Traveling Jones

  Relaxing weekend spent at a couple of beach clubs.  The first was White Beach, located on the outer Palm at the Atlantis resort.  Shown above is a tethered balloon with an observation platform.  You can see the people if you look closely.  Broader view shown below.  Dancers at White Beach dressed in the Atlantean theme Group of people sitting next to us who seemed to be celebrating multiple birthdays. Looks like sparkling wine! An Uber helicopter. Traffic has gotten so bad here with the rapid population growth that this is starting to become a thing. They were landing next to the beach every 2-3min.  Not really practical for us given how expensive it is but there are plenty of people here who can afford it.  Flying cars are on the horizon in the next year or two as well.  Our second venue was one of our fave locales - Lucky Fish.  Also on the Palm but only on the trunk, closer to where we live. View back toward the marina where we live...

  Some rare pics of us dressing up for a Halloween party. Julie is a Mexican Day of the Dead Priestess and I am the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. My tea cup prop proved quite useful. Our friends’ Halloween party, comprised of people from the US, UK, Czech Republic, Russia, Bosnia, France, and likely a few others I’m forgetting. Halloween is not a big deal here but still a good excuse to have a party! Finger sandwiches anyone? Some general Dubai pics thrown in for good measure. Below is the iconic Museum of the Future with Dubai Metro visible in the forefront.  Dubai Marina Below, a Lamborghini Huracan for rent. Although seemingly cool, this little thrill ride has proven to be quite the annoyance.  People (usually young men in their 20’s with a lot to prove) rent these things and tear up and down the bridge below our apartment. I don’t think they know how to shift as I hear a lot of high RPM’s in first gear. Sad . . .  We get to listen to this post adolescent b...

  Busy weekend of sightseeing with our visiting friends Mark and Lisa.  Above is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at 880M.  After sunset, they use it as the canvas for an incredible light display.  Thousands of lights are built into the sides of the building and are choreographed by computer into something uniquely spectacular.  I’ve attached a 4-5min video at the end of this post.  Below, a daytime view of the Burj Khalifa, which literally means Khalifa’s Tower.  Khalifa, the ruler of the UAE at the time and brother to the Dubai sheik, rescued the financially troubled project in its latter stages of completion in 2010 and was honored with the name   View of the roof of the Dubai Mall (the largest mall in the world) from the top of the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world).  The Dubai Mall contains over 1200 stores across 13 million square feet (roughly the size of 50 football fields). It is also the most visited...

Good weekend here in Dubai but relatively uneventful. We enjoyed a couple of dinners and explored some new places. Pictured above are several highend cars parked in front of the hotel at the Medinat Jumeirah, a fairly common sight here in Dubai. There is a lot of money here and Americans seem to be the only ones who have to pay income tax back to their home country.  FYI, these are not our cars! One of stops this weekend. Thought I could at least get some decent beer. Bonus . . . They served pork knuckle! (actually a shank but I’m not going to correct them) Another stop . . . Trader Vic’s, from the famed Warren Zevon song Werewolves of London. Piña Colada anyone? I’ve posted these before but worth an occasional repeat. These are residential towers in the Dubai Marina where we live. The Cayman Tower on the left is most interesting as each floor is offset by 1.2 degrees. In total, the top floor is offset 90 degrees from the bottom. I called it “the Twizzler” when we first arrived her...