Dubai-bye

Flag of the United Arab Emirates, on the tallest
flagpole in the world. Gold plated of course.

When I was making my plans to travel back to the States, I was torn between wanting to take a short vacation and just wanting to get home as soon as possible. I compromised by scheduling a 19 hour layover in Dubai, and using the money I saved on the cheaper ticket to treat myself to a little bit of luxury. What better way to adjust from the third world to the first than by spending a day in the most extravagant and opulent city in the world? 

The Burj Al Arab hotel, set on its own man-
made island.

Jessica and I got off the plane after our 9 hour flight and made a beeline for a 5 star One&Only spa at the Royal Mirage, where we treated ourselves to a traditional Hammam experience to wash all of the Africa off of us. I took the most amazing shower of my entire life in what amounted to a human carwash, with one of those rain shower heads and 12 jets shooting out of the walls. We got to spend time in the dry sauna and the whirlpool before we were whisked into the inner chambers to be scrubbed clean and massaged on a hot marble slab in between sessions in the steam room. Then we were swaddled like babies and served dates, tea and juice while we relaxed, and eventually  napped, on fluffy white cushions. After two hours I felt like a whole new person.

View of downtown Dubai from the Jumeirah Palm Island

When we finally managed to drag ourselves away from the spa, we got on the Big Bus hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tour to take in the sights, and got off at the Dubai Mall, the worlds largest shopping mall, home to an aquarium tunnel and underwater zoo, an ice rink, the worlds largest candy shop, the dancing Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It was too much to take in on such a short amount of time, so we settled for a walk through the aquarium, dinner at the food court, the hourly fountain show and a neck-breaking view of the Burj Khalifa from the ground.

Taking in the Dubai Fountain show at sunset

We got back on the bus for the night-tour, and took in the sights of Dubai all lit up like Christmas trees as well as a laser light show at an Egyptian themed hotel. Unfortunately by that point all of the travel was starting to catch up with us and we could hardly keep our eyes open through the ancient district. At the end of the tour we took the metro back to the airport and spent our last few hours spending the last of our dirhams at the food court and the duty free. At 2:45am we boarded our plane for the final 13 hour flight that would bring us home.

The top two thirds of the Burj Khalifa

For the record, the irony of this layover is not lost on me. An environmental education volunteer goes from a poor village to the richest most environmentally unsustainable city the the world. I found it rather funny.