Night Out in Dubai

Most of you who know me have an inkling that my life is unsettled lately. We fled Tunis in the face of the civil unrest and spent a couple of weeks in Paris waiting out the ugliness. Now that Tunis is considered safe enough for the guys to go back to work, it's still a little dicey for a woman alone. So, instead of leaving me behind in a house that's been broken into (and not reinforced to make those windows secure), DH has decided that I will travel with him. The new house has no land line, Internet or TV. I am not allowed to drive the company rental car. So, being stuck in a house with no communication and no wheels is not attractive to me either.

This week, I've been enjoying Dubai with DH. He's had four all day meetings. Each evening, he returns and we've had a quiet meal and settled down for the night. Last night, he was invited out on the town by a coworker who lives in Dubai.

They chose to take us to a shopping area that is co-located with the Burj Al Arab hotel. This shopping center is a huge, rambling complex full of upscale shops and shiny things. It is designed to be like an old souk or medina only brand new.

We walked through the shops and looked around. Bought some Starbucks coffee beans to carry back to the Tunisian friends who can't get coffee in the stores.

The stores have a riverwalk area and boats cross the water to ferry folks back and forth to the Burj Al Arab hotel. It's pretty spectacular at night. The lush landscape is dotted with palm trees that are all lit up with white fairy lights.

We went to the Left Bank bar and had a couple of cocktails. Any restaurant attached to a hotel can serve alcohol, so you have to pick your nightspot carefully. All I can say is that I enjoyed two frosty adult beverages and my conversational skills were not impaired.

Then we went on to The Meat Co for dinner. It's a real steakhouse that a Texan can love.

We shared dinner with two of DH's coworkers and one of their spouses. A lively crowd with great conversation. From our table on the terrace, we looked out over the water and saw the hotel lit up in the distance. The Burj Al Arab is an impressive part of the cityscape. The light show is fun and interesting. Every half hour the color cast up its height changes. On the hour, a sparkling array of lights shimmers all over its surface giving a glittering lightshow that takes your breath away. Such fun.

I enjoyed my dinner with friends. An evening out on the town in Dubai gave my life a feeling or normalcy that was absent for so long. Trolling through shops, a nice Cosmopolitan, and a rib eye steak. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

--Sandee Wagner