Dubai

Had to roll out to Dubai to see what all the hype was about, below is the Burj Al Arab - the world's only 7-star hotel.



In the airport, these guys even had Rolex clocks. Pretty pimp.



The hotels in Dubai are really nice......it's a trip too, because you walk out of the door and it's like you're in the desert, but then you walk a little further and there are beautiful beaches.



I was really impressed with the beaches here too - for all of the tourism that comes through this place, they keep the beaches really clean. It was cool to go swimming in the Persian Gulf.



Shot of the city from the beach. Off in the distance is the world's tallest building: the Al Burj.



The thin white stripe behind the boat below is the "world islands" - a series of man made islands, which they're now starting to building structures on.



Picking up sand to move further out into the ocean, making extensions to the islands. These things are so big that they actually affect the general current miles away.



This was the cleanest bus-stop I have ever seen. And yet no one uses the buses in Dubai.



The malls here all look spectacular - rivers, palm trees, and a very middle-eastern feel in the architecture (makes sense right?).



I hadn't seen Costa Coffee since I had left the UK many months ago. These guys are all over the EU, so I was a little surprised to see them all the way over here.



I particularly dug the rivers running through these massive complexes. Little gondolas could take you anywhere you needed to be.



I was impressed with the way the buildings looked here. And everywhere, new ones were being erected.



The world's largest (seeing a theme here?) indoor ski slope. This thing was huge.



I gotta admit, I never thought I'd be posting it in the middle east, looking up at a McDonald's sign in Arabic.



I had been told before arriving in Dubai that this place was an architect's dream. I could empathize.



Hit up a night cruise down the river. This place was tight - a lot of electricity and buzz in this part of the "old" city.



Boats were moving back and forth. And the buildings look equally cool in the night.



Also made it out to the desert. This was the first time I had seen a desert, and I wasn't expecting much, but it was really beautiful. Definitely the finest sand I've ever felt.



Hit up the dune-bashing in the middle of the desert. This was awesome - felt like I was on a roller-coaster in the sand.



Caught the sunset out here - absolutely beautiful. It looked like the sky was on fire.



Just seconds before they brought the hookahs out I had to throw out a little west-side love for all my homies caught up in the struggle with open cases back in Cali, coming at ya from the (far...........actually, middle) east-side.