Experience Fulbright

Since this past week was my son’s spring break from school, we decided to take a little vacation in Dubai. Originally I had hoped to spend his spring break in Nepal but with the troubles between India and Pakistan, flying over Pakistan into Dehli for a connection to Kathmandu was going to be too much of a hassle. I asked some of my Uzbek friends where they’d go if they wanted some R & R and all of them recommended Dubai.

• 

• 

I’m going to be honest here. The thought of going anywhere in the Middle East was a bit unsettling to me at first, but it an easy direct flight to/from and my contact at the US Embassy in Tashkent used to live in Dubai and she assured me that it is very safe with wonderful beaches and shopping.

So, we took a leap of faith and headed to Dubai and I’m so glad we did. We stayed at a beautiful hotel with a private beach in Ras Al Khaimah, which is about an hour drive from the Dubai airport. It wasn’t a bad drive and we got to see camels grazing along the side of the road. Sorry, we were driving too fast for any good photos of the camels but here’s a few shots of what the landscape looked like in general.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We mainly just relaxed on the beach sipping “mocktails” and reading our books. With a beach as beautiful as the photos above can you can us for staying put?

• 

• 

• 

• 

We did take one afternoon to visit the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. We didn’t pay to go inside of it as it is fairly expensive and I hate heights so that was an easy decision. There is a large fountain in front that has a music/light show every 30 minutes starting at 6pm so we made a point to catch that despite the huge crowd.

• 

• 

• 

It is right next to the Dubai Mall so we also did a little shopping for things we can’t get in Tashkent, like books in English. My son is an avid reader and has already blown throw all the books we brought from the US and four that we bought in when we were in India. We also enjoyed a snack from Cinnabon, which is apparently in every mall in the world.

We also discovered a Waitrose (British grocery store brand) in the mall and took advantage of the opportunity to buy some things we can’t get in Uzbekistan, like flour tortillas, brown sugar, liquid vanilla extract, taco seasoning packets, A & W Root beer, and more peanut butter. My son’s birthday is coming up in April and I always make him a carrot cake. Carrots are plentiful in Uzbekistan but I bought everything else I will need for his cake, including cream cheese and powdered sugar for the frosting.

We not only enjoyed the beach, but also appreciated having a taste of home. There are no American chain restaurants in Tashkent except the brand new KFC which we haven’t visited. In the UAE there are many American chain. We found a Chili’s and a Kripsy Kreme in the mall near our hotel. We even enjoyed eating at McDonald’s in the Dubai airport while we waited to board our flight back to Tashkent.

• 

• 

• 

All in all it was a wonderful spring break trip which allowed us to relax and enjoy a few “American” things before heading back to Tashkent for 3 more months.