Month: July 2016

Dubai, travel

Meeting Penguins!!!

Alicia says her most memorable moment of our trip was skydiving (which I was not there for because I have extreme fear of falling from heights…How could that be her favourite moment if I wasn’t present?). I guess in contrast, one of my most memorable moments was one she skipped out on too – meeting penguins at Ski Dubai!! Ski Dubai is a mini ski resort / winter playground / penguin habitat inside, can you believe it, a mall! Obviously, compared to what we are used to in Canada, the snow and the hill looks extremely sad and fake. However, penguins!!

There are multiple packages available, where of course, the more you pay, the more interaction you get. I didn’t get to be immersed in a huddle of little penguins as I had wished for because that required a minimum of 4 people to book online. However, being able to see one so up close and touching their feathers was already very exciting as it is! I like to believe it is an unique experience few people get to have. Continue reading “Meeting Penguins!!!”

waiyinwhitneyLeave a comment
Dubai, travel

Cruising on The Yellow Boat

I think Alicia and I did UAE proud as we hit up nearly all of the most common tourist attractions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.  This is proven as we met 3 different locals who seemed satisfied with our itinerary. The only thing we didn’t do was go to a Friday Brunch after party (more on Friday Brunch later).

Continue reading “Cruising on The Yellow Boat”

waiyinwhitneyLeave a comment
Dubai, travel

Old Dubai

After spending a week in Jordan, the change to a developed and thriving city was much appreciated and definitely missed. It was nice to return to a land with air conditioning, better Wi-Fi, more food choices, and less stares on being foreign.

Although Dubai is quite well known to be multicultural, what we found was the local foreigners were mostly Caucasian or South Asian – not so much East Asian. But I’m sure we stood out more because of our attire and conversation showing that we were clearly tourists.

Stepping into our hotel (Atana Hotel) which is only 3 to 4 star (in Dubai it can go up to 7 even….), was a huge breath of fresh air. I didn’t have much expectations for the hotel since we got it at a discount and I normally don’t stay in anything fancy…so I was extremely pleasantly surprised by how pretty our hotel lobby and even our rooms were; felt like entering paradise.  Ironically our hotel named their 2 towers after Adam and Eve.

Continue reading “Old Dubai”

waiyinwhitneyLeave a comment
Jordan, travel

Mars on Earth

Wadi Rum is Earth’s Mars! Even Hollywood thinks Wadi Rum is the closest to what we believe Mars would look like as the film “The Martian”, was filmed with it as their backdrop. Apparently so was the last Transformers movie, except I don’t really recall.

 We travelled through the desert on the back of a pick up truck, not the safest way to travel admittedly, but pretty common in the area. What was added on to the truck for tourists was some cushioned benches and an optional cloth to cover the open roof. No seat belts of course.

Continue reading “Mars on Earth”

waiyinwhitney2 Comments