Dinner and Watershow

This is the view from our dinner table at the Dubai Mall

At one end...The Address - an upscale condo building...

At the other end, the world's tallest building - The Burj Dubai

and 18 different water shows to entertain us!

What a night !!!!

World's Largest Mall

Everything in Dubau is either the "largest, biggest, best, first....." The main floor has a full sized hockey/skating rink.....

this waterfall goes through three floors! The size of the Mall is greater than 55 international soccer pitches.

most stores have chandeliers and at least 30 ft. ceilings

why not a major sized aquarium?

shark!!!!!!!!!

Spice Souq

everything this guy tried to sell us had "viagra qualities"

the smells were awesome!

View of "The Palm"

Arial view of "The Palm"...still under construction

This photo was taken mainly for the "toy" anchored out from the beach. This pleasure craft is easily 150 feet. Behind it, you can see the tall luxury condos which line both sides of the main trunk of the man-made palm branch.

Atlantis Hotel sits on the circle of land surrounding the palm branch. The "small" two story multi-million dollar homes and villas are on each of the palm branches.

Dubai Rugby Sevens

Three days of madness! Part of the World Series of Rugby Sevens, Dubai plays host to 16 International tems and numerous amateur clubs. The main entrance separates men from women .

"The Sevens" stadium was built specifically for this event and 3 of the 4 sets of seating stands are put up and taken down just for the three days.

Fijii versus Kenya

Half way through the second day they had a parade to celebrate 40 years of Rugby 7's in the desert....and what would a parade be without camels!

Dubai Skyline

random pictures of the Dubai skyline. Note the sign on the right for camel racing

and to think that less than 20 years ago, this was mostly desert! The tall needle like building is the Burj Dubai - the tallest building in the world.

Mall of the Emirates

You've all heard about the indoor ski hill.....

well, here it is!

Sheesha

When in Rome....

getting "re-coaled"....

O.K....I never was really good at smoking - coughed my way through this and then gave up!

Farewell to the Madinat

cute kids!

The Madinat at Night

Trevor, Rick and Becky - enjoying cold beer at the Madinat

Rooms at the Madinat start at a very low $500/night

Sheesha seems to be a big part of entertainment in the Middle East. The sheesha pipes are packed with sweet tobacco and come in a variety of flavors such as apple, strawberry, vanilla, coffee.....good sheesha cafes pride themselves in the varieties offered.

this is where the coals are kept hot for the sheesha pipes. The pipes are "re-coaled" a couple of times during the evening.

Relaxing after dinner for drinks and sheesha

Back in Dubai

doesn't every balcony need a camel shaped tree?

the Burj Al Arab in the background was built on it's own artificial island 280 metres off shore.

This is the waterway at the 5 star hotel called the Jumierah Madinat. The boats available for rides or transportation from one area to another are called abras

...still at the Madinat (which is open to the public), they are getting ready for Christmas

another great view of the Burj Al Arab. The Madinat has shopping , entertainment and a slew of restaurants.

As Sifah

Our final camping site in Oman....As Sifah beach - half an hour from Muscat

Beaches all over the world have something for everyone.....

They certainly are mangy!

locals in the town of As Sifah building an addition on the mosque

just being lazy in the shade