... and the City

So, there's been a lot in the press lately about Abu Dhabi. First off, yes it is true that you can buy a gold bar from a vending machine in the Emirates Palace Hotel. I haven't yet seen said vending machine, but I've been to the EP Hotel quite a few times ~ not to stay, of course, but because it also houses art exhibits.

In other news, Sex and the City 2 is being blocked by censors here. Why would this be newsworthy? Well, the movie is set in Abu Dhabi. Originally, it was supposed to be in Dubai, until the script was reviewed, so Abu Dhabi offered itself up as the location, I suppose until they actually read the script. The actual filming was done in Morocco, but the storyline still revolves around Abu Dhabi.

I think it's great that Abu Dhabi is being promoted, but isn't it the wrong kind of advertising? I mean, really... could there be anything less appropriate for this country than a movie like Sex and the City? Via internet, I've watched the preview, and a few selected scenes, and cringed at such things as Carrie saying Abu Dhabi (or just the Middle East) is like Disney's Aladdin "but with cocktails". Umm... what??? I think of many things when I think of Abu Dhabi... "cocktails" is certainly not one of them! [errr, not technically true, as Abu Dhabi is where we go to buy alcohol in regulated shops with our government approved liquor license. Actually, Abu Dhabi also makes me think of "tofu", "fresh tortellini" and "that special cat food we have to get for Sonagi so that she doesn't puke on the bed every day"]

Or a scene where she's walking in a spice souq in "Old Abu Dhabi"~ it's quite obvious that the producers or whoever just went through the script with a red pen and crossed out "Dubai" to replace it with "Abu Dhabi". If you want to wander the alleys of a spice souq in an old city, you'd better hope that you're actually in Dubai (or, um, Morocco....).

Actually, speaking of the spice souq reminds me that we still have to talk about what we did with Madeleine and Bruno - if not only so that you can see that the UAE does have fun things to do that won't be on the movie screen!

I had taken a few days off work so that we could all spend some time together in Dubai, so we headed up there for a quick visit.

Our first adventure was to Ski Dubai, the indoor ski hill attached to the Mall of the Emirates, where Bruno, Madeleine and Ty hit the slopes. It was the first time we'd actually gone closer to the place than just looking through the window, and it was a real treat.

Ty -  The slopes at ski Dubai were really good (speaking from my mountains of experience of course). Having only gone snowboarding once in Korea it took me a while to get kitted up, and then even longer at the little practice slope trying to get the feel for it again, while Bruno and Madeleine had already made a couple rounds.

They came down and convinced me I’d be fine up on the slope that looked much bigger, and steeper from the bottom than I thought I could handle.

But after a few false starts, I was zooming down the slopes and spent far less time on my bum than the last time I’d tried this in Korea (but as much time trying not to kill myself by going way to fast). I REALLY do love snowboarding.

I think I actually enjoyed it more at Ski Dubai even though the slope isn’t that long – about 500m compared to the 4 or 5 km ones I went down in Korea. The reason is that the snow was nice and powdery, not all icy, and also there were very few people on the slopes… one point I looked down from the top and had the entire thing to myself.

 

It was quite a surreal experience stepping out of that snowy land and straight into the luxury of the Mall of the Emirates, and then stepping from that into the desert heat outside, before heading to the hotel apartments just of of Dubai Creek (the same place we stayed with Virginia’s mom.

From the hotel we headed, of course, to the souq, followed by supper overlooking the Dubai Creek. At the souq, we went straight to this one place, where the shop owner knows us (it's probably rare for them to have a return customer!), and is more than happy to let us take our time demolishing his store as we unfold every single pashmina... and he's happy to give us good deals too.

 

We went over to the spice souq, but most of the shops were closing up for the evening, so we headed back the next day, with both Ty and Bruno tasting and smelling everything.

We stopped quickly at a small museum with a courtyard where you can relax with tea and coffee, and which seems worlds away from the chaos of the narrow, winding streets of the old town.

 

  

Heading out of town, we decided to take Bruno and Madeleine to the Atlantis Hotel on the end of the Palm Jumeirah island. Arriving there, we were quite disappointed to learn that the big aquarium was no longer free, and you had to pay to get in! A brief discussion revealed that we'd all rather spend the money on ice cream, which we did.

We arrived back in Madinat Zayed in the early evening and the thought crossed our mind that we weren't quite sure that there would be enough for them to do in such a small town for 4 days... however, the best was yet to come.