My Adventure Part II: The UAE

For the first part of my adventure I got to spend 3 days in the United Arab Emirates. I almost didn't get into the country because of being Canadian and their new entry laws but after some convincing and some hassle (and $350 for a visa) I was in! My lucky dad has an American passport so he had no problem and didn't have to buy a visa. I always thought that Canadians were well liked around the world. I learned differently on this trip.

I got to see and do quite a bit in the short time I was in the UAE but the best part was getting to see Wendy and her family. It had been almost 3 years since I had seen Wendy and over 4 years since I had seen Jon and the boys. Kids do a lot of changing and growing in 4 years!

Among the sights I got to see was the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Grand Mosque in Abu Dahbi:

*taken from http://www.enlightermagazine.com/projects/sheikh-zayed-bin-sultan-al-nahyan
as the pictures I took didn't turn out at all.

The Burge Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world (but not for long):

The indoor ski hill or rather winter wonderland:

The Burj Al Arab:

*photo from http://hathiwala.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/wonderful-architectural-buildings/

I also got to experience going to a movie with Arabic subtitles, seeing people in the traditional Islamic garb, attending church on Friday, walking through the most spectacular malls I have ever seen, seeing a 7 star hotel (I didn't even know those existed), driving on a man-made island shaped like a palm tree, and seeing a lot of sandy desert and palm trees. I had such a fantastic time especially since I got to spend it with these guys:

Saying goodbye to them when my time was over was really hard. However, I was so excited to finally get to Africa!