Dubai!

It has been quite some time since I've updated! I've done lots of running around from before and after vacation, it's been a whirlwind. It should be rather calm until Chuseok... that's when...MOM AND DAD COME TO KOREA! Yahoo!

I still think about my trip to Dubai everyday. It was one of the most thrilling, challenging, and beautiful vacations of my life! Planning with airlines, hotels, transportation, etc. all helped me grow up a little... however, I probably lost a couple of minutes of my life due to the stress. ANYWAYS! I took way too many pictures... so this may be a forever long thread, but... hey, it's really pretty! :)

So, the beginning of Ny and I's adventure dealt with dealing with China Southern Airlines. I would never recommend them for anyone. Yes, they had the best prices, but at a great cost to our time and sanity. With the money we spent on the layovers, I'm more than certain they weren't the "best price" after all. At least Incheon Airport is nice enough to hang out in...

The have some really cute cafes hidden in Incheon :) This one reminded me of my little bro!

Everyone just loooovves Hello Kitty...

In our dark and desolate terminal... at least we had smart TVs!

 Rainy takeoff.

Here we go! 

After this point, we had a 24 hour layover in Guangzhou, China before Dubai. We were delayed leaving Korea by two hours and didn't land in China till 11. Going through customs and immigration was obviously a nightmare (it's China!) and by the time we made it through, the subway had closed down. So, we decided to look for a shuttle bus or taxi to take to our hotel. Right as we exited the airport, a Chinese man quickly started yelling at us "Taxi?!" and we said yes... rather hesitantly, for good reason! He grabbed my suitcase and took off! We quickly followed him (leading us way too far away from shuttle buses) to this really beat down, crap of a car. A driver was already in the car waiting for us. He started to take us to our hotel and then showed us how much he was going to charge us... 600 YUAN! That's almost 80 dollars! We started yelling STOP! STOP! But he just kept driving. So out of rage, I opened the door and got out... while the car was still moving... YOLO? Hehe... Luckily, he didn't drive off with our luggage and we ran back to the terminal to figure something else out (after saying a few choice words). I had printed out a map of our hotel and thankfully someone was FINALLY kind enough to point out a shuttle that took us close to our hotel. The shuttle was only 25 yuan... 4 bucks! That taxi guy was just out to scam poor foreign girls. It was seriously awful and don't want to go through that again. 

The Leeden Hotel, I would recommend them and use them again! Clean rooms and beds that didn't feel like plywood... way to go hotel!

Watching MTV China.

Massive window in our shower... luckily we found a blind that covered it...

Our view of China...

We wanted to leaveeee China after one night.. that's how much we enjoyed our experience...

Subway trip pong...

Really delicious noodles in the Guangzhou Airport! A pleasant surprise...

 So, finally we make it into Dubai! Right off the back we started to notice how kind and accommodating everyone was! Exchanging money, getting through immigration, and getting a cab were all rather pleasant experiences! I think that is what (I thought) was the best about the UAE... everyone seemed to have great tolerance and respect for others. It seemed so harmonious almost... a refreshing feeling after being in only Asian countries for 9 months. We got to the Lane's and Mrs. Beth was waiting up for us! She is a saint. We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide or Dubai mother. We couldn't have done this trip without her!

"My room"... adorable! I loved it! And miss it... :(

I miss you too bed...

Never got used to seeing those... "lady washers"...

My view at night!

My view during the day!

DAY ONE

The first day, we did some mall touring! We went to the Mall of the Emirates and The Dubai Mall. Both were extraordinary! Afterwards, we went to the Burj Khalifa... only the tallest building in the world! Amazing... Then, we had dinner at The Fountains. That was one of my favorite things to see... I can't begin describe how beautiful I thought it was :)

Mind blown on the way to the Mall of the Emirates... I'm obsessed with this building!

Mall of the Emirates!

Mall of the Emirates!

All lit up for Ramadan :)

Ski Dubai!

Dubai Mall Aquarium

Starry ceiling!

Friends :)

Fountains in Dubai Mall

In the souk...

Massive Koran display... I think?

In the shadow of the Burj...

Observing the model...

View of the top from the observation deck!

At the TOP! You can see The Dubai Mall, the Fountains, etc. Unreal...

Mom and Ny

With Dubai Mommy... Love her!

Meat lovers pizza! YUM!

Ny's duck, cucumber, and habanero pizza. So deeelicous...

Our view of the fountains from dinner :)

Lit up all pretty at night...

Time to cool off!

Cookie Gelato, so good!

 Some video clips from this day:

 DAY TWO

We hit up the hot sandy beaches of the Persian gulf! Hot was an understatement... but, it was actually bearable! We hung out with other foreigners on the beach, took pictures with some camels, and hung out by the pool. That evening we went into town to the old creek area and souks. We saw the gold souk, little of the spice souk, and the fabric souk. It was much different from new Dubai, but still very beautiful. Men were RELENTLESSLY trying to get us to come into their shops, during Ramadan they really, REALLY just want to make a sale because their business goes down. We did some haggling and I came out with a sweet lamp and scarf :) After shopping, we had our educational iftar at the community center. It was run by some very sweet and entertaining volunteers. We had great food, conversation, and a mosque tour. I looooved it! So much fun!

Morning at the BEACH!

New island being built for another hotel...

Enjoying the HOT sun!

Some camels decided to join us :)

Sky from the pool...

Gold Souk

We had to take a ferry across the creek, so fun!

Oh no! A shop owner caught Nyeasha! He was smooth!

No sand in this fro!

Playing dress up with Ny...

PRETTY!

Trying to find our way to the iftar... even though we got a little confused, I still think it was way easier than finding where to go in Korea!

Dubai Museum... made from a very old fort!

At our educational iftar!

Happy Ramadan!

The volunteer that came to hang out with us :)

After the iftar, we went to the mosque nearby... the prayer times were listed and we actually got to watch them do a prayer call, it was beautiful!

Sneaking in a picture :)

I had to wear an Abaya & Sheila... apparently I'm not conservative enough :(

Dessert!

Day Three

 We really enjoyed our visit to the mosque the previous night, that we went to another mosque the next morning to get an even more informative lesson. After the session, we went to the Burj Alarab and The Madinat for some souvenir shopping. That evening, we went on our safari! A man from the tour picked us up from our hotel, along with two other couples and we were off for a night to remember!

Breathe taking mosque!

I had to cover up again! Even though I was not showing my shoulders and had a skirt that went past my knees. It actually came in handy because this mosque was FREEZING!

The Burj Al Arab. This was as close as we could get without paying a bazillion dollars to get in...

Love this view of it!

 Our insane, but adorably sweet tour guide. He would say "Thank you" after just about everything he said. 

 Base camp, where they let the air out of the tires for dune bashing!

So many dates!  

Dune bashing time!

Riding shot gun! Unbelievable views... and slight terror. 

Deserts of the U.A.E.

Cooling off :)

Camel farm, hey cuties!

I love you Dubai!

Cheesing in the desert :D

Great experience to share together <3

Yayaya! Riding a camel!

Getting on the camel... fine. Riding the camel... fine. Getting off the camel... SCARY!

Henna :) This woman was so fast! She finished after probably 20 seconds!

My pretty henna!

Ny's henna!

Hanging out with a falcon...

Ahhh, so delicious!

So many people from so many different countries. We shared a table and SUV with two girls from the UK and a couple from Madrid.

Afterwards, we had a man dance for us. He literally spun in a circle... over and over and over and over and over. It was truly incredible. I would die if I did that. He did all sorts of tricks with his outfit and he even lit up with lights! It was great fun to watch :) Especially when he let others come up and try to do it...

Day Four

We decided to do a little more mall hopping and visited the Ibn Battuta Mall. It's known as the explorer mall because each section of the mall was based a country the great Moroccan explorer, Ibn Battuta, visited.

It was a really outstanding mall! Loved it. Then later on that night, we had a fancy dinner on the Walkway. After dinner, we went to Ramadan Nights (night market) at the Dubai World Trade Center. We found some unique goodies and had some fun buying for friends and family. I didn't take any pictures from that experience though :/

Ny and I split a salmon pizza for dinner. So delish!

Day Five
Sadly, this was the morning we were left by ourselves. Our dear host parents went on a trip to the states, but graciously allowed us to spend the rest of the day at their penthouse. We just HAD to visit the beach again that day! After the beach, we packed and went to the Dubai Mall to experience Shake Shack for dinner. I would go all the way back to Dubai just to eat this again... SOOOOO GOOD!

Shake Shack Burger... OH MAN!

Half-sized Chocolate Caramel Cookie Crunch Custard... ay yi yi... I was in food coma after this! 

Half-sized Red Velvet Cake Custard... I think God sent it down straight from heaven...

Final Tidbits!

We flew out of Dubai at 1:00AM... seriously... and made our way back to Guangzhou, China. We had another ridiculously long layover. It was hard to take advantage of the location of our new hotel, so we ended up napping and eating into the night. We had no luggage, so we had to make due with what the hotel gave us and wash our underwear in the sink... You bet I looked all SORTS of cute in the morning :)

We finally made it back to Korea and I got back to a remodeled apartment with my stuff EVERYWHERE and dust covering everything... by remodeled I mean: tile on my walls to prevent any more mold growing on them... gotta love the humidity in Korea!... And then I went to school the next morning. A week vacation, that's all I get for busting my butt for my hagwon... but I guess I can't complain, obviously I wouldn't have had the money to travel to Dubai if they never employed me :)

Here are some last pictures:

Yes, that is chocolate in the shape of a camel. The awesome surprise is that is MADE from camel's milk too! 

My lamp... I'm sure that looked funny going through security in my carry on :)

One thing I don't know if I would get used to living in Dubai: the separation of women and men. It came in handy on the subways because we were only ever being looked at by other women and not men (even though we got plenty of stares from men while we were there)... but I never really thought of being separated as an issue, until we were kind of "made" to do it. Just like dressing very conservatively in the eminence heat. My shoulders were always covered and I always had a skirt on that went past my knees. I will say that seeing everyone fast, dress, and respect each other was EXTREMELY refreshing and I would love it if some of the rest of the world would attempt to have that kind of  beautiful unity. I really miss it.

THANKS FOR SHARING MY VACATION WITH ME!