Living the High Life in Dubai

When leaving Afghanistan, we fly to Dubai and have about 12 hours on the ground before our international flight. So, we decided to visit the Burj al Arab, the world's only 7 star hotel! This is the hotel shaped like sail that people send doctored up photos of the helipad as a tennis court. . . We had to make reservations for afternoon tea in order to even get on the premises.

Billy and Dani in front of the hotel sign.

The hotel sign up close.

This camel was out front and too pretty to pass up. Dani thought about climbing on it, but figured that would be a one-way ticket out of the hotel.

The hotel is basically on an island. This photo is looking back at the neighboring beach.

And looking the other direction, the entry way, and neighboring hotel.

Standing at the bottom of the hotel, here's what the sail looks like.

Another angle of the "sail."

The entry to the hotel.

Dani and the camel.

The STRREEETTCCCHHH limo that belongs to the hotel.

Even the town cars have the emblem for the hotel on them. Very fancy!

This is the view as you walk into the hotel and look up. The grey marble is a fountain, and the rest are floors of rooms.

Looking from the second floor down to the lobby. The colored rocks in the fountain are just beautiful.

Again, looking up to the top of the "sail" from the inside.

A little more centered in the building . . . looking up.

The second floor of the hotel has shops, restaurants, and this beautiful fountain that danced with the music. Like a mini-Bellagio.

This is one of the booths at a restaurant. It was not serving any afternoon meals.

Another angle of this same restaurant.

The top floor has a restaurant that overlooks the water. Live music (lady in red playing the piano) is just part of the ambiance.

We finally sat down to have afternoon tea in the second floor "open" restaurant. It was a 7 course tea. This was the first course - finger sandwiches.

Followed by a wonderful salmon wrapped in filo dough - the sauce on it was amazing!

The third course was sorbet to cleanse the palate.

And then tea - many flavors to choose from.

The fifth course was scones, and boy where they good!

Then there was a yogurt and fruit dessert.

Followed by the last, but definitely not least, dessert options - all delicious!

From where we were sitting, this was the view looking up! It's very impressive.

And looking behind us, this was the view!

Dani striking a pose - the orchids in the background are real!

Billy and Dani enjoy tea!

After the Burj, we went to the Hyatt. Out front they had what Dani thinks of as the Beaver car! So of course there's a picture!

The Hyatt has a beach, which we walked along and waded in the water.

Billy during sunset at the beach.

Dani waded to this little rise in the sand.

The landscaping at the Hyatt was very pretty. Billy liked this as an idea for the future backyard.

And the chandelier in the lobby was stunning.

On the taxi ride back to the hotel, we went by the world's tallest building. It is currently closed for tourist to go to the top deck - perhaps next time.

This is a mosque we went by - yeah, not the best photo, but still neat how it is lit up.