Man Oh Man Oman

As usual, day one on a cruise ship means a life boat drill. 

It's often more of an ice-breaker as we stand around and chat with our life boat partners. 

While we wave bye-bye Dubai, it's time for cocktails on the fantail. The haze is not smog but sand in the atmosphere from the surrounding deserts.

First stop is Khasab, a city in an exclave of Oman bordering the United Arab Emirates. It is the local capital of the Musandam peninsula and is dubbed the "Norway of Arabia". 

The Sultanate of Oman is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula, lying along its southeast corner. It has a total land area of 300,000 square kilometres and a population of over two million.

The Musandam, separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates, is the northernmost part of the Sultanate.

Due to its geographical position and mountainous terrain it was isolated from the rest of Oman and the region developed at its own pace. Graded roads cut across the mountains have now made it more accessible. The grandeur of Musandam can best be explored by sea.

A popular activity in Khasab is a Dhow boat tour. A Dhow is a unique Arab boat as seen here.  

The Dhow tours go into the Omanian fiords ( looks nothing like Norway or New Zealand), but they are deep inlets of turquoise water surrounded by white limestone cliffs.  And, you get to see a lot of dolphins.  The best part was the hour we had to swim in the almost 100% buoyant salt water.  It was near 100 degrees, but the breeze from the moving Dhow and the cool water made it all more tolerable.  

The Dhow is covered with carpets and pillows and all the guests sit on the floor.

Deep into the fiords, we came upon a school of dolphins. They like riding the bow wave of the boat.

It was very hazy in the fiord. Sand storms in the near-by desert creates a smog-like cover over the area. 

We had groups from all over on our trip. France, England, USA and these folks from the Middle East.

Lynne's favorite part of the tour was the swimming break. And for good reason, it was frigging HOT out there.

The Star Pride, our ship, fully air conditioned, waiting for us.

Here's Ahab the Arab ( aka Bill el Sha Willi Baba) in the spice souk in Dubai- dressing Bill up was a way of drawing us into their stall- and it worked!!

As we left Khasab, we sailed thought the Straits of Hormuz looking east to Iran and hoping to see a USN aircraft carrier. 

Instead we watched a school of dolphin fishing, that was pretty cool too.

The next 2 days will be at sea full of lectures about the middle east and other typical ship games and activities. 

Dubai Highlights & Hotspots

I think Dubai has a Napoleon Complex. They want to have the world's biggest and best of just about everything. Tallest building, tallest hotel, only 7 start hotel, soon they will have a London Eye type of Ferris wheel, bigger of course.

9 Interesting facts about Burj Al Arab – world’s tallest, most luxurious hotel

• It is world’s tallest and first hotel to surpass 1000 ft (305 m) in height.
• It took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, and less than three years to construct the building itself.
• It is world’s tallest structure with a membrane façade and world’s tallest hotel (not including buildings with mixed use)
• The total cost to construct the hotel was $650 million.
• Burj al Arab is one of the most expensive hotels in the world to stay in. The cost of staying in a suite begins at $1,000 per night and increases to over $15,000 per night; the Royal Suite is the most expensive, at $28,000 per night.
• The building contains over 70,000 cubic meters of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.
• Despite its size, the Burj al-Arab holds only 28 double-storey floors which accommodate 202 bedroom suites.
• The smallest suite of the hotel Burj al Arab occupies an area of 169 square meters (1,819 square feet), the largest covers 780 square meters (8,396 square feet).
• The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 meters offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 40-meter long concrete piles into the sand. The foundation is held in place not by bedrock, but by the friction of the sand and silt along the length of the piles.
• Burj al Arab has a 24 meter (79 feet ) wide helipad which is 210 meters above the ground.

The government is in charge of building the mosques in Dubai. They also hire all the imams. If an imam preaches any radical jihad stuff, they are deported. That's what we should do everywhere. 

Dubai built 375 mosques in five years.

Almost 400 mosques were built in Dubai between 2008 and 2012.

As of the middle of last year, there were 1,418 mosques in the emirate, up from 1,043 in 2008.

There are few mosque designs. They a small, plain looking buildings. The reason for so many mosques: the government doesn't want you to walk more than 500 meters to a mosque.

Aside from all the mosques, there are constant reminders that you are in a Muslim country. Check out rule number 2 on the so-called Courtesy Policy. Holding hands can get you arrested. 

Dubai is a very hot place. It can get to over 110 degrees in the summer. To encourage the use of public transit, the government provides air-conditioned bus stops. 

 Here's a local flower that we see everywhere. not sure what it is, but is pretty.

If you need to use the facilities, make sure you pick the right door. Here's a helpful guide.

Dubai Dining Guide

If you get hungry and homesick while in Dubai, they have the answer.

There are about 2.2 million people in Dubai, 90% of them are from somewhere else.

Ahab the Arab

Day 2 and we are off to the gold souk in the old part of town near the Dubai Creek. 

We were greeted by all who worked there with; "Want to get a Rolex? or; How about a Louis Vuitton handbag...cheap!"


There was gold everywhere, a shoppers dream.

  

Hey Lynne, I think this necklace will go well with your bridge center outfits.

 The spice market is fragrant and busy. 

Here is Frankincense from Afghanistan sold by a guy from Iran. Smells great

After the spice market we took an Abra ride on the Dubai creek.  Sea-going cargo ships bring goods to Dubai, but can not dock in the creek. Smaller cargo boats can navigate the river and are used to move the goods upriver. Here's a shot of one of those cargo boats trying to run us over.

 That was a close one.


I wanted to steer but our captain opted out.

The buildings along the creek are spectacular. 




The Emirates Bank reflects the boat traffic. 

Can you see our Abra in the reflection?

What better way to cap off a busy day in Dubai, than with a Desert Safari. Here we are "dune bashing" the daylights out of the sand in 4 wheel drives.  

Afterwards,Lynne and I celebrate life, we didn't die or throw-up in the truck.

So what's next? .......Camel rides, that's what's next.

After all that desert fun it was time to eat dinner a Bedouin Camp. Of course they have entertainment. First, a whirling dude.

Then a belly dancer.

A well-know Ray Stevens song sums up day 2 in Dubai:

Let me tell you 'bout Ahab the Arab, The Sheik of the burning sand.  He had emeralds and rubies just dripping off a him. And a ring on every finger of his hands. He wore a big ol' turban wrapped around his head. And a scimitar by his side. And every evening about midnight, He'd jump on his camel named Clyde and ride.

Saying Hi to Dubai

Departed Seattle on Monday at 1:00 PM; arrived to our Dubai hotel at ~9:00 PM local time on Tuesday night. Distance traveled : ~12,500 miles. Travel Time: ~24 hours, thank God for free booze on International flights. 

I had my own little happy hour......... for hours.







The Dubai International Airport is very nice; all new and filled with travelers of all shapes and sizes.  

Who do you think owns this and is this a new way to ship furniture?

















Dubai has an interesting, albeit  limited history ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai ). We thought that best way to get an overview was a Hop on- Hop off bus. 











The town was originally a fishing / pearl diving community until they found oil and Mikimoto started culturing pearls in Japan. The oil began to running out in the 1990's, so they switched to international trade, financial services and tourism. Now this place has cash to burn and a real estate development that seems endless. The are more skyscrapers here that anywhere else in the world.

Dubai has been called the "shopping capital of the Middle East". Dubai  has more than 70 shopping centers, including the world's largest shopping center, Dubai Mall. Clearly Dubai has taken retail therapy to a biblical level.

Add to that, they have the tallest build in the world, the Burj Khalifa. And they charge $150 dollars a person to go up to the top!!! What fool would pay that much to do that?

Oh, well here are a few pic from the top of the Burj Khalifa.

OK, so did I tell you it is "the" TALLEST building in the world. You only go around once.

Back the hotel, we checked out the pool. Since it's about 95 degrees a cold one and the pool are just right.

We ended the day watching a water show from our restaurant dinner table. The Dubai Fountains are something special to see. 

Imagine, a water show in the dessert, what's next?