Dubai

My sister is moving with her family to London from Australia. Since it takes 24 hours of flying to do such a move, they have stopped in Dubai for a two day rest. I had heard of Dubai before. I have seen it showcased on the travel channel and also saw pictures of this megahotel (is this the one where Agassi and Federer played an exhibition match on the rooftop?) but wanted to learn more. I had no idea where it was located or the history behind the city. Pretty darn interesting.

It is all very new and an up-and-coming city. One of the richest in the world. A lot of foreigners are now living and working there. It sits on the southwest side of the Persian Gulf. Northeast sits Iran and northwest is Iraq.
Apparently it is very hard to find native Emiratis because of the surge of foreign workers. They are a tiny minority in their own country. Women who live in the United Arab Emirates have a more open life and don't have to conform to the traditional Islam. They have more choices and options and can be very modern.

(http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0701/feature3/index.html)

This, dubbed the eighth wonder of the world, also resides there. It is a man-made resort to resemble a palm tree. Whomever was motivated to create such a wonder is crazy. I can barely motivate myself to clean the bathroom. I guess this is much, much cooler than cleaning a toilet.

Hope you have fun, Therese and Alan, and enjoy your last of 80 degree weather for a while!! :)