The Sultan's Turret

We spent the day in Dubai, U.A.E.

The first thing that comes to mind is Shanghai X 10. Sorry Shanghai. The air was a balmy 70 degrees. The city was beautiful. Tonight we caught them cleaning the marble sidewalks with a Zamboni across the street from our hotel. Car tires squeak when making turns in the street. Everything smells like fresh Mock Orange Blossoms, Magnolia and Hyacinth. The water - in great abundance - is flung around this desert oasis like proof of opulence and is crystal clear - almost inviting you to drink deeply from every fountain.



While enjoying a late afternoon cup of traditional Lebanese coffee with cardamom and a mint infused lemonade, Paula and I discreetly watched a women in a full burkah try to drink a large, whipped-cream laden iced cappuccino. Another woman behind us listened thoughtfully between puffs on her bubbling hookah while a man intently leaned toward her and expounded on deeply philosophical riffs about the eventual downfall of the American real estate market due to failed morality while he simultaneously attempted to convince her that her company finances were safe with him.

Speaking of water, we watched a fountain that put the Bellagio to shame. 100 foot jets of water frolicked to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" across a half-mile-wide, man-made pond.

Supper was a vertigo-laden experience in the world's tallest building at the At.Mosphere Lounge on the 123rd floor of the Burj Khalifa - completed in 2010. Our server was a Chinese guy named Miker who hails from Shanghai! You can have a conversation with anyone here by just asking where they are from. Two women at the reception were from Kenya and Uganda. A woman who helped us find the elevator was from Paris. No one seems to be from Dubai.

Blah, blah, blah. I'll stop now. But no.

This ten-foot shark was behind a Guinness Book of World Records - world's largest single piece of plexiglass. And it was inside the Dubai Mall!

Ah, to dream the impossible dream...

Paula and I are sitting here on a bright, snowy morning in Winston-Salem perusing the Emirates airline web-site and capriciously cogitating about far-away lands, Arabian Nights and further eastward to India. We want to include you as we dream, plan, scheme and - ultimately - travel to far-away places. We may even include some random ruminations about day-to-day life here in the condo. Put up with the chaff and you may find a thing-or-two of enjoyment or even inspiration.

We're headed to India from March 20th through April 22nd, 2011. certainly not enough time to see an entire sub-continent but hey, there's only so much life to be allocated in the three-score-and-ten we're allotted.

Thanks to Paula and to Lynn and Prabaker Pendse - our fellow travelers - we've got most of the itinerary planned and funded. The current decision is how long to stay in Dubai on our way. You might ask, "Why Dubai?" After conferring with one of our most respected associates who frequently commutes back-and-forth to India, we decided that Emirates - though slightly more expensive - is a significantly more luxurious way to travel with more leg-room and a better appreciation for good service. So why not stay an extra night in Dubai since we are stopping over there anyway. We'll make arrangements with the Emirates travel service desk to get a guide for two days and a night in one of the most architecturally dramatic cities in the world. Perhaps we'll send a spiritual greeting out to Matt Samet from the top of the Burj Al Arab.

Itinerary to be shared sometime in one of the next several posts.