  Very eerie and quite with the exception of the sound of the water below.  It felt like I was riding a ghost ship or a boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean.  I kept envisioning a grappling hook come flying over the banister.  Being all alone in the middle of the ocean under the darken sky made me feel a little scared!  We will be under heightened security alert until we get past the Egypt.  They installed sound blasting machines at the back (2) and the front (1) of the boat and they've pushed all the deck chairs during the day to the back of the rails for water hose runs.  Lucky cat is motionless, so all should go well!  Ha, ha!

Sandy