That's her "it's frigid!" face. Going up the ski lift. "I think we can do this!"
Our friends that we met.
Yummy hot chocolate. Definitely a must up top at Avalanche Cafe
View from above
Opened in November 2005, the indoor resort features an 60-meter high indoor mountain with 5 slopes of varying steepness and difficulty, including a 400-metre-long run, the world's first indoor black run, and a 90-metre-long quarter pipe for snowboarders. A quad lift and a tow lift carry skiers and snowboarders up the mountain. Adjoining the slopes is a 3,000-square-metre Snow Park play area comprising sled and toboggan runs, an icy body slide, climbing towers, a snowball shooting gallery, an ice cave and a 3D theatre. Other attractions include a mirror maze and a snowman-making area. Winter clothing, ski and snowboard equipment are included in the price of admission.
An extremely efficient insulation system helps the facility maintain a temperature of −1 °C during the day and −6 °C at night when the snow is produced.
Olga was iffy about going to Ski Dubai since she went inside the indoor Ski Resort a few days prior to my arrival in Dubai. However, she did not ski. She went up the ski lift with her mom and had hot chocolate at Avalanche Cafe. I told her, "we must try out the skiing. we're already here!" Yeah we're novice skiers but we'd probably figure it out. I was half right about that statement. While I never quite got the hang of it like skiing when I was 5 years old, I still managed to stand up and ski down the slope. What a thrill it is when you have the cold air blowing through your face. Good thing there were no serious crashes or that might have delayed my recovery from my back injury.
Olga on the other hand, well, lets just say she enjoyed it much better from the viewing deck at Avalanche Cafe. She attempted one ski down the slope but after that, she figured it was better with her feet planted on the ground, ski-less. At least she could say that she gave it a shot.
That goes for everyone visiting Dubai and the Mall of the Emirates! That last attraction concluded our visit in Dubai. The rest was family time with Olga's mom and uncle. This was a trip I would never forget. :)
Day 5 of the Dubai trip was the desert safari tour. And let me tell you, your trip to Dubai isn't complete without this tour. The trip begins with a pickup from the driver at your location. We were picked up with a Toyota Land Cruiser, which we would later learn would be our ride through the desert terrain.
Olga posing in front at the "pitstop" before the desert terrain
Pretending we rode the Hummer. But our Toyota Land Cruiser wasn't too shabby
For 100AED, which is approximately 27 USD per person, you get picked up from your location in Dubai, get brought to the outskirts of Dubai near the boarder of Oman and the United Arab Emirates (40 minute drive), then from there, they release some air in the tires and the off roading begins! The tour doesn't stop there though, after some cool drifts and climbs through the sand dunes, the driver takes us along with other tourists to a campsite where they have various activities that include Shisha (did I spell that correctly?), henna tatoos, gift shops, authentic middle eastern food, camel pictures, belly dancing, and whole lot more entertainment! What a deal right?
We're like humans on Mars! Enjoying and exploring the fine sand
The Toyota Landcruisers
Footprints in the sand
And how could you forget the camel?
Belly Dancer
The entire afternoon and evening trip of fun and adventure through the desert was definitely worth it. You definitely do get a taste of the local flavor of what the middle eastern culture is about. Like I said, this Dubai desert safari trip is a must!
September 20th was the day Olga and I went to Ferrari World. To get to this much acclaimed theme park, we would take the bus from Dubai bus station to Abu Dhabi, which is approximately just under a two hour drive. The road between Dubai and Abu Dhabi was pretty much a desert. Once in Abu Dhabi, we took a cab to Yas Island where Ferrari World and Abu Dhabi circuit. When the cab dropped us off in the entrance of Ferrari World, it was immediately spectacular. They couldn't have picked a better name. Ferrari all over = Ferrari world. The signs, the scarlet red colors, the Ferraris, souvenirs, wallpaper and formula one cars all made it feel like you truly in a world of Ferrari.
Taking the bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi
Entrance of Ferrari World
Olga in front of the Ferrari World entrance
We enjoyed the authentic Italian cuisine and of course the thrills and attractions of Ferrari World. The only letdown was perhaps the temporary closure of the park's main attraction: Formula Rossa. The coaster that is said to accelerate from 0-240kph in under 5 seconds. I was anticipating this ride even before going like you couldn't imagine so coming up to the gates and seeing that the ride was closed was a bit of a disappointment
Instead, we got on this ride below. Check the POV video out of Fiorano GT Challenge:
As a Ferrari fan prior to this visit, I found it quite easy to admire and adore everything there was about Ferrari in this amusement park. What I would also say is that if you weren't a fan entering, it would be guaranteed that you would leave the park a Ferrari fan.
No doubt for all visitors to Abu Dhabi or Dubai that part of your list of things to do ought to be to come to Ferrari World and experience what the company and its driving machines are all about.
The day I own a Ferrari - that day will be a dream come true.
Over the next two days, Olga and I would tour the Dubai malls. The first was Mall of the Emirates. Although it features the usual amenities for a mall (a fourteen-screen movie theatre, a gaming arena, a typical variety of stores, and a drama theatre), its biggest claim to fame is the Middle East's first indoor ski slope, Ski Dubai. With the ski area, one of the largest in the world, the Mall of the Emirates seeks to differentiate itself from the dozen or so other newly completed malls in Dubai and the surrounding emirates.
The second mall we visited was Dubai mall, claiming to be the largest mall in the world. Located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it is part of the 20-billion-dollar Burj Khalifa complex, and includes 1,200 shops. Access to the mall is provided via Doha Street, rebuilt as a double-decker road in April 2009. The highlight here was when we visited the large aquarium and water zoo. From the pictures, you'll see that they have all sorts of underwater creatures. Sharks, eels, stingrays, clown fish... You name it all. For 50AED, it was worth it. After going through the glass tunnel, your tour is far from over. Two floors up, they have a whole zoo of fish, crabs, and Olga's highlight: Penguins. Gentoo penguins and Humbolt ones.
How could I almost forget? The other highlight of Dubai Mall were the water fountains. Every 15 minutes in the evening, there would be a song that synchronizes with the flow of the fountains. Here's a video:
Video of the dancing fountains
For dining, we ate at the several food outlets in the malls and for dinner one night, kuya Jeff and ate Jona brought us to a place called Al Waqqas. A Pakistani food place. They serve these huge round breads with every meal so you can dip it anywhere. Very tasty at a very reasonable price. More pictures below.
For the next few blog posts, this will not be about the golfing adventures but rather the spur of the moment trip to Dubai I took last week Sept 17-Sept 24. After all, the title of this blog is "Living the Dream". Living the dream is more than just golf sometimes and this trip to Dubai was an example of that. With Olga's invite, I followed her for her last week in Dubai. You hear about Dubai in the media and how they portray it as the great new city of the world. Oil money I suppose is what runs this economy and it sure it evident how the United Arab Emirates has been able to build such a grand city in what was once a desert.
First day arriving, Kuya Jeff, Olga's uncle picked me up from the airport. From there, they were kind to let me stay at their place for a week. Not only that, despite their busy work schedule, ate Jona (Kuya Jeff's wife) and Kuya Jeff took Olga around on tours of the city. On the first day as this blog post will show, we went to Jumeirah Beach, Atlantis, took pictures by Burj Al Arab (Dubai's 7-star hotel), and ate authentic local food in Chalet. Pictures tell more stories so here they are. That's just the first day!
Like writing about the Ballantine's Taiwan tournament a month later, I'm also writing about the experience from this Cebu trip a few weeks after. There was such a quick turnaround between the finish of the Ballantine's Taiwan Championship and the following ADT (Asian Developmental Tour) Aboitiz Invitational event in Cebu. The unfortunate circumstance of the injury during the final round in Taiwan with my back had me thinking how to proceed. I arrived in Manila Sunday that evening. Then on Monday morning, I flew to Cebu. There wasn't any time for a doctor's appointment to checkout what really was going with the pain in my back. I was hoping for the best with two days of rest but in reality, expecting the worst.
Long story short, Monday and Tuesday were rest days. On Wednesday when I teed it up for the first round, I didn't find that day's finish line. On the 16th hole, the back gave in and hurt too much to even walk. From that point, another WD.
I'm very thankful for I was surrounded by great company for the those four days. Ryan, Misha, Olga, and I spent that trip together and turned it into a vacation. Pictures tell stories better than words. Oh wait, I think the expression goes more like this: A picture tells a thousand words. So I'll leave it to the pictures to make the story come alive.
Upon getting back to Manila, I'll have to schedule some tests and doctor's appointments but 'till then, there was nothing to do but to enjoy the queen city of the south. Beaches, the cuisine, our host hotel...
Congrats to Jay Bayron for winning this year's Aboitiz Invitational Championship
