Dubai

Dubai, 

Well what an amazing place. So much to say in this blog, but i think ill let the pictures do the talking.

So for the first 3 nights we stayed with Katya (aj's cousin) and her lovely husband Khaled. We had an amazing 3 nights with them, on the first day we were there we went to a dinner party with a few of there friends Gennie and Richard. There apartment is on the Palm island.. this is what the island looks like from birds eye..

The food was amazing, considering we had been deprived of a decent meal in Europe, the BBQ 

steak, fish and prawns were luxury. 

That night we continued on to Raffles hotel, which was in a glass pyramid, and the bar, which was Buddha Asia theme was at the top. Just on the down low, Al and I were underage, its 21 over here, so it was pretty cool to feel rebellious again. After having some champagne, some Roberto cavalli vodka, and a dance  we head to the midnight snack were the locals go. 

The following day we went to Emirates mall for a brief look at the snowsports centre, which ill get to in a minute. Everything in Dubai is so luxurious, valet parking everywhere, we really need to import this custom. Also everyone is really happy to serve you and does it with a smile, I'm talking petrol assistant, waiters, valet assistant, everyone.. Aussies in the service industries need to take a leaf out of there book! yes sir!!! 

That afternoon we went to the china mart, you see Dubai is like a giant theme park, its broken up into different "cities" so for example there is 'media city' which is where CNN and all other broadcasters are stationed.. anyway were went to the china area, which has a gigantic mall called dragon mart (and yes its shaped like one to boot) we spent the afternoon shopping for a new bathroom for Katya and Khaleds new house, which was actually really fun to be involved in. We enjoyed the bartering... and this mall sells everything!!! Anyway 5 hours later we emerge with a new bathroom. That night we get traditional Arabic takeout... hummus, vine leafs etc.. so good. 

The next day was a definite highlight we returned to Emirates mall and went snowboarding.. its fantastic, ill let the photos explain, but just remember this was inside a mall..

After this we shopped and shopped and shopped!!! 

The following day we headed to the pool and relaxed. That night we headed to the Madinat which is boutique hotel.. its beautiful the rooms are in little villas, surrounded by little canals, which Arabic boats float on. it reminded me on an Aladdin, Arabian nights type thing you'd see at Disney land. Here we met up with Alistair's uncle Alex, who lives couple of hours south of Dubai, in Al Ain, and that is were we are currently. 

So Al AIN, this place is still a major city, how ever its far more conservative and the westerners are few and far between.. where in Dubai there everywhere....!!!! Alex is a vet for the Sheikh's (the president figure) camels at the Scientific Centre for Racing Camels, which is a very serious business over here, some of the racing camels are worth up to 5million.. so Alex's job also involves planting camel embryos into camels to produce lots more babies during breeding time. That's the la mans terms for us no vet folk out there.. 

On our first day here, we got to experience first hand what Alex does. First we went to the centre and watched some camel ultra sounds to see if there good for breeding, again for us non-vet readers, this involves a rather large and very long glove... ill let your imaginations figure out the rest lets just say..oh that would hurt. 

In the middle of the day we drove across the border into Oman (yet another country to our list). First we went to a souk (market) full of Aladdin tea pots,  frankincense and mirth etc, really cool experience, we also ventured into an old fort. 

We then went into the middle of nowhere to a waddie, which is like an oasis, water cove thing. unbelievable.. its literally in the middle of no where. Ill let the pictures do the talking, but the little grotto is full of little caves and no one was there, the water was very clear and really warm. 

This is where we parked the car.. i told u in was in the middle of nowhere. 

So beautiful. and very bazaar.

When we returned back to U.A.E  we went on a house call to the cousin of the Sheikh. his camels had some broken legs and we needed to see if they were still good for breeding (i think) again in the middle of no where. They gave us traditional Arabic coffee, and some great date and honey cake. We also so a new born baby camel only 3 hours old. 

That night we went to a little Lebanese restaurant in town called the golden sheep. 

Today is also my dad's 50th everyone!! Happy Birthday dad. love you! 

So onto today, we traveled in Abu Dhabi and went to the Emirates Palace hotel which is another 7 star hotel here, and they dont take there ratings lightly, gold everywhere... and i mean everywhere... we specifically went there however, to experience what i think sums up the U.A.E, a cappuccino with REAL GOLD shavings on top... yes thats right... 24 carat...rich much???

With our tongues glittering like gold and our lips shimmering, we head to Eid's (a friend of Alex) camel racing farm... so beautiful, as the sun was setting over the camels we sat drinking Arabic coffee while listening to the prayer call. 

So we still have two more days here and we fly out on Friday night to Phuket. 

may update the last two Dubai days before we fly out. Hope everyone is well. 

one week and were home... 

thanks again to Katya and Khaled and also Uncle Alex its been an amazing experience. 

xoxox

Kristie n Al 

These are A few Of My Favorite Things..

Ok first off, i would like to say sorry for out last blog, it was an outraged burst that was stupid, i was suffering from a bout of scurvy and was not myself, and jessie is the best blogger in the world, she is in a league of her own, and i once again apologize for the demanding nature of our last blog, feel free to comment as little and as much as you like, if some want to comment twice it is more than welcome.

So from Kuromlov We rented a car (Pictured Below) and drove to Salzburg


Or was That A dream?

Ok well i think was actually happened from cesky krumlov is, we took a private shuttle to Salzburg, though kristie got somewhat worried because the van came to pick us up, it was been driven by two big big Czech men who looked like they had lived in the forest their whole life. So we both were a bit apprehensive, but we believed that more people would join us on the trip, but it turned up that it was just Kris and i and the two recently escaped jail inmates. Long story short, we wound through many back roads in a deep forest and fear was in kristies eyes the whole way, three hours later the hills were alive and the big guys dropped us off unscathed at Salzburg.

We met up in salzburg with two girls we had previously friended in Prague, so that was nice. Salzburg is very small town, framed by a castle sitting up on a hill overlooking the town, the town itself is very cute, with lots of cafes and shops to mingle around, and these are only a few of my favorite things.

So obviously when in Salzburg you must hop on the magical bus ride that is the 'Sound of Music tour'

Our Friends Veronica and Lauren Joined us. Luckly our hostel showed the movie every day at 10am, so we all woke up and watched the 3 hour long musical enchantment then immediatly afterwards hopped on the Bus.


Being the youngest by about 40 years was a good start to the tour, our guide was a commedian only to himself accourding to the under 60 crowd on the bus ( us four ). The tour brought us to several locations in the movie, and was more of a tour of the surrounding area then the movie. But nonetheless it was a good was to spend the day.
Singing tunes and eating strudle. But it had to end eventually and after seven whole hours of the sound of music the Von traps and i started our big journey over the Alps.

We came at the perfect time to slazburg becuase it is mid autum here and all the trees are a stunning color which made for some beautiful walks (which i did while kris was shopping).

From their we said goodbye, farwelll, auf widersehen goodnight.

were meant to head to Switzerland but we did not realise that train tickets into an around the country were outlandish prices, so we did a 180 and decided to go back to Germany and Go toi Munich. Best Choice we ever made.

So Munich...

We Checked into our hostel, as we do. Whilst using the internet later we run into two of our good buddies from the Croatia Tour (Nadine and Emma), They were staying the sames nights we were and doing the same things, so it was great to have familiar faces around.
One night we all headed out to a Bavarian Beer hall, it was huge and packed to the brim with people and beer wenches. The meal we had was by far the best i have had on this trip, price and taste wise. Kris had the bratwurst special, a bit dissapointing but still an oustanding meal. Now onto the big stuff. My Meal, i think i will let the picture do the talking.


(Best meal ever, and how could it not be with the name XXL Bavarian beer hall dinner, containing pork knuckle, roast pork, roast duck, chicken, sausages and a potato dumpling and the best gravy know to man, accompanied by a stein.)

The Next day we went to the castle that Walt Disney moulded the Disney Castle on.
We have been to a lot of castles on this trip, but they were usually more of a fortress than anything else. But this was different this was a Fairytale castle, it was spectacular, pearched high up on a mountainwith the alps in the background. (we took a horse and carriage down the mountian)

We were in a fairlytale the whole day, later that night we said goodbye to our friends. Early the next morning started our journey to Baden Baden in the black forest. Only took us 4 trains and a bus to get their, but thats for the next blog.

Goodbye, Fairwell, auf widersehen Goodnight.

over and out

Love al and kris