Welcome to the Jungle

The Guns N Roses jungle, that is. I (sorta) surprised Joe with tickets to the GNR show last weekend. He'd been hinting for months, so I was going to just let him show up from work and turn him back around to go to the concert. However, I had technical difficulties so he ended up buying the tickets. Go figure. The show was at Yas Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. It's a pretty popular venue, hosting the likes of Norah Jones, The Jonas Brothers, Bryan Adams just in the last month, and I think Kanye West will be here soon if he isn't already.

Guess what...the picture below is the fastest roller coaster in the world. (They aren't impressing me anymore). It's called Formula Rossa, is part of Ferrari World, and goes 240km/hr, or 149 miles per hour. You have to wear goggles.

Back to the show.... this is a picture of the outside of the Yas Arena.

And here is Joe with Pete's friend Ryan and his buddies Wesley and Chris. Each with two beers...hmmmmm...

Chris wanted to be in a picture with us.

The inside of the venue is sort of like Lakewood (HiFi Buys...whatever it's called now) Ampitheater but without the seats in the front. They have a VIP section, a Golden Circle, and then General Admission for us lowly expats.

There were a LOT of people at this show! Joe took this of crowd behind us once we got settled in.

While we were waiting for GNR to take the stage, they played "...standin' in line to see the show tonight and there's a light on...heavy glow..." by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I had just taken this picture. Thought it was kinda neat :)

Here's Axl on the big screen:

True to tradition, their last song was "Paradise City." During the song they blew out TONS of red confetti which was awesome.

I think Joe liked his early Christmas gift :)

Al Ain Zoo

On Friday we planned to go to the Dubai Zoo. Upon searching for it's website, Joe came across several articles protesting the zoo's cramped conditions. Apparently, PETA was here in Dubai for their first Middle Eastern protest this July! According to numerous articles, the animals live on concrete in small cages, and more than 80% are animals brought in by smugglers and confiscated by customs. We thought it would be a sad sight, so we decided to look elsewhere. Fortunately, the city of Al Ain in the emirate of Abu Dhabi has a wonderful zoo! Colin was impressed. This is the entrance to the Al Ain Zoo. Al Ain is a little over an hour's drive through the desert from Dubai. It costs 15 dirhams per person to enter, and Colin was free.

The Al Ain Zoo collaborates with the San Diego Zoo, which may explain why it's such a great place.
Guess what the first exhibit is...flamingos of course! Colin loved watching them in the water. He was pretty mad when we rolled him away in the stoller. Little did he know that the monkeys were just around the corner. Oh, but first, we saw MEERKATS! There were 2 playing in this window and Colin just giggled and giggled. I didn't see any primetime drama like on Meerkat Manor, but I guess the zoo makes life a little more stable. This monkey appeared to have fallen asleep suddenly while trying to lie down. His limbs were stuck out like rigor mortis. Don't worry, though. He's definitely alive.

Humongous ostrich. Colin got a laugh out of this one, too. She was pecking at the gate incessantly.
One view of the African Safari exhibit with giraffes, zebras, and rhinos. No elephants at this zoo, though. It's a very scenic zoo with the mountains in the background. A little chinchilla in the noctural animal house.
The White Sambona Lions are the most popular exhibit at this zoo. This one was snoozing, so I couldn't get a good picture.

The expression on this monkey's face cracks me up....

It was hotter than I expected, so we had to break out the sunscreen.

Fortunately, they have these super awesome cool mist lines all throughout the zoo. They turn on automatically and really help you cool down!We hit the "food court" on the way out: KFC, Hardee's, Pizza Hut, or Krispy Kreme (not pictured).

There is a mosque inside the zoo for prayer time.

And I thought this fountain was lovely.

I was really pleased with our zoo trip! I'd even go back again sometime. Colin had a lot of fun. He took a good nap on the way home :)

Some morning exercise

This morning, I decided to get out for a walk to the beach. From our apartment, you just cross the bridge over the Dubai Marina, take a stroll down The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence, and choose where you'd like to cross the street to enter the beach. (I didn't take this picture...you'll see why in a minute).

So, off we went, across the bridge, down The Walk, into Starbucks for a quick fruit salad and strawberry smoothie, and across the street to the beach. My intentions were to walk on the sand with Colin so he could find some shells and watch the waves from a safe distance. Unfortunately, people park on the sand so it's quite rocky and hard on the feet. We walked further down the hill to the softer sand closer to the water.

Colin totally freaked.

I sort of anticipated this, but was really hoping he wouldn't since we didn't have swimsuits or towels. I could have turned around, trudged up the hill and back to the stroller with a screaming child, but I decided to try another route. We went straight to the water and sat down in the surf...jean shorts and all. He clung to me for a few minutes, then his little body relaxed and he started giggling at the waves, especially when they would hit us. We stayed until his little cheeks were rosy red.

I spent the walk to the top of the beach thinking of how we would have missed such a fun time if I was worried about getting my clothes wet and sandy. And boy were we sandy.

I figured that hailing a taxi was out of the question, but one stopped in front of me as I waited to cross the street. He rolled down his window, looked at us for a second, then said "Sorry, too many problems." I had to laugh.

We found a women's bathroom and I hoped to rinse off as much as possible so we could walk home without anyone staring. Guess what...the sinks were out of order. And there were no other bathrooms nearby. Paper towels did the trick.

So, we went back down The Walk, across the bridge, and to the apartment...in wet, sandy, jeans and 102 degree weather.

Quite a way to get my exercise.

The Dubai Mall

This morning we headed to the Dubai Mall so Colin could see the aquarium. On the way, we went under a Salik toll booth. These were designed in 2007 to improve traffic flow. Instead of throwing a quarter into the toll booth, a Radio Frequency Identification camera reads the barcode that you have to stick on your windshield and sends you a bill. Dubai can issue you a speeding ticket in the same fashion. No cops on the side of the road here...just cameras. We saw the Burj Khalifa on the way. (The tallest building in the world)

Once inside, we saw the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. Colin was hooked! (No pun intended) It has the world's largest acrylic panel. Noticing a trend here? Dubai likes to have the biggest EVERYTHING.

We didn't go into the aquarium because, well, we're cheap, and you can see a huge tank without paying to go inside! We'll go in eventually, I'm sure.

Colin was totally in awe. I think we probably stayed at the viewing window for close to an hour, total.

Every time a fish would come near the glass (acrylic, I guess!), he would just laugh and laugh.

A little guy about Colin's size joined us for awhile. He was equally amused.

Luckily, Romano's Macaroni Grill is just across from this tank. We ate lunch there so Colin could keep tabs on the fish.

Also in the mall is this awesome wall of water with silver diving manequins. I couldn't find any information online about those, so all I have is a picture :)

And then we found the Hershey's store! YUM!

And the Reese's corner of the Hershey's store...super YUM. Joe found white chocolate Reese's cups which made him happy.

For a mere 69 dirhams, you can have a Hershey's Dubai shirt.

The entrance to the Burj Khalifa is actually inside the mall. We went out to the plaza to take some pics.

If you look just to the left of the building, you can see the moon.

Colin wasn't super thrilled about having his picture taken with the Burj Khalifa, but it turned out pretty good anyway! This was my favorite store in the whole mall...

Operation: Entertain Ourselves

Friday, they turned on the gas in our apartment :) That means we were able to cook dinner...on the stove! Our first homemade dinner together was spaghetti and green beans. Made the place start to feel like home. Saturday morning, we walked to the playground that's about a block from our apartment. Thankfully, it's shaded. Colin had fun sliding down the slide with his Dada. There were a couple of guys from the UK kicking around a soccer ball in the field. They were barefoot, and ran around like they were on hot coals. I'm sure the sandy grass felt like hot coals.

Colin thought it would be a good idea to spill his juice all over his shirt on the stroller ride over to the park. Guess he was hot :)

This morning began Operation: Entertain Ourselves while Joe was at work. Couldn't go to the pool or the beach due to lack of baby sunscreen, so we walked to the Dubai Marina Mall which isn't far away (one block past the playground). If we were fortunate, the metro would be open and we could go pretty much anywhere in Dubai. Here's the street entrance:

And the walkway across Sheikh Zayed Rd:

And the Jetsons-like metro station across the street. Unfortunately.... I wish they would open the darn thing so I could get around!! Instead, we walked past the metro and went to the Marina Mall. We just walked around (exercise for Mama) and sat down at Starbucks for Colin to have a snack.

I tried to read the paper, but this is all I could find:

Colin & I ended up having a pleasant day, which made me hopeful! I made Cheaters Chicken & Dumplings for dinner and then we went to the Emirates Mall. I found an Osh Kosh, Gymboree, and several other kids clothing stores. Luckily, I have allllll the clothes Colin needs until it's cold outside or he needs a 4T! This is a picture of the Mall of the Emirates Atrium.

Inside the mall is the famous Ski Dubai. We didn't go in, just took a few pictures from the windows.

How awesome is that?!? You have to wear a snowsuit because it's so cold in there....in Dubai.