Last weekend we had our very first guest come to Dubai. It wasn't surprising that our world traveller friend, Barry, was the first to make it here. Ryan and I spent the months and weeks before his visit talking about where to take him, what to do, etc. Needless to say, after 6-9 months of not seeing a familiar face, we were pretty excited to see Barry.
Here are some of the things we planned for our very first Dubai visitor (with a bit of a photo dump):
We were supposed to go to a friend's costume party, but it was so late on Thursday evening when Barry arrived, that we decided to take him to take him out for a quick drink instead. We headed to Barasti and then to Rock Bottom, which are two of the three bars that Ryan and I usually attend. It's nearly impossible to find a dive bar in Dubai since only hotels have liquor licenses, so our cool bar options are pretty limited. But it was great to catch up and help Barry through his jet lag.
On Friday morning we woke up somewhat bright and early and got ready for brunch. I've mentioned the Dubai brunch before, and it truly is a Dubai expat staple. We decided to go all out and make reservations for Saffron at Atlantis on the Palm. It was, by far, the most amazing buffet or brunch experience of my life. It blew any Las Vegas buffet out of the water.
|
Halloween themed "blood martinis" |
|
Mini bottles of champagne with a straw! Given to us upon arrival. |
|
Tons of seafood and sushi... yum |
|
Dessert galore (also Halloween themed) |
|
Boozy watermelon with straws |
On Saturday we decided to do something a little more "old Dubai" and took a taxi to Bur Dubai and explored the souks. We ate at a little Lebanese restaurant that our friend Dan introduced us to and then took a water taxi to the gold and spice souks. Barry and I stood in corner and laughed at Ryan outrageously haggling with each shop owner. But we both got some really cool lanterns and some other souvenirs. That evening we decided to take it easy and spent our evening grilling and hanging out in the back garden area on our new outdoor furniture.
|
Waiting for the water taxi |
|
I wanted to stick my hands in each barrel |
|
SO SHINY!
|
Barry's final night in town was spent in the desert at a desert"safari" dinner. We were picked up by the company and then taken out to the desert where we switched from van to 4x4 and a maniac drove us through the sand dunes to the camp site. It was the scariest car ride of my life - on purpose, of course. There was a BBQ dinner, camel rides, sand skiing, henna painting, shisha and other "traditional" middle eastern activities. It was pretty touristy, but kind of a fun activity and probably the only time we'll ever eat on carpets way out in the desert. It would be perfect if you have visitors with kids. I got my hand painted with henna, tried grape shisha and saw some camels up close. I really want to ride a camel but we ran out of time.
|
Sitting at our table on the carpets |
|
Henna |
|
The shisha made me cough like crazy |
The guys left the following day for a quick trip to Paris to visit another friend, Pierre. I spent that time recovering and catching up with AWA business. Back to real life! We loved having a friend come see where we live and what we do. We get so many questions about Dubai and how our lives are here, so it was awesome to be able to share it with someone for even a few days. We can't wait for our next guests (taking 2013 reservations now)!