Abu Dhabi and Dubai

Well we survived the first leg of our trip, a day in Abu Dhabi, and two days in Dubai. Two cities that don't know what to do with their recently acquired wealth, more buildings under construction then are currently there, and of course the man made islands (one palm island almost finished, two in the works, and a map of the world off the coast of Dubai). Despite our exhaustion from the 10 hour time difference, we managed to see most of Dubai, from the working class older neighborhood where we stayed, to the indoor ski hill at the Mall of the Emirates. The difference between the two is night and day, we fit in better with the regular people, and were stared at as we tried to approach the grounds of Dubai's 7 star hotel, which is in the shape of a sail.

Citizens make up only 20 percent of the population, leaving the other 80 percent to build and service the rest. It was an eclectic mix of Indians, Chinese, Pakistanis, Bangladeshans, and more. From our hotel room we could hear the call to prayer from about 5 different mosques, but unfortunately Paul was already awake at the 4:30 call (our body clocks are totally off).

Well we are ready to board our flight to Mumbai, we arrive around 5 am and are excited to be in India. I'm sure we will have plenty to write about after a few days in the world's largest city.