Day Thirty Five - A Day of Opposites

Well today i'm out and about and loving it. This morning we went skiing and it was surreal to know that it was 45 degrees outside and -4 degrees inside. 

This is one of those "well duhh" statements but snow is such an oddity in Dubai that its almost a magical place. This is going to sound almost sappy but there is so much joy in this place you can help but get excited and giggle. It seems that mostly tourists and expats that actually ski, the locals seem happy playing down the bottom on the tubes and slides. The actually process could have been long and painful but they have it so well worked out that it was a well oiled machine, buy the ticket at one counter, get boots and clothes next, move into change rooms, get ski's at the final counter, swipe card and then out you go! 

Now here is the lovely juxtaposition of the day, after a morning in the cold we got changed and went on a desert safari. I have had quite a few people telling me this was not something I should do but to be honest it was amazing. The dune riding was very cool, sand spraying all over the car lots of hills and scary moments and the driver seemed to smile every time we squealed. After that we arrive at the camp and got to play, there was dress ups, henna painting, dancers, a lovely buffet and shisha. Now shisha is the flavoured smoke and I have not tried it before, so I thought ... what the hell. Is it something I would want to do at home? probably not, was it great to try? .... hell yeah! Apple flavoured smoke, weird but fun and blowing it out in patterns like a child ... hell yeah!

So snow in the morning, desert in the evening ... very very awesome. So far I like Dubai, I think its a bit like a grown up Disney Land, obviously there is a serious historical side to it but for us, this is going to be the week of fun. Tomorrow we will be doing a very famous Dubai custom of Friday Brunch ... apparently it can be excessive and decadent but we will see.