Dubai, Part III

We had a relaxing day today, spending all day at the beach. We even made some new friends, a few boys from Lebanon who now live in Dubai. Ariane played soccer with them and I refereed from the comfort of my lounge chair. Needless to say, they were also okay to look at!





We stopped at the grocery store for a cheap lunch and saw this sign, warning Muslims away from the pork products section:



Happy New Year!!! After getting back from Medinat Jumeira, we hung out with the boys we are staying with for a bit and got ourselves all good-looking for a fabulous VIP night out at Club Peppermint.



We had a table and bottle service reserved in advance, so when we arrived we were whisked past the long line of people outside the club and let in the velvet rope VIP entrance. Would you expect anything less?

The club itself is housed in a hotel, as is common for most clubs in Dubai, because it's easier for hotels to get liquor licenses. The club had a DJ and party favors for us, including fun masks:


Pretend the 2 in 2008 isn't backwards:





We danced the night away and had a blast ringing in the New Year!

Tonight we had a dinner reservation at the 7 star Burj Al Arab, the most luxurious hotel in the world. We got all dressed up and indulged in an all-you-can-eat buffet (very Arab). There was so much food I didn't even manage to try everything - sushi, traditional Arab dishes, cheeses, veal, oysters and so much more!








Trust me, I didn't clean my plate each time!

We also explored the hotel, something you can only do if you have a dinner reservation or are a guest of the hotel. We had to be checked off at the entrance just to gain admittance!







Right now we're hanging out with all of our new friends in the flat enjoying the remainder of our time together. We're leaving on a plane tomorrow to Qatar for the second leg of our journey!