We left the hotel with a nice mother and daughter from London around 850am for a 30ish minute drive to Rayna Desert Camp. We got to a point in the desert to stop into a few little marts for the restroom and snacks, and to let some air out of tires. I saw our driver messing with the tires, but had no idea why till we got to the sand dunes, and he started taking us on a reckless, what seemed to be life threatening, and nauseating roller coaster ride to the camp site where we would go atv’ing, camel rides, and sand boarding. This went on for about 20-25 minutes, and we were all thinking 5 minutes would have been plenty to get the idea of this reckless driving-it definitely got old after that.

Finally we arrived to the camp safely, and waited for our atv’s to pull up. They had a Falcon with a mask-I understand maybe these animals bite, but it honestly saddened me to see that his face was covered with a mask. I think the eye part was a mesh, and I hope he was able to see. I can only guess it wasn’t able to see thru because what would the point be of the mask…

The mother/daughter that came with us didn’t atv, but there was another couple that was there that came with. That was fun, as we stopped and saw a camel mosing and hanging out at a bush snacking, so we stopped and took a picture.

All of the camels front 2 front feet were tied together so they can’t run, again, kind of saddened me, but I suppose it’s for their safety as well as ours. As we were going over a sand dune, some how, someway my atv got stuck and I semi-freaked as I had zero clue what to do and Eddie and the guide was before me-thank goodness the other couple was behind me to take a picture of my slight mishap.

About 30 minutes of riding the sand dunes, and we got back to camp to hop on a camel. I was kind of surprised to see that the camel’s mouth was chained, crochet mouth cover, and the front 2 feet tied. I really felt horrible participating in this only cuz I felt like I had no clue they were so contained. Again, I assumed it was for everyone’s safety, but it really did hurt my heart. Eddie and I got on my friend for a 15 minute ride, and as we started walking, she kept looking back as if she was either telling us she wanted to be with her friends, or she was tired. As much as I loved being in the desert and catching some sun, I can say I don’t have any interest doing that again only because I was sad for the camels and their friends binded up and contained for our entertainment. The atv for both of us was 840 aed, or $228.69 usd.

Arrived back at 12pm, just in time for quick-lunch and change of clothes before we leave for the Dubai city tour. Level 7 lunch at the W Hotel was sub par to say the least. We were literally the ONLY ones in the restaurant, and we got our food 40 minutes later. There were ton of employees in the restaurant running around, and literally just us, and they said the reason why the food was taking so long was because they had to set up the buffet, still think that was a bunch of malarkey, but whatever. We had a cheeseburger, chicken shawarma, pop, and sparkling water for 231.92 aed, or $63.14.

Our private Dubai City Tour guide arrived, and we started our journey a 130pm. Our first stop was at a Marina where Eddie and I got an ice cream bar and enjoyed the sun

Next was the Palm Island, which is a man-made city functioning island….huh???? He explained how it was man-made, but I still don’t understand how that is possible and that they actually built a freaking mini city and we are driving on it….Here is a pic of the Atlantis:

Then we stopped off at Jerimiah Beach, which has wifi 😂

We went under a tunnel under the sea….we went thru one in Boston, and it still amazes me how that can be designed…

Their city landscaping is so much prettier than Chicago! Ok, maybe just as pretty lol.

I didn’t notice before, but their bus stops are enclosed and air-conditioned!

He bought me a local chai tea for 1 dirham or $.27… It’s called Karak tea, and you boil tea powder & sugar for 5 min and add condensed milk, boil, turn off pot, cover, steep 2 minutes, strain and drink…It was so delish, I’m upset I didn’t know about this sooner!! I’m going to try to make it at home…

We drove by Za’abeel Palace, but I didn’t get any pics..

He also told us that the reason why they have multi family homes and that they live together, is that the children take care of parents till they die so they can go to heaven. He said he doesn’t understand why American kids leave the house at 18 and not take care of their parents for the rest of their lives, because of the sacrifice the mother goes thru to give us life and raise us into the world. I was genuinely touched by what his reasoning was. I felt like I learned so much about the Muslim religion, and how respectful and thankful they are as a whole. We were talking about his 5 kids that are living in Pakistan-3 teenage girls and 2 boys. I jokingly asked if the teenage girls are giving him a headache, and he said “no madame, I love my girls so much it makes me proud to be able to buy them what they want…my boys are the ones naughty.” That’s another thing, I was always addressed as ‘madame,’ and Eddie was always addressed as ‘sir.’

We drove thru a Souk (market) in Old Dubai that I wanted to stop at cuz it looked like it was alleys of stuff…..It was very aggressive, way too aggressive. The little shops attack you and are all over you to look at their stuff…I wanted to look at their stuff but they made it extremely very uncomfortable, so we went in and went out. Our driver had to drop us off and come back because there was no parking, so we said 30 minutes-we ended up waiting 25 minutes for him cuz I couldn’t take it anymore…25 minutes of sunshine for me!

We headed over to Dubai Mall to head over to the Burj Khalifa, where it can park over 15,000 cars. One thing I noticed is how massive the malls were we went into. We ended our tour there at 5pm for our 6pm reservations to the top. The private tour guide from 130pm to 5pm was 1250 aed, or $340.32 usd.

Good thing we arrived there 1 hour early cuz it was very confusing finding signs to the Burj Khalifa, which is currently the tallest building in the world, and they are currently building a building taller than that!!! The whole process to the security lines were such a cluster fuck, it definitely could have been more organized. The travel concierge suggested we do 6pm reservations at the 148th floor, walk around on the balcony, have tons of french macaroons, and then go to 125th floor and take the stairs to 124th floor to watch the sunset. Taking the stairs from 125th to 124th was a great tip as the line for the elevator to go down one level was stupid long. Burj Khalifa was 1070 aed, or $291.31usd.

We walked the Dubai Mall to find a restaurant we wanted to eat at…ok holy anxiety attack lol….massive mall, with massive amounts of people…there was a soccer stadium in one leg of the mall that had a tournament going on, it was so loud I couldn’t wait to get out of there. We were told that it takes 3-4 days to go thru each Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. Apparently there is a ski slope in one of them-nuts!

Eddie found a place called Aubaine that seemed menu friendly for both of us so we asked for a table for 2. The lady asked if we would like to sit inside or out….uhmmmm yaaasss outside please!!!

Every employee we walked by made eye contact and said hello as we were walking to our table outside. This place definitely impressed me! Sitting outside was so comfortable as the weather was not cold and not hot, and we were watching the cars drive thru the circle to one of the entrances. The manager came over to the table several times to make sure everything was good, our server checked up on us a bunch of times, which was nice and didn’t seem annoying. It literally felt like they were genuinely making sure we were comfortable and didn’t need anything. Eddie got his typical rib eye, which was delicious, and I got chicken milenese with half avocado, pomegranate, grapefruit salad on the side, which was also amazing. I really wanted to eat my entire dinner it was that good, but there was so much food, it was impossible, besides, I needed room for dessert-I at least ate half the chicken and all the avocado salad. Our dinner with a pop and sparkling water cost 273 aed, or $74.33 usd, and one of the best meals we’ve had here! I would definitely come back here again.

We also came across a cute little gelato truck in the mall right outside Aubaine and had the extra dark chocolate holy shit orgasm in our mouth. I really contemplated getting seconds it was that good…but we didn’t…sigh….back to the hotel we go since we have to leave for the airport at 6am to head home!

xox~j