Dubai: We are family....

"We are family. I've got all my sisters with me."

International family reunion in Dubai at Soukh Jumeriah. So good to hang out, cook, go out together like old times. Mom found some rocking toothpicks for her collection and dad enjoyed his scotch on the rocks. We sisters chose mojitos and martinins as usual. Ajay (not in pic) ordered an unusually fruity mai thai like fruit rum punch.
REVIEW OF SOUKH MEDINAT JUMEIRAH: Trader Vic is in the Souk Jumeirah, a newly built shopping mall/hotel/resort in Arabian Style with a Venetian twist, as there are canals and small gondola-style boats to get you around. Especially in the evening, the terrace at the waterfront is a romantic place, with the "old style" Arabian Souk in the background and the gondolas going by. Of course, you don't have the hustle and bustle of a true Arabian souk, but I guess that a lot of people don't mind that at all. It is a Disneyland style combination of Arabian ehtnic, Venice and expat-wives, however without the kids :-) Inside, there's eating and dancing and that is a lot of fun.

BURJ AL ARAB

This is the tallest operating hotel building in the world (not counting mixed-use buildings like Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai or the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea). "Burj" is Arabic for "Tower". The building's external lighting schemes, from white light to a multicolored one, change from one to another every 30 minutes expressing the evening's progress. The building's design is influenced by the profile of an Arabian sailing ship. The Al Muntaha restaurant is located 200 metres above the Persian Gulf, offering great views of Dubai. It is accessed by a panoramic elevator. The atrium is 180 metres high, one of the tallest in the world.