Our latest travel adventure landed us in Dubai. It was a business trip for Rich but Angela and I tagged along for some fun - a work-cation. I will post some photo's here, but if you want to see the entire set you can check them out on Facebook (unless of course you don't have a FB page - but I really think that Rich is the only one that is still holding out on Facebook).
We were a little nervous leading up to this trip because Angela was not such a great traveler on our last trip (to Seoul). She managed to redeem herself though and we really had a great time in Dubai.
When we arrived in Dubai, it was hot. I was excited about this after many cold and rainy days in Shanghai. It was also clean. And everybody spoke English. I guess I've grown accustomed to living in China so I rarely notice how gross this city can be and how much the language changes your everyday life. It was so nice to be able to get into a taxi and tell them where to go without needing the address written out. And to walk into a restaurant to find baby chairs readily available. Dubai does come with its own culture shock but I guess in comparison to China it didn't seem quite as difficult to adapt.
We stayed in a great hotel in Jumeirah Beach - right on "The Walk" which is an area filled with hotels, shopping and restaurants. The hotel had a great kiddie pool and the staff were so great at keeping Angela happy during the day. Our good friends Shannon & Darren moved to Dubai late last year and were so gracious to show us around the city.
Our big day out was Friday - since the work week is Sunday through Thursday in Dubai (Friday is a holy day and most offices are closed). We went to the top of the Burj Khalifa, had a fantastic brunch at the Westin hotel, and then relaxed at Shannon & Darren's apartment. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world and has a viewing platform on the 126th floor. A few weeks after the building opened (earlier this year) there were stories in the news about visitors being stranded when the elevator malfunctioned. It has now been fixed and we were eager to get up there to see the view. As the elevator descended on our way back down, we felt it stop and most of us noticed that the screen showed "G" meaning we were on the ground level. Well, the doors didn't open and the elevator started moving again - it was obvious we were going back up to the top. We reached the 126th floor and the doors opened and then closed again. A minute later we were back on the ground level and this time the doors opened. Whew...
We headed back to Shanghai very early Saturday morning - most international flights leave Dubai in the middle of the night. Our flight left at 3am which was nice because Angela slept for the first half of the trip. We only had two nights of jet lag induced sleep trouble, which was pretty amazing considering it used to take a week or longer to get back on schedule (although that is comparing a four hour difference to the 12 hours from NY).
the view from our room
the view from our room (yes, camels!!)
Angela LOVES the water!
Hanging out at brunch - for some reason she loves putting her feet up on the table. 
Family photo op at the top of the Burj Khalifa
struggling. There were two men attempting to pull a stack of bricks that were piled onto a cart with wheels up a ramp. They were failing quite miserably because just as they would reach the top of the ramp, one of them would loosen their grip and the entire thing would start rolling backwards down the hill. About an hour later when we walked back by, the same two men were bringing the same pile of bricks back down the ramp into the garage (that is when I took a picture). All that work to bring them up, just to bring them back down again?
