Today stared early, wanted to fit in as much as we could before we had to leave. They had a delegation, aka a Sheik and his people, coming to take over the whole hotel- can't imagine how much that costs?! Anyhow we got up early and Sam went to go "Dune Bashing". There was no way I was going to be able to go- I would be way to car sick since they were going in a closed Land Cruiser and I was still whirling a bit from other day at Ferrari World/Water World. I chose to go on a morning hike up the sand dunes and watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful. The sand was cool and firm and I walked up and down ridges of sand dunes and sat and enjoyed the rising of the sun. Sam had a blast out in the dunes but unfortunately he didn't get a turn in the front seat, which is where you can really enjoy it the most. He said they were flying up and down dunes and sliding down them sideways. So glad I didn't go- would have been so sick!!
We had a great breakfast, one of our bests. I had this incredible chicken soup for breakfast, where you pick what you want in and on top of your soup and then they had almost like quesidillas with Naan and some cheese that went with it. It was delicious! We had a few more minutes to kill so went up to the lobby area and played some cards before heading out for archery. Our guide took us just a few minutes away to their archery area which backed up to a big sand dune. They brought out arrows and bows which were really pretty simple which made them great to learn on. They gave us a arm protector so in case we miss hit the bow wouldn't hurt our left arm. They also equipped us with a leather 3 fingered glove essentially that had 3 finger pockets and attached around our wrist. This protected our fingers so we could pull back hard on the bow- brilliant! We had a great time shooting and competing for speed and accuracy. Sam was really good and I felt like I was better than expected. He did beat me in all the competitions but just by 1 or 2 points. These would be fun to have in NH!
After archery we were pretty pooped and enjoyed just relaxing by the pool until it was time to go.. After poolside lunch we had a driver take us the 3 hour drive to Dubai. We realized this really was the only hotel in the dessert around these parts near Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It was a totally unique and awesome experience. I am so glad we went.
We were greeted by hotel staff at the JW Marriott that took us to our room. It was a beautiful room on the 59th floor. The hotel is really spectacular with twin towers and almost galactic looking. It is the tallest hotel in the world and all the hotel is filled with guest rooms and lots of restaurants and a pool and spa etc. Through our hotel in Abu Dhabi they had given the concierge a list of the things we had wanted to do so when we got there and they knowing we only had 2 days to do it all they had a plan. They had made a reservation for dinner for us overlooking the dancing fountains, at the base of the Burj Khalifa at a fantastic Japanese restaurant Hashi with a reservation to go up Burj Khalifa at 10:30 p.m. After a shower we were good to go.
Dinner was incredible, best Asian food I had ever had, even in Japan. The chef was this funky and fun guy so sociable and wanted to create a meal for us. He kept bringing out little dishes that were so crispy and soft at the same time... it was heaven. The fountains which put on a show 3x the size of the Mirage every 30 minutes was totally amazing. It just about took your breath away and captured our whole attention. Looking up and behind us was the Burj Khalifa- HUGE and literally looks like it reaches right into heaven and so beautiful and just sparkling with little led lights flashing all over it. Just love it, favorite building in the world- it just is inspiring what people can create and the engineering and design feat of it is awesome.
Following our fantastic meal and photo with the chef, who thought he and Sam looked alike with their glasses, we made our way through the Armani hotel which was so darn sheik we felt not cool enough to be there, but again everyone was so friendly, we got right into line to head to the top. In around one minute the elevator climbed up to the 124th floor. You could walk out onto a viewing deck that wrapped half way around and then the rest of the view was from inside. They had these great telescopes where you could focus in on a building and it would let you see it magnified and then you press a button and it shows you what it looks like during the day, then what it looked like 20 years ago and it was desert. Really fun to see. The design of the building is made to confuse the wind the deflect the full force of the wind with a shape that almost spirals all the way up. The line going down was unfortunately so long with one elevator and no set time to get down. After a 30 minute wait we made it down, then headed back to the hotel where we promptly passed out in our hotel room. Another amazing day in the UAE.
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