We made it to the Conrad Dubai at midnight on Saturday and were immediately whisked to an enormous honeymoon suite, courtesy of my residual Hilton Honors status - the gift that keeps on giving, apparently! After two tiring weeks in India and a long day of flying, the beautiful Conrad really was a desert oasis.
We slept in on Sunday and then began two solid days of celebrating my 30th birthday. Knowing I'd be indulging and also wanting to take advantage of the fanciest gym we've seen since NYC, I started with a workout before heading to our home away from home during the past few days: the Conrad Executive Lounge. The spread in the lounge was a sight for sore eyes (well at least our eyes after two weeks of Indian fare), featuring any breakfast delight you could imagine.
Once Alex and I properly savored everything included in the executive lounge spread, we headed down to the Purobeach Club on the sixth floor. While the sky was a little hazy, we still enjoyed laying by the pool and relaxing until early afternoon.
The setup definitely has a Las Vegas or Miami Beach vibe.
After getting some sun, we ventured out to the Dubai Mall for one of my other favorite pastimes – shopping. Since the mall is the largest in the world with over 1,200 stores, we did what I can only describe as power-shopping, moving quickly to select stores we had identified from the extensive mall directory. We were blown away by the selection – they had a Bloomingdales that could compete with the NYC flagship location, complete with the same in-store restaurant, 40 Carrots. We easily picked up a few items we needed but left before doing any serious damage!
Pretty impressive Bloomingdales. We were amazed to see women in full burqas who were trying on eyeliner at the makeup counter!
We returned to the Conrad to shower and get ready for happy hour, which was complimentary in the executive lounge. Enjoying a glass (or two) of wine and appetizers on the 24th floor was a perfect way to unwind after a very busy day…of doing nothing at all. The only reason we managed to tear ourselves away from the lounge again was to make our dinner reservation at The Rib Room. After two weeks in the land of the sacred cow, I made sure to book dinner at an American-style steakhouse for my birthday.
BEEF. It's what's for dinner. Feasting on expertly prepared steak and red wine was a perfect way to celebrate turning 30!
Monday consisted mostly of a repeat of Sunday’s itinerary, with the addition of a luxurious couples’ massage and trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. At 5:30pm, we took an extremely swift elevator to the 122nd floor and enjoyed a few expensive cocktails with a view to match.
First view of the Burj - pretty impressive!
We were so much higher than all of the surrounding buildings that it was really difficult to maintain perspective!
Sunset - sort of - over Dubai.
On top of the world for my birthday!
Looking down!
One last shot before saying goodbye.
Wanting something a little more casual for dinner – and hoping to offset our earlier upscale experiences – we headed to one of my favorite places, The Cheesecake Factory (of course there is a Cheesecake Factory in Dubai!). I’m not ashamed to admit my love of American chain restaurants and I was thrilled with my oversized chicken salad (apparently other locals agree as the restaurant was the most crowded one we saw)! Best way to end my two-day birthday celebrations - thanks to Alex for indulging me!
We slept in Tuesday and lingered in the executive lounge for one last time before packing up and heading to Abu Dhabi. The drive takes a little less than two hours, but getting there by taxi is easy (and only costs about US$50 total).
I was able to use more Hilton Honors points to secure a room at the Hilton Abu Dhabi, which was nice but it’s no Conrad Dubai! After getting settled, Alex and I headed to the one sight we’d been told see while in Abu Dhabi: The Grand Mosque. Completed in 2007, the mosque has capacity for over 40,000 people and is definitely more of a tourist attraction than house of worship.
Looking out over the noticeably empty women's prayer area.
Sporting my borrowed "mosque-appropriate" outfit. The staff demanded I "sag" my pants to ensure my ankles were fully covered!
Pretty impressive.
We could barely get a shot of the entire spire.
Really a beautiful place.
The mosque was amazing and really highlighted some of the opulence that has become characteristic of Abu Dhabi and its fancier sister, Dubai. We left and returned to our hotel and had an excellent dinner at Toki - we found delicious sushi in a desert! - before going to bed.
This morning we threw on bathing suits and walked to the Hiltonia Club, located on the Persian Gulf, across from our hotel. We spent the day lounging on beach chairs and soaking up the sun before getting ready for our desert safari with Emirates Tours.
View of downtown Abu Dhabi from the beach.
The beach included this floating dock that you could swim to.
After showering and getting ready - and pondering what to wear to the desert - we were taken with two other couples via jeep for our middle eastern adventure. We started with "dune bashing," otherwise known as sliding and jumping in a 4x4 through the sand dunes, and were fortunate to survive unscathed.
We passed a poor guy who had forced his caravan to pull over so he could throw up. Bad for him, great photo op for us.
Happy we got the majority of the dune bashing over with before enjoying our dinner, we headed to the camp site for the evening activities.
Before...
After.
The whole affair was a little touristy - dressing up in costumes, riding a camel around a circle path and watching a woman belly dance - but we had a great time anyway (plus we love Middle Eastern food!).
Desert taxi queue?
My "ride" lasted about one full minute.
Sunset in the desert
Tomorrow we wake up at 4am in order to get to Dubai in time for our flight to South Africa. We are meeting up with our friend, Dana, and looking forward to hitting up a new continent with a new travel companion!