Mardi Gras Ball - KSA January 28, 2010

Last night was the Mardi Gras Ball at the American Embassy - there was a group of us that went, and we all had a fabulous night. The function was held outside and it was absolutely freezing!!!

The food was fantastic - which included a huge pig - and it was so good. Real alcohol, so we made the most of that.

But as cameras and mobile phones are not allowed into the embassies I have no actual photos of the ball itself - but a friend of mine took some photos of me after the ball. I had 30 photos to choose from but you only get to see 3 - as I am very critical of any pics of me.

Hash - January 15th 2010

Today's Hash walk was at a place called Turkish Forts - nobody knows why it is called Turkish Forts or what went on here for it to be named that - but there is a little history attached - which u will read about in another photo.

Did not want to get close enough to see how deep it was - but have seen others photos and there were water in some of the wells.

Some ruins which at first we thought had been here for years and years but they have been built with galvanised steel in the roof!!!

And by the looks someone had been living in here.

The Edge of the World in the distance

This is the terrain we were walking on - its hard to admire the scenery as you are watching where u walk.

Apparently (not quite sure how long ago) but a Saudi went "crazy" and shot dead 80 people - and this is the graveyard where they are buried - with little rocks to mark each one !!!!

Dubai - Day Three

Day Three was just wandering around the massive (1200 stores) Dubai Mall.

We never even ventured above the first floor!!!

An amazing water fall inside the Mall

Heaven!!!! Pork is banned in the muslim religion - so there is no pork to be found in Saudi.

Me and my stash of Pork - and yes I managed to get through customs.

Somehow I don't think this would have made it through customs

Teri (sober), Kellie and Chris terribly hungover after a hard night at the Irish Village.

Dubai Day Two - New Years Eve

Day two in Dubai - we took the city bus tour - one bus takes you around the old sites of Dubai and the other takes you round the modern Dubai. It was a really long day but a good way to see the sites - you can hop on and off the bus all day.

This was taken the night before in the Mina A'Salam Hotel.

Enjoying my cocktails the night before

The Burj Dubai - tallest building in the world.

The Dubai Aquarium - inside the Dubai Mall

Inside Ski Dubai

Huge lolly shop in Dubai Mall

Our bus

Wafi Mall

Dubai Creek

Inside one of the spice shops

The Traditional Souq

Local Dress

Burj Dubai

Jumeirah Beach Hotel

Burj Al Arab - seven star hotel

The Jumeirah Mosque - the only mosque in dubai (of which there are 500) that non-muslims are allowed inside.

Heading out for New Years Eve - we went to the Irish Village

Kellie and Chris

Karen and Jo

Our feet at the end of the night - the result of dancing in bare feet all night.

Dubai Day One (December 30, 2009)

We decided to have girls weekend in Dubai for New Years Eve - and what a blast we had.

On board Saudia

Chris and Teri

Duty Free Dubai - it was quite amazing to see the amount of alcohol these guys were buying

Muslim religion forbids alcohol

Burj Dubai - the tallest building in the world

A piece of artwork in our apartment that I wanted to "borrow"

Our first "drink" in Dubai - Wheatgrass!!!!!

Christmas in Dubai

Close enough to Santa

Dubai Ski - it was not as big as we imagined.

Interesting shops to put together

The entrance up to the hotel Mina A'Salam

The Burj Al Arab Hotel

Smokin Shisha (hubbly bubbly) - it was mint/grape flavour - really nice

Cocktails and Shisha

Lovin it!!!

Cocktails and beer

Double Shisha

The Shisha Pipe

Our expert Shisha Man

We had fun trying not to choke on the smoke - being non smokers.