Dubai was an interesting place. It’s a beautiful, irrigated, wealthy city in the middle of a dessert. Our hotel was a little out of the city, so we spent the first day on the rooftop pool and in the saunas and steam rooms.

The next day we ventured downtown for the aquarium in the mall. The word mall does not accuartly portray the building we were in. It was a massive building containing an aquarium/zoo, amusement park, movie theater, ice rink, and every shop one could want to visit. This is how we spend our thanksgiving day, in a mall, in Dubai. I would have to say it was the most interesting/unique Thanksgiving I could ever imagine. Dinner consisted of a doner kabab and a Steak N’ Shake Oreo milkshake. The milkshake definilty was a little taste of home on turkey day. After wandering around the gigantic “mall” we tried to find an exit, which took a while since it was so massive. As we wandered outside we came across the Dubai Fountain at the base of the Burj Khalifa tower. It was similar to the fountain outside the Bellagio in Las Vegas as the water cannons danced and light up to the sound of music.

On our last day in Dubai, we were lucky enough to meet up with a friend of a friend. It always amazes me how friendly someone you have never met can be to you. After connecting on Facebook through a mutual friend, Claire was at our hotel at noon to pick us up for an afternoon of exploring. We first visited the old medina? And had a wonderful Italian lunch. We walked around a bit and stumbled across a gold vending machine. Yes, I said a vending machine. You simply put in a few hundred dollars and pick the small gold medallion you desire and just like that you are blinged out for the day! After wondering around the “old” medina Claire drove us out on the man made palm island with the impressive Atlantis Hotel at the far tip of the crown of the palm. This gave us a view of the entire city and landscape of Dubai. It is amazing to see the tower hovering over the other buildings in the city. Before we knew it, our three day weekend in Dubai was over and it was time to head to Cape Town, South Africa.