Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Even with credit card points we went over our $100 USD/night housing budget on our 5-night stay in Dubai. The month prior we spent in countries that stretched us hard - Bhutan, Nepal, and India - so we made a dedicated investment on comfort, rest, and familiarity. Boy were we excited to see a Buffalo Wild Wings at the Dubai Mall after a month of eating momos.
Dubai is money, money, money. Materialism, luxury, unstoppability. Anything you want you can buy. Taller, faster, shinier, all the superlatives, like a 7-star hotel.
We couldn’t afford to stay any longer, but were glad to have a few little tastes of home. And, we found real AE1s at the mall! Go Timberwolves!
Museum of the Future (tickets were sold out for a month)
First sighting of the Burj Khalifa
Grand Cosmopolitan Hotel dynamite breakfast buffet
Dubai metro
Headed to the Mall of Emirates
A ski slope inside the mall
Harry Potter store
Cinnabon!
Buffalo Wild Wings
Indoor mall ski slope in the background
Fresh squeezed OJ machines in every metro station
How do you use these things??
More grandiose retail
Dubai menswear
We found Ants!
Anthony Edward's Adidas basketball shoe
Chinatown inside the mall
A waterfall inside the mall
An ice skating rink inside the mall
Frozen yogurt
A saltwater aquarium inside the mall
A haunted house inside the mall
It's Ramadan, Curious George
A Dubai relief map inside the mall
Gaming stop
MGs and the Burj
Papa John's delivery
All the gorgeous yogurts and cheeses
Lights, music, fountain show
Fountainside dinner
To the top of the Burj Khalifa
Ski slope in the mall, complete with a ski lift and real penguins
Full fountain show
Outside the Dubai Mall
Up, up, up 148 floors to the top of the Burj
The Burj Khalifa in technicolor
Dubai from high up