Oh, my Dubai...

So, last week was half-term break for my school, and Stephen and I headed to Dubai for a much needed break on Tuesday. Me, along with about half of my class. But, they left on the Saturday before, so fortunately, none of them were on our flight.

When we got to the airport, there was a group of people standing around in a circle, dressed in traditional Kazakh dress. Inside the circle, a couple of women were playing dombras, a Kazakh instrument. Click on that if you're interested. Anyway, I couldn't get a better, closer picture because there were so many people.

We waited in the airport for a couple of hours, checked out the duty free store and took the above picture. We were excited!

The next morning, we rose and this is what I looked at for the better part of the day. The beach had the most amazing sand we've ever felt! So soft and fine.

This is the Persian Gulf and we did go swimming and the water was also the warmest sea water I've ever swam in. There were also great waves to play in. Some people were boogie boarding.

That's my husband. I love him.

Then, a man appeared on a camel! That was kinda fun. He led people up and down the beach all day long. Poor camel. Actually, it's what he's made for, so maybe he actually liked it. He didn't smell very good, so that kept me from begging Stephen to go on a ride with me.

This is the view from our hotel room balcony. I know, pretty, right?

Everyday, the hotel staff would replenish our supply of fruit. Above, are some bananas and something else weird. I cut into the weird one and it was filled with white, goody things. It didn't taste nice, either. Anyone know what the name of it is?

Here are two more fruits from another day that were just too weird looking to venture into. Anyone know what these are?

Then on Thursday morning, I woke up with the above all over my legs and one of my arms. Gross, huh? It was itching me like the dickens. My best guess is I broke out in hives because my body was so confused by all of the relaxing that was going on. It's just not used to it. I have broken out in hives before because of stress. It's just weird that I wasn't stressed.

Even though I was feeling a little funny from the hives, we still went into Dubai and went to the City Center. We were drawn to the Golden Arches and had some Nugs at 10:00 in the morning. You don't realize how much you miss the Golden Arches until it is completely unavailable to you for four months!

While we were at the City Center, Stephen bought me this new little prize! Isn't it so pretty? It's for our anniversary/my birthday.

And then we stood in the cab line for 45 minutes to go meet our teacher friends at the Hard Rock Cafe. Touristy, I know, but again - they have good french fries. Or chips as my British friends call them. Anyway, on our way to the Hard Rock, we witnessed how much construction is going on in this busy city. We passed the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world!

Here is the combo platter we ordered. Fried goodness.

And the final picture is us. My left foot's in the air because the sand was so hot.

All in all, awesome time in Dubai. Friendly people, which we have been missing. Great shopping, which we have been missing. Warm weather...

We will definitely be going back one day.