2006 Italy Adventure

Bye Dubai, Hello Homework

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:57:31 +0800

I just arrived yesterday and I am still am very tired. I had a good flight home with no major inconveniences. I had a great time during my trip and I gained a lot of experience during the race. This is my last entry and I hope you enjoyed reading all of them. Bye Dubai, hello homework.......

P.S. here are some funny photos from the trip

Lunch at the worlds most luxurious hotel...

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:36:18 +0800

Today, we again drove to the Burj al Arab, but this time to have lunch. This was a rare opportunity because it takes up to several months to get a reservation there. Now, we were on the other side of the restaurant and it seemed like we were flying on an airship on the other side of the building from yesterday. I ordered some pan seared Foie-gras and a Kobe beef burger! Mmmmm! Even the action of reading the names and descriptions of the different foods in the menu, plus the sight of my flavorful delights started my appetite up! And once it lands in front of me, my nose starts to, together with my eyes, create a mental simulation of the taste of the food! The foie-gras was of high quality and cooked just right, so that even if it was the size and thickness of my palm, it still did not give me a headache from all the fats and oil! It had a tender texture and an extremely rich flavor that exploded in my mouth! The burger on the other hand, was 3x as soft, juicy, healthy, and flavorful as your average burger at McDonnald's! It was a party of the senses! That was one meal that was really worth going to all the trouble with the reservations!

Cocktails at the worlds most luxurious hotel...

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:54:08 +0800

With bar and restaurant that seems like it's floating in the sky, $6000 rooms, fountains that make music on their own, two aquariums that are cleaned by divers and the title of the "Worlds Most Luxurious Hotel", the Burj al Arab (the symbol of arabia) is definitely something of your dreams. I was lucky enough to have a tour of the facilities and have some drinks at the restaurant. The presentation was fantastic! The snacks were presented on a multi-level piece and the drinks were delicious! I had a great time, Tomorrow I'm going to eat lunch here again!

Tour Of Dubai

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:42:07 +0800

Today we were given a rare chance to visit "The Palm, " luxurious residential realty development, which was still under construction. We visited the second largest of three palms, The Palm-Jebel Ali. If you are wondering what I am talking about, the palms are enormous reclamation projects, basically they are a bunch of islands made by man in the shape of a palm. This one was over 7kms long and over 6.5kms wide. It took us about 45 minutes by boat to circle the "leaves"! I really enjoyed seeing one of the world's largest projects! I was very lucky because It was still under construction. We were toured by Jan Kop, a Dutch man who was the project manager for reclamation and dredging. We saw all sorts of large equipment and learned many things like, the fact that they can't use desert sand to build the palm, because if it gets wet... it becomes quick sand! I was amazed at the scale of the project, that is impossible to see from a plan. Next, we visited the Dubai marina and viewed all the high rise buildings there during the evening.

Hello Dubai

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:32:00 +0800

The drive to the Milan-Malpenza airport was about 3 hours long and when we finally arrived at the airport we were going in circles trying to find the tax refund counter--round and round we went until I finally suggested we ask a member of staff! After some time, were at the gate. There, we discovered that my grandparents were, through one unorganized travel agent, traveling in economy class! This was bad because my grandfather is a big person and the seat in economy class is a challenge to fit in for him, plus he has a back problem. With the flight full, they had to stay back in economy. When they finally sat down in their seats they said they were broken because the lumbar support was made of metal. So, my dad and I offered to swap seats. This whole incident was really annoying us. After testing the seat for myself, I discovered it was fine and was identical to mine! It was a challenging experience for them!

We arrived in Dubai at about 12 midnght and I wasn't the least bit sleepy. But after Immigration, luggage carrying etc. I landed on the bed and didn't remember anything else.