For those of you who don't know, my sister, Heidi, lives there, which is the reason for our going. I assure you, it was not even a blip on my radar screen of 'places I would like to go to on holiday', so if it weren't for Heidi, we would not have gone. The kids and I went on our own, leaving Carl behind at work to pay for it!It was so super to see where Heidi lives, to see what her house looks like, meet her dogs, and her sweet Philippino maid, Daisy. To see her children's school, meet her friends, and check out the local shops -which one to go to for fruit and veg, which one has decent bread, which one is the one for Pork products etc.! I kid you not, shopping there is a mammoth task. And Heidi hates shopping at the best of times!
Not to mention to finally understand first hand the oddities of living there -in a desert, in essentially a 3rd world country, but with first world money. I think I can safely say it was the weirdest place I've ever been to, and I think Heidi is amazing to have made such a go of it. No easy task in a strictly Muslim state where the expats are second class citizens. Of course, it is not all bad - living on a real desert island can have some benefits!We did HEAPS - Heidi was the consummate tour guide. There is no public transport, so Heidi really set aside 2 entire weeks on her life to take us around and show us everything there was to see. Darrell also took some time off work and took us on the longer distance/high effort activities.
I took 360 photos (with my new camera that I bought there), but I will narrow it down to a select few (that's cos it takes forever to upload photo's!!). Some of the highlights were:
A trip to an oasis, Al Ain, and a drive up Jebel Haffeet mountain. Such a rugged, but beautiful landscape.
A day at the Water Park, Atlantis, in Dubai. It is situated on the Palm Jumeirah which is reclaimed land shaped in a palm, and then developed. Crazy, but true. We saw it with our own eyes!
A visit to the Grand Mosque. Absolutely beautiful and so impressive - it contains the world's largest carpet, world's biggest chandelier and world's biggest dome in a mosque. You'd think it was a land of short men, for all these 'world's biggest' records they hold!
A visit to the Falcon Hospital. Falcons are a big thing there - it is part of their history from living in the desert, and Falcon hunting is a tradition that has continued. Mostly by the Sheiks, and you can see why when they can pay up to R800 000 per bird!
We had an amazing day in Dubai where we saw so much! The kids had their longed for Camel ride; we saw the ski Dubai (3 deg inside, but 40 deg outside, go figure!); a wonderful trip on an Abra up the Dubai creek, we also got to watch those amazing sand bottles be made by hand, then we finished the day off at the Dubai Mall , at the foot of the Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building at 828m high) where we had dinner and watched the most incredible musical fountains. Wemmer Pan has a long way to go!!! 
Another highlight was a camping trip in the desert (the boys camped overnight, we girls bailed at about 10pm). Darrell took us dune bashing which the kids loved, but I am getting too old for it!We also did some kayaking - both in the channels running past some amazing hotels, and the Grand Mosque, and then another day we went through the mangroves. Did I mention before that it was 40deg??? I nearly died!
So, all in all, what a fabulous trip! A massive thank you to Heidi and Darrell, as well as Alex, Davey and Steph who also had their lives and rooms invaded for the duration of our stay!
