Molweni (hello in Xhosa) from South Africa!
We are now in Cape Town at our volunteer accommodation. We have our orientation on Monday and have learned that we are doing a placement at a women's and children's help centre during our 3 week stay. The city looks just like any other major city apart from some of the temporary camps set up on the side for the indigenous people. We cannot wait to explore!
Dubai was absolutely AMAZING!! We really wished we had more time there since we had so much more to see. The weather was hot and fairly humid but not unbearable like people mentioned during their summer months. Our hotel was nice and cost us a small fortune since we had to get separate rooms. They treated us like man and wife anyways. It was almost 5 am by the time we got to bed the first night and we slept until noon. That afternoon we went on the Arabian safari. It involved a crazy ride through sand dunes in a toyota 4wheel drive vehicle. It was the 2 of us with an Indian family that were in love with us. We were like zoo animals. Mike was "very very long" and Sam was "really muscular" and "pretty". The men wouldn't leave her alone. Now we know what monkeys feel like at the zoo. click.click.click. photo after photo. They were really nice though and it was a fun adventure. The sand dunes were awesome!!! We ripped and slid along the sand with screams of delight (and a little terror).
The adventure stopped at a camp where we were offered a short camel ride. Sam managed to fall off when the camel started its kneeling. She would have gone over its head but managed to jump to the side. A little funny to see. The Indian father has it on video so we can only hope he sends it to us. Afterwards Sam was given her first Henna tattoo (which Mike thinks looks like poop). Then we enjoyed the surrounding activities until dinner and the show commenced. We sat at long tables on big cushions. There was a delicious bbq dinner and an Arabic show involving traditional Egyptian dance and famous belly dancers. We had these delicious pastry puffs with a sugar glaze that were just called Arabic sweets, as well as a tasty buffet dinner. YUM. It was quite spectacular! Definitely a memorable experience.
The following day we did a bus tour to see some of the major sites. The buildings are spectacular and the money invested is amazing. Although in the desert the city is very green because everyday they inject millions and millions of litres of water to maintain a green city. The majority of our time was spent in the Mall of Emirates, which had an indoor ski resort, and the Dubai Mall, which had a Olympic size skating rink and a massive aquarium (won Guinness Book of World Records). We walked for hours and hours to cover all the stores. We also saw the world's largest building and the self-proclaimed 7 star hotel. It was difficult to remember no public affection. We had to remind each other.
Our last day was spent at the Aquadventure Atlantis waterpark. Like little kids we went through the rip tides again and again. We also enjoyed the big water slides. Mike was the only one brave enough to do the drop ride which shot straight down before going through a tunnel with a view of sharks and other sea creatures. We spent the middle of the afternoon snoozing on the beach before going back to the rides. Over the course Sam managed to injure herself a few times. This first involved an enclosed tunnel on a 2 man tube. On one of the fast turns Mike's knee and the bottom of Sam's skull collided and caused quite a lot of pain to her head. The others involved being flipped off the tube and scraping concrete and banging ankles on the tubes. It was definitely a hazard day. A few war wounds to remember the awesome day!
Oh also - Emirates has been awesome to fly with. In economy they have enough leg room, personal TV's with enough games, movies, shows etc to keep you entertained for the entire flight. Mike was ecstatic when we first sat down. He could make a playlist with everything he wanted! The food and service is spectacular. Sam was given a first class meal because they only had salmon plates left and she doesn't like salmon. Really unexpected. We hope to fly with them again.
Missing everyone from home
xox
Anyways there is a very brief summary of our last week! Hopefully we have more amazing fun adventures to tell!
We are now in Cape Town at our volunteer accommodation. We have our orientation on Monday and have learned that we are doing a placement at a women's and children's help centre during our 3 week stay. The city looks just like any other major city apart from some of the temporary camps set up on the side for the indigenous people. We cannot wait to explore!
Dubai was absolutely AMAZING!! We really wished we had more time there since we had so much more to see. The weather was hot and fairly humid but not unbearable like people mentioned during their summer months. Our hotel was nice and cost us a small fortune since we had to get separate rooms. They treated us like man and wife anyways. It was almost 5 am by the time we got to bed the first night and we slept until noon. That afternoon we went on the Arabian safari. It involved a crazy ride through sand dunes in a toyota 4wheel drive vehicle. It was the 2 of us with an Indian family that were in love with us. We were like zoo animals. Mike was "very very long" and Sam was "really muscular" and "pretty". The men wouldn't leave her alone. Now we know what monkeys feel like at the zoo. click.click.click. photo after photo. They were really nice though and it was a fun adventure. The sand dunes were awesome!!! We ripped and slid along the sand with screams of delight (and a little terror).
The adventure stopped at a camp where we were offered a short camel ride. Sam managed to fall off when the camel started its kneeling. She would have gone over its head but managed to jump to the side. A little funny to see. The Indian father has it on video so we can only hope he sends it to us. Afterwards Sam was given her first Henna tattoo (which Mike thinks looks like poop). Then we enjoyed the surrounding activities until dinner and the show commenced. We sat at long tables on big cushions. There was a delicious bbq dinner and an Arabic show involving traditional Egyptian dance and famous belly dancers. We had these delicious pastry puffs with a sugar glaze that were just called Arabic sweets, as well as a tasty buffet dinner. YUM. It was quite spectacular! Definitely a memorable experience.
The following day we did a bus tour to see some of the major sites. The buildings are spectacular and the money invested is amazing. Although in the desert the city is very green because everyday they inject millions and millions of litres of water to maintain a green city. The majority of our time was spent in the Mall of Emirates, which had an indoor ski resort, and the Dubai Mall, which had a Olympic size skating rink and a massive aquarium (won Guinness Book of World Records). We walked for hours and hours to cover all the stores. We also saw the world's largest building and the self-proclaimed 7 star hotel. It was difficult to remember no public affection. We had to remind each other.
Our last day was spent at the Aquadventure Atlantis waterpark. Like little kids we went through the rip tides again and again. We also enjoyed the big water slides. Mike was the only one brave enough to do the drop ride which shot straight down before going through a tunnel with a view of sharks and other sea creatures. We spent the middle of the afternoon snoozing on the beach before going back to the rides. Over the course Sam managed to injure herself a few times. This first involved an enclosed tunnel on a 2 man tube. On one of the fast turns Mike's knee and the bottom of Sam's skull collided and caused quite a lot of pain to her head. The others involved being flipped off the tube and scraping concrete and banging ankles on the tubes. It was definitely a hazard day. A few war wounds to remember the awesome day!
Oh also - Emirates has been awesome to fly with. In economy they have enough leg room, personal TV's with enough games, movies, shows etc to keep you entertained for the entire flight. Mike was ecstatic when we first sat down. He could make a playlist with everything he wanted! The food and service is spectacular. Sam was given a first class meal because they only had salmon plates left and she doesn't like salmon. Really unexpected. We hope to fly with them again.
Missing everyone from home
xox
Anyways there is a very brief summary of our last week! Hopefully we have more amazing fun adventures to tell!
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