But, as always, first a word from our sponsors.
I give you the final installment of Sergey's Karibuni Tales, taking you to Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Namibia... probably countries you HAVEN'T heard of before.
And I give you the first installments of the AFAT blog. While it is DC focused, a bit ironically, the inaugural reports is from sunny/snowy Raleigh-Durham-Chapel-Hill, North Carolina.
Okay. Back to the main event.
As I was cruising through Trip Advisor, when I came across this review for the Bateaux Dubai. Now, normally this would not have registered, however, I remembered that the hotel was pushing this at a special price downstairs. When I put these two facts together, my interest piqued, so I brought this option the brain trust, who automatically agreed. So, I went down to make the reservation and, lo and behold, the hotel even offered to have a car pick us up at the end of the cruise at no cost, which was not inconsequential, considering that the cab ride back would have been about $60. So, that is when we decided to make a day in Deira, ending with this cruise. Not a bad day to end the trip.
So, we showed up at the docks a few Guinnesses in, to find this sweet ship made of ceiling to floor glass windows. Sweet! And classy!
But classy is clearly what we are not, as we take this photo. I bet they regret taking our reservation now!
As we board the ship and begin to float down the river, we quickly realize we aren't the only ones out there, as we pass probably a dozen other boats. Maybe we are a little biased, but the other boats don't look nearly as nice as ours. The above one had cool rail lights...
... while this is one is doing a cruise ship impression.
In general, the view was superb for the Dubai skyline...
... a very cool mix of the old and the new...
... though it seemed the new was definitely winning these days.
This was the view from the inside of the ship.
As you can see, the glass half gets in the way, and half adds a cool ghost aura. That will reappear during my telling of the Saskatchewan journey.
Anyways, as we got further down the river (i.e., more inland)...
... the buildings got smaller...
... but the lights were still just as bright...
... particularly for the Burj Khalifa from the post from two weeks ago.
One thing that did catch our eye, however, was this sweet mosque on the side of the river...
... with it's ominous looking tower...
... and Kennedy Center-esque auditorium next to it. Not surprised at all that they were the most prominent (and most beautiful) sights on the river.
Resha is impressed.
So, as we cheers our journey...
... we admire the interior as well...
... which as you can see is rather sheek and also rather empty. It was a Monday night, after all.
My "artsy" shot of Resha, my glass, and the mosque. But on to more important things..
... like the food. The menu was a prix-fixe with some choices for each course. I ordered this lamb carpacchio with goat cheese and a fruit sauce. It was very good.
I then ordered this sliced lamb shank (sensing a theme here?)...
... while William ordered these lamb chops. Remember, no pork!
My dessert was this sorbet wrapped in a chocolate wafer...
... while Resha ordered a variation of creme bulee. All in all, nothing to complain about for our meal. Well worth the money, all on it's own.
Between our appetizer and main course, the waiter suggested we walk around the ship, which had two decks. Not on to refuse advice from a "local" we immediately went about wandering the ship, and were not disappointed. One of the coolest things was the ship itself, which reminded me of a Korean turtle ship.
It had these sort of "claws" extending from the roof that gave the ship and organic vibe, which I dug.
The entire front of the ship, including the roof, was made of glass...
... and you could walk all the way around on the lower deck. Pretty majestic, actually.
The rear half of the ship had the deck, with the UAE flag waving prominently in the back.
This flag was for the Bateaux Dubai itself... I think.
William enjoying his wine in the awesome weather and great views. And me trying to do a bit of "perspective" photography.
I leave you with a view of the mosque tower and one of our counterparts speeding by.
Tune in next week, for this journey's final conclusion (can you believe I've been blogging for a year now)?
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