the-wedded-wanderers: February 2012

It's always fun showing off your new home to a visitor- especially when it is your dad who is equally excited about exploring a new city. D to the double J was visiting Bangalore India and decided to stop in Dubai on the way home for the weekend. Our first visitor also gave us an excuse to do some of the touristy things we haven't done yet. On Friday, we went on a cruise of the Marina followed by the International Food Festival at DAA which was an awesome event with thousands visitors and food from every corner of the globe Sierra Leone to Pakistan, Argentina to Korea. On Saturday we went to the Jumeira Mosque which presents an introduction to the muslim faith and explanation of customs and beliefs. This was followed by the Dubai Museum, a walk through the souks of Deira (the old part of Dubai) a trip up the tallest building in the world, finished off with an amazing thai dinner overlooking the fountains at the Dubai Mall. phew.. what a weekend.

Now that our first visitor has come, he can spread the word... and hopefully more visitors will join us soon!

Here are some pictures from our busy weekend:

Burj Al Arab

A cruise along the marina

Twisty Building

On our private Dhow Ride

The Dhow with the Marina in the background

Before the Food Festival with Matt, Donna, Andy and Sandy

Food Festival in full swing. We only made it half way around. Great food!

A small boat takes you across the Dubai Creek from the textile souk to the spice and gold souk

View from the Burj al Khalifa- looking down on sky scrapers

A few months ago we were approached by our friends Ann and Jonathon about a trip to Beirut. At first, I was a bit apprehensive. Having a father who religiously watched the ABC news every evening, I could not help but think of all those images on television about violence and conflict in Beirut. Lebanon is a nation that has seen civil war, occupation from outsiders, political assassinations, and was a launching point for fighting in the middle east. Despite all of this, the resiliency of the Lebanese people has prevailed and Beirut is now an incredible city to visit. The city is a wonderful mix of french colonial architecture, middle eastern culture, and a diverse mix of people from throughout the region. Standing on the waterfront in Beirut next to palm trees you can look across the bay and see glistening white mountains in the background. In three days we went from the sea to the mountains and back again.

We were hosted by Mo and Zeina who used to work at DAA but now live in Allepo Syria where they work at the UN sponsored school there. They were also on a 3-4 day weekend and brought several of their friends from Syria to Beirut for a change of scenery. We therefore got to spend time with several couples who have spent their careers at various international schools around the world.

After a day exploring the streets of Beirut, we loaded up the cars and made the 2 hour journey to the mountains where we rented gear and went skiing for 1.5 days. The skiing was amazing. The entire mountain is above treeline so you have unobstructed views from the top of the mountain to the sea. It was pretty amazing to be standing on a snowboard and looking down on the Mediterranean. I snowboarded with Scott, a teacher from Syria who was equally keen to explore the mountain. Although the snow was windblown, we found some powder spots.... didn't think I'd be riding powder in the middle east!

We finished off the trip by heading to Harissa which is part way up a mountain overlooking the sea. Then off to Byblos, an ancient village that was originally settled by the Phoenicians in 6000 BC. Probably the oldest ruins either of us have ever been to. We jumped in the car with our crabby old man taxi driver and set off for the airport arriving back in Dubai at 2:30am... squeezing the the long weekend for every last drop.

Awesome trip! See pictures below: