Dubai, United Arab Emirates. May 17, 2017
The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world - 160 stories - 830 meters (2,722 feet) tall.
Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, is a unique mix of modernity and ancestral traditions. On the shores of beautiful sandy beaches and blue sea, the tallest buildings and elaborate architecture are hosting the most sophisticated shopping malls we had ever seen. There, a dense crowd of traditional djellabas and burkas are busy snatching the latest luxury and fashion from Western Europe and America. The concentration of crazy expensive cars handed to attentive parking valets are an intended display of the amazing wealth characterizing today this formerly poor Bedouin community.
Dubai, in many ways, feels like Las Vegas but it is real. We loved Dubai for a few days like we love to go Vegas for a very short period of time. However, we both enjoyed Dubai's strong Arabic DNA reminding us of our various travels in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Egypt 45 years ago before the numerous wars ripped this very attaching region of the world apart.
Shopping with literally deep pockets....
The view from the top of the Burj Khalifa is out-of-this-world. Thanks to its two observatory decks located at different heights, you can see two sunsets on the same evening, the first one on the lower deck and the second one few minutes later from the higher deck. Pretty cool, no?
Our Dubai stop over included one night in the desert. One hour drive south from the city is the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve with the exquisite hotel Al Maha hidden in the middle of endless sand dunes.
Luck was in the cards: We were upgraded to the Royal Villa with extra size beds and larger private pool overlooking the desert.
A nice Ranger took us for a tour to discover the desert fauna and flora.
Amazing animals
Early wake-up next morning to experience the art of Falconry.
Our plane back to Dallas was taking off from Dubai at 2:15 am, we spent our last evening in Dubai people watching (not always easy with their burka...) in the malls and admiring the Burj Khalifa Water Fountains show synchronized with Adele's hit song: Skyfall.
The Grand Finale.
