And we're off...

Monday, March 26th—We woke up this morning and went to the Mall of the Emirates. It was very nice. The mall is 3 stories in some areas with every kind of store imaginable. This mall is so interesting, though, because it is home to Ski Dubai. It has an actual ski slope inside the mall. Amazing! It is an enclosed area that has chair lifts, lots of snow, and a few different slopes. The price is also incredible. It cost $80 for the entire day and this includes your pants, coat, skis/snowboard, and lift pass (you have to buy gloves – for $2!!!). It amazes me that it can be 100+ degrees outside and you can have snow inside the mall.

Our favorite store in the mall is Carrefour. It’s like a Super Wal-mart. Dates are very popular here – they are served at bars, with coffee, as dessert, etc. Inside the store the clerk gave me all kinds of different dates to try. I liked them all and I had to walk out of there with 3 different kinds plus 3 different kinds of Arabian candy.

This afternoon was simply well worth me making the trip to Dubai (aside from me getting to see my wife, of course [brownie points]). I played golf at Emirate Hills—the Majilis Course. This was where they played the European Dubai Desert Classic last month. This is in the top 100 courses in the world. It was by far the best golf course I have ever played. From the tees, to the fairways, to the greens it was immaculate. It was also one of the hardest courses I have ever played.

Clubhouse - cool design!

This particular green is for the 9th and 18th hole! It's HUGE!

And the winner of the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic - Hank Welch! Kinda looks like a natural standing there with his prize, doesn't he?

This evening we went to the Dubai Marina to have dinner. Very nice. We had dinner at The Inferno on the 2nd floor overlooking all the boats. We had beautiful views of all the buildings surrounding the marina. So many of the buildings here have beautiful, colorful lights (many that changes every few minutes) – it’s like a rainbow at night. After dinner we walked around the marina before calling it a night.

The view from our table - overlooking the marina.
The aqua-colored building on the right can be seen from our villa. Ibby and I like to check it out at night and make note of the different colors - this particular building changes colors every 5 minutes.