We were feeling pretty tore up from the floor-up by the time we left Seoul and headed to Abu Dhabi.  Luckily for us we had used mileage and booked First Class tickets on Etihad Airlines to route us back to the States.  We flew from Seoul to Abu Dhabi, had two nights in Abu Dhabi, and then were to board a 15 hour journey from Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles. For anyone that has ever looked at a world map you might ask – why not just fly across the Pacific? Flights from Korea to the US take about 10 hours— instead of the 25 hour flying time to go through the Middle East. Well, there’s very few places my husband would rather be that in a first class seat flying for double digit hours on mileage (free) tickets—so the “long way” we went. Plus, I was excited to visit Abu Dhabi.  I’ve seen Sex and the City 2—Abu Dhabi Doo.

We boarded the 9 hour flight from Seoul to ABu Dhabi where we didn’t waste much time getting cozy by sipping on champagne and changing into the pajamas that the airline provides.

We arrived bright and early in the morning Abu Dhabi time which is 5 hours behind Seoul, so we were still feeling twisted irregardless of the comfy pajamas and Ferrari leather passenger seats turned into beds.

With luck on our side and the receptionist greased a little, we arrived at our hotel,  the Park Hyatt, around 7am and were shown to a room.

The Park Hyatt is located on the man-made Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi.  The resort is nestled in by a stretch of white sand beach and offers a pretty over-the-top poolside area.  Like how many things in the UAE are done—this was luxurious and opulent.

Here is the view from our room.

Both of of were suffering from severe jet lag sprinkled with travel exhaustion so there was a whole lot of nothing that occurred that day.  We attempted to enjoy the pool, but the weather was blazing hot at 115 degrees so we didn’t last too long.

I also did a stroll over to the beach, feeling like I needed to dip my toe in the Arabian Sea. The sand was scorching and the sun on a different level of heat so it was a quick trip before racing back to air-conditioning.

The next day we ventured out and visited and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.  It was constructed from 1996-2006.  The mosque is a masterpiece of modern Islamic architecture, art, and design.  It is impressively innovative and contemporary.  Sheikh Zayed is also the biggest mosque in the world covering 30 acres and accommodating 41,000 worshipers.

It is certainly a sight to behold.

One thing to note about Abu Dhabi is that its one of the more conservative of the Emirates. Unlike Dubai which has really deemed itself as a progressive Islamic Emirates, Abu Dhabi has tried to wield itself as an economic and artistic hub while maintaining its conservative cultural roots. As such, as a woman, I needed to be dressed in a traditional abaya to be granted entrance into the mosque.  Remember the aforementioned blazing hot weather? It was a sweaty disaster underneath that thing.

Although the abaya did offer some rather great picture opportunities.

Just doing some assimilating in Abu Dhabi.

Also as a woman, it was the first time in our travels that I actually felt a little bit less of a person.  This was mainly due to the behavior of the male security working the mosque.  While away from Peter when I had to change into the abaya I found the staff to not only be unhelpful, but almost seemed angry in their behavior towards me.  Any question I had was dismissed, but if Peter had the same question it was respectfully answered.  It was an unsettling, unfriendly vibe that I couldn’t kick.

Something that didn’t help this cause was when Peter and I decided to take a selfie.  As we were posing, Peter put his arm around me and I threw up a peace sign.  This was a double whammy against Islam, where displays of affection at a holy site are impermissible as well as overt posing.  Just as we took the picture a guard abruptly came over and reprimanded both of us for our offensive behavior.  He exclaimed that we needed to erase the pictures.

The picture below shows my terror as the angry guard shamed us.

It could have been worse.  We could have gotten kicked out like Rihanna did after posing too sexy for photos taken in front of the mosque.

I felt a little unnerved throughout the duration of our time at the mosque, but nonetheless I did attempt to enjoy the beauty and splendor of it while we were there.

Inside the mosque is 7 gold-plated chandeliers, all drizzled in Swarovski crystals.  The focal chandelier is one of the worlds biggest weighing around 12 tons.  The chandeliers were an obvious highlight of the inside of the mosque, but just about everything was extraordinary.  The ornate detail and design found on every square inch of the walls, ceiling and columns, were mesmerizing.

Before leaving we snapped a handful of shots outside of the mosque.  This time careful not to cause any problems.

We then grabbed an uber and took it to the Shangri-La Hotel.  The hotel is set in a complex that offers a souk with a traditional Arabic market and is set on a grand canal modeled after Venice.  You can actually take a gondola ride on it.

After doing a walking tour of the canal we stepped into the hotel to explore the grounds.  I retreated to the hotel bathroom where I quickly became acquainted with two American women.  One of them, Heather was particularly nice and interested in what I was doing in Abu Dhabi.  As my time in the bathroom grew longer, Peter confirmed what he suspected—I had made friends in the bathroom.

The women graciously offered to have us come over and meet their group which was as all women.  Peter essentially ran away from this situation, but told me to go enjoy myself.  I ended up going over and meeting everyone who were all lovely and a group that was from all over the world.  I gathered that the women knew each other because their husbands all worked together.  I let Heather know we would be passing through Abu Dhabi here and there and that I would reach out the next time we were in town.

I left to go find where Peter had scurried off to and then we headed to the Souk to grab some dinner.  We decided on a Lebanese restaurant, Abd El Whab.  It was a wonderful choice not only for the food, but the staff was so friendly that it quickly turned my perception around on the treatment of foreign women that had formed while visiting the mosque.  One of the staff who noticed I was cold, even brought a blanket over for me to use while dining.

We called it a night afterwords.  We had an early flight back to the US in the morning.

One pretty cool thing that the Abu Dhabi airport offers—it’s own private terminal and entrance for Business and First Class passengers on Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s hub carrier.

We also had access to the First Class lounge where most of the fellow passengers looked like this.

And then there was this guy.

Peter and I were really excited for this flight—as we always are when we get to travel this way.  But we also knew this was our last flight for awhile since we were going to be in the US for the next 4 months and unsure of where our plans would bring us next.  I’m not complaining here.  I can feel some eye-rolls.

I strongly encouraged a photo shoot for this trip which to my surprise Peter obliged.

He even amused me with a pajama photo session. One of the pictures below is Peter drinking Hennessy Paradis which is typically poured at over $100 a glass.

This is yoga pose while wearing airline pJ’s and simultaneously sitting on the console between our TV screens.

Pretty sure Peter called the photo shoot after this one.

We were back in the states and were so excited to reunite with all our friends and family.  Despite being home we still did quite a bit of traveling.  We can’t seem to sit still for long.  After landing at LAX, we stayed a couple nights at Peter’s folks home in Orange County and then it was off to Seattle followed by a trip to the great state of Alaska.

Thanks as always.  Oh and a trick to fight off dehydrated skin on long flights—a facial sheet mask.

Oman is one of those places where you open up Google Maps and really feel like you are traveling in obscurity. As you can see from the picture below, Muscat is the farewell city of the Persian Gulf, draining into the Arabian Sea. Its a 1-2 hour flight to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan and a host of other countries that frequent CNN.

So why Oman?

The primary reason was flight logistics. Our next destination was Kenya. Peter found that tickets from Dubai to Nairobi were astronomically high at $550 per person on Emirates. However, if you started in Oman and flew to Nairobi via Dubai on Emirates (the same plane) the ticket sunk to $120 per person. We figured we’d accept the substantial savings by starting our flight to Africa in Oman while enjoying the country’s offerings. It also helped Peter get closer to his goal of visiting 100 countries.

Muscat, as an oil-rich Arab nation, is investing a lot of money in its tourism industry to diversify their economy. And while there isn’t a lot of “must-sees” in Oman per se, it really touts its resorts as a tranquil place to relax in great weather. So we obliged and checked into the Chedi Hotel for the next four nights.

The Chedi Hotel in Muscat is one of the nicest luxury hotels we’ve ever stayed in. There is really no reason to leave.  The hotel offers superb dining including an enormous buffet breakfast, exquisite spa services, three beautiful pools, private beach, and more.  You can get lost in the expansive architecture of Arabic meets Japanese decor.

When we arrived to our room we were treated to this.  Once in awhile on our travels we mention our honeymoon and reap the perks.

The room itself was spacious with a living room and separate bedroom area.  There was a tranquil zen-like feeling  to the room which we chalked up to a combination of great design, lighting and quality furniture. The bathroom was a highlight as there was a hot-tub sized bathtub and two vanities at separate ends of the room.

Some of our days were spent lounging around the pools and private beach while we read, worked, and blogged (despite being a luxury hotel, the WiFi was still horrible, a frustrating theme of our whole trip).  We would order lunch at the pool and breathe in the peacefulness of the atmosphere and relax.

Peter and I also took advantage of the gym, spa, and classes offered at the hotel.  I specifically took part in the yoga and boot camp classes.  One of my favorite memories was doing yoga outside during sunset.  Just as the sun was going down the call to prayer sang as we held our final pose.  There was something a bit surreal and magical about that for me.

We also ventured off hotel grounds for a day tour with our guide Faisal.  Our first stop was the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque which opened in 2001 giving it a more modern feeling with contemporary Islamic architecture. Tourists are allowed to visit the mosques outside of prayer time.

Inside the mosque are a couple world breakers.  The 2nd largest handwoven single rug covers the prayer floor of the mosque.  It took 400 Iranian women four years to produce this intricate and artistically designed masterpiece. 28 colors were used in this tireless effort by talented women to create something truly spectacular.

The other world breaker is the 2nd largest chandelier in the world.  Made up of all Swarovski crystals and is nearly 46 feet tall.  The massive size of the mosque causes a bit of an optical illusion making this massive centerpiece appear smaller than its actual size.

After exploring the inside of the mosque we were taken to a hospitality room where local women served us dates and Arabic coffee and offered dialogue about Islam.  We were instructed to ask any questions.  I asked her about the differences in her life inside her home and outside. “I’m a different person at home,” she replied. In Arabic culture, under their interpretation of the Koran, women are to cover their bodies and heads outside of their home. However, she further explained to me with an almost mischievous smile: “I dress up. I wear heels. If its just me and my girlfriends, we can wear what we want uncovered, though if a man is around, other than my husband, we will cover.”

In their culture it is important to blend in and uphold a humble and modest attitude.  This is achieved by the way men and women dress.  Men wear long white robes, thwab and a keffiyah on their heads – very conservative.  Typically the keffiyah is red and white.  The women wear black which is helpful for protection from the sun because the rays attract light not heat.  Therefore they are protected from being burned and are able to remain cool as well.

She told me about the five daily prayers in the Muslim religion.  Every morning she rises well before sunrise and gives thanks for her blessings and the new day.  She teaches her children the same.  To wake up and be thankful for “your eyes to see, your feet to walk.” This prayer and ritual is done five times throughout the day and always with a reminder with the call-to-prayer being played on speakers bouncing off the city streets and walls.  It’s really quite beautiful.  The majority of Muslims are devout pious people who view their religion as peaceful.  In a religion with 1 billion followers more than 99% do not support extremist views.  However that doesn’t stop many non-Muslims from having anxious thoughts if they see a man in a turban boarding their flight or labeling a woman as “repressed” if she identifies to her culture by covering.

Next we visited the Bait Al-Baranda which was a snooze feast and when we started to realize our guide wasn’t the greatest.  He sort of just dropped us off at the museum door without any background. There was no receptionist either.  We amused ourselves with random pictures though as we were the only visitors at the bizarre venue.

We walked along one of the famous sea-side promenades in Muscat and our guide pointed out the Sultan of Oman’s yacht. I reached for my phone almost simultaneously Googling, ‘how to make friends with a Sultan.’

After this stroll we walked over to explore the Mutrah Souk which was a maze of locals shops where bargaining is encouraged.  You would think I would have been shopped out at this point, but I wasn’t, much to the dismay of Peter.  Walking through the energy of these Souks is fun and you get to see things like a store specializing in abayas for women. The vendors in the Souk told us that we just missed Secretary of State John Kerry who took some time from his diplomatic schedule to visit this very Souk the day before. He probably got an invite to the yacht. I bought some more scarves.

Our last stop was Al Alam Palace, the Sultan’s palace.  Although Sultan Qaboos lives elsewhere in Oman entrance is not permitted; you are allowed to walk the grounds and take pictures.  The Sultan Qaboos is really, really beloved in Oman as he took a poor country to what is now  - a rich and flourishing country under his rule since 1970.  He took advantage of the oil wealth and raised the standard of living making Oman a safe and pleasant place to live with a growing tourism industry.  Qaboos has also managed to become allies with the US and the UK as well as partner with Iran while also building economic ties with Asian powers such as China, Pakistan, and India.  It had been rumored that the Sultan is terminally ill and when he missed the Eid holiday just a couple weeks before that fear rose.  At this time there is no one to take his place.  Very little is known about his succession plan. He has no children (in fact, its widely rumored that he may be a homosexual which would be insanely ironic given their 3 year sentence for homosexuality), and no one is publicly prepped to take the reigns when the inevitable occurs. The Omanis we spoke with all seem concerned about the future of the country.

Our second to last evening we ventured to the Royal Opera House where we attended the ballet and was treated to a production of Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg led by European award wining director and choreographer Martin Schläpfer.  We were lucky because the Opera House only has shows three months out of the year and the show we attended was a a modern contemporary ballet.  The music, costumes, and dance moves were all such a treat.  Of course the building itself is additionally inspiring made out of white marble and Omani architecture.  The patrons were dressed to the nines and we rubbed elbows with Muscat’s elite in the whos-who of international oil tycoons and their dolled up arm-candy.

On the other nights we stayed at the hotel we and took advantage of the free happy hour, hotel restaurants and the shisha lounge.  I was always a bit fascinated to sit with Peter while we sat smoking shisha with various groups of men and women who all set separate wearing their traditional clothing.  Women in their black abayas with hot pink heels peeking out from the bottom.  Men all wearing white robes with a red and white checkered keffiyeh.  I felt significantly far from home in those instances, but also happy to be experiencing a world so vastly different.

Our last night in both Oman and the Middle East we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the Beach Restaurant located at the hotel by the sea.  Afterwords we walked the grounds one last time taking in the beauty and zen of where we were.

In the morning we were both beyond excited to start our next big adventure in Africa.  First stop Nairobi the capital of Kenya.

Thanks as always friends and family.  Sending lots of love to all of you.

Our flight left Budapest late and we circled around Dubai airport for the runway to clear. When we were finally granted a parking spot for our airplane, walked for 15 minutes to customs and waited in a hysterically long immigration line, it was closing in on 3am. By the time we checked into our hotel, The Conrad, it was 4am. Given this bizarre arrival time and jumping forward 3 hours, one thing that oddly sticks out from our time in Dubai was suffering from jet-lag.  Sometimes a 3-4 hour time change can effect you more than 12 hours.  It was tough to wake up early while we were there.  We were both really surprised by that.

Dubai is one of the fastest growing areas for tourism.  It’s a perfect international hub being 5 hours from Europe and accessible to Asia, Africa, North America, and even South America.  They market themselves as being able to reach most main international destinations direct from the Middle East.  Its 16 hours from LAX which is about the furthest possible destination you can reach from Dubai on one flight.

Dubai struck the oil jackpot and hasn’t looked back except for some economic crisis during the Gulf War of 1990. However, after the Gulf War, with oil prices on the rise Dubai rebounded from the economic crisis as it became a major port and refueling station. Dubai realized that one day the oil would run out so with some foresight they dumped so much wealth into developing their tourism industry to provide some diversity to the country’s economy.

How do you market a manufactured desert city in a conservative Middle Eastern country?

You aim for superlatives.

Dubai has the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. It has the biggest mall. One of the biggest indoor ski-resorts. Biggest airport. The largest artificial islands. The list goes on and on. They are constantly working on modern-day technological and over-the-top luxury marvels. One example is an underwater luxury hotel. Literally the entire hotel is underwater. Your entire surrounding will be one big aquarium.

One of the stranger and much publicized projects is the artificial islands that are created in the shape of a world map. Check out the picture below from the plane. You can also visit Europe in Dubai where you will pay in Euros, stay in an opulent villa in Monaco, enjoy street performers and get snowed on in Germany.   Commissioners claim they are going for an authentic feel.  Probably best just to go to Europe, but what an idea and the money is there.

Weirded out by Dubai yet? Its admittedly all rather strange.

But back to our trip.

Our first day we had plans to explore the tallest and largest structures in the world, Burj Khalifa. But before that we had to make a stop on American soil in the Emirates at the embassy.   I had a nearly full passport so I needed to add additional pages.  A fun problem to have.  We were traveling to Africa soon where some countries take up two pages for their intrusive tourist visas.  I was given 48 additional pages.  Peter was jealous of my bigger passport (he’s on his third).  Since I was in Dubai I wanted to have the biggest something.

In Dubai a trip isn’t compete without a trip to Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure in the world at 2772 feet. It has 163 floors.  Inside the building are 8 hotels, corporate suites, and residential homes.  Quiet a view for people living and working there.  The next tallest building is the Shanghai Tower at 2073 feet.  The tallest building in the US, One World Trade Center, is 1776 feet.

The highest level you can grab a view from is the 148th floor known as the Sky level.  These new buildings nowadays are equipped with such modern technology. As you wait for the elevator you can see what floor the carriage is on and how fast its traveling via projected image. Inside the elevator you are treated to a 360-degree movie on the carriage walls telling the story of Dubai as you soar to to the top, ears popping.

On the Burj Khalifa tour you visit the 124th floor which use to be the “Tallest Observatory Floor in the World” until 2011 when a building in China, Top 488, developed a higher one.  Not to be outdone an additional observatory floor was built on the 148th floor at Burj Khalifa to reclaim the title.  So now the tour includes two different sky observatories.

You can sit on top of the world so to speak and check out 360 panoramic views of Dubai. It felt like looking out of an airplane window. Its hard to believe you are actually on a building connected to the ground from up there.

We also got a chance to see the world islands.

Connected to the Burj Khalifa is the biggest shopping mall, The Dubai Mall.   This mall has 1200 stores, ice skating rink, aquarium, and the worlds brightest and largest water show.  Of course.

Name a restaurant and there is a good chance that Dubai has a chain.  Peter played a game asking me to name any US brand or restaurant to illustrate the insane number of branches Dubai boasts.  I replied, “Lemonade.” A little defeated he admitted that it was unlikely there was a Lemonade. But lo and behold, driving along in a taxi we hilariously spotted a Lemonade chain in Dubai. You can literally find everything in Dubai.

Peter was looking for some US based comfort food so we found a Macaroni Grill in the massive mall.  It had been months since we had eaten from an American restaurant.  I don’t know if it was the way American food was made in Dubai or if we weren’t use to American food, but we both felt disgusting afterwords.  It was probably a mixture of both, but we felt like we had a log stuck in our stomach and were exhausted for the next hour as our body worked overtime to digest.

After dinner we strolled outside to check out the famous water show that that goes on every 30 minutes in the evening.

Here is the Dubai skyline as a crowd waits to see the show.

Surprisingly the water show was quite entertaining.  The bright lights, 50 story water splashes, and the music did make for some delightful entertainment.  So much so that we stuck around to watch a second show. And then a third.

We also noticed the Burj Khalif looks different during the day than it does at night.  At night it almost has an artificial look to it – like the building was made from a cardboard cut-out that could be tipped over.

After the water shows we called it a night and relaxed back at our hotel in anticipation of another day in Dubai.

The next day we hopped on the worlds longest metro (the theme continues) and checked out another mall that once carried the crown as biggest in the world,  Mall of Emirates.  The main draw of this mall is one of world’s largest indoor ski resort. We were interested in checking it out and potentially even skiing.  In the end we decided against it mainly because neither one of us had the right clothes – we were chasing summer after all.  We did grab some food at a restaurant located directly in front of one of the slopes so we could feel like we were at a ski resort watching everyone charging the hill. Or something like that.

That night we decided we wanted to check out a movie since we hadn’t seen any since we left the States.  We found Interstellar was playing at Ibn Battuta Mall.  That was three malls in two days which was some sort of superlative record for Peter (to keep with the motto of superlatives).   Ibn Battuta Mall has it’s own feel with six themed zones.  The mall is named after and Arabic explorer who themed the mall after the places he travelled including Egypt, China, Indian, and Persia making this mall spectacularly decorated and spectacularly gaudy.  The movie theater was located in the Chinese wing. We both really enjoyed the movie and debriefing afterwords on some of the movie’s plot-lines and suggestions.

I have never been to a movie theater with better decor in my life.

When our trip was all said and done I wondered if I had missed something.  So many people talk about Dubai with passionate desires in wanting to visit.   To me, to be blunt, it seemed soulless.   A desert land with barely any culture that was nothing more than sand-dunes 40 years ago that is now striving to be the biggest, largest, and tallest of everything.  A bit of a superficial concept.  Dubai is referred to as the Middle Eastern Las Vegas but without the drinking and gambling.  Not to say there aren’t things that Dubai has to offer.  There are tons of luxury hotels, the largest concentration of five star restaurants in the world, an insane amount of shopping, and great weather for escaping winters.   It just wasn’t a place where I felt much of a vibe or a pulse or even an energy.  Its just so manufactured.   Most, if not all,  the people you encounter in Dubai from the hotel staff to the taxi drivers to every single sales agent working in the mall are either Filipinos, Indians or Kenyans.  Again hard to get a feel for the culture when no one seems to be from the city.

I asked Peter if I missed anything when recounting our itinerary to which he replied, “absolutely not, but whoever is marketing Dubai for tourism is doing an exceptional job in wrongly convincing the world there’s something significant to see.”

Our next Middle Eastern adventure brought us to the Sultanate of Oman.

Thanks for touring the land of malls and skyscrapers with us.