Whirlwind tour....

All the pictures you want to see (and maybe don't want to see)have been added to my new flickr account, it's at the bottom of the blog:) how's that for delayed gratifiaction?!
.....there were just too many to resize this time!

So I haven't been on here for a while, things have been kind of busy and kind of hectic, but always fun, and always an experience. So get ready for my longest blog yet!! Just over a week ago I went to my "Katb Ketab" which loosely translated means the writing of the book. This is the second stage in the marriage process in Islam. The first stage is formal engagement. The "Katb Ketab" is basically a written contract between the patriach of he bride's family and the groom, then the bride and groom sign each page of the contract (the "book") and add their thumb prints to each page. Basically at this point they are married, and after they sign all the papers they have a big party. The party can be, and it was, as extravagant as wedding, but that doesn’t happen until about a week after (the third stage).

So the "Katb Ketab" was in the afternoon, and then we had to jet off to another wedding by the pyramids. If you will notice, yes I am wearing the same exact outfit I wore to the first wedding! I just don't have the need for party dresses in Toronto :p

But, before I went to the wedding, I had a little side trip to Dubai and met up with Diana Pereira, a fellow, but much more experienced Toronto journalist, and her friend Tammy King. Let me tell you about Dubai....


There is absolutely no place in the world like Dubai. I have NEVER seen anything like it. The city is basically brand new and ever changing. Construction is literally going on 24 hours a day. The whole time I was there (four days) I never once saw the colour of the sky because there is SO much particulate matter in the air. They have approximately 5,000 workers building The Burj Dubai Tower, which will be the tallest tower in the world, and will dwarf Toronto's proud little CN Tower.

But big is the resounding theme in Dubai. They want to make the world's largest everything. The world's largest mall is currently under construction (they also have the most malls per capita in the world, one with a ski hill, complete with black diamond run) the world's only seven star hotel is at home in Dubai (which by the way we never got to see the inside of, because you have to make a reservation at one of the hotel's restaurants, which we didn't know and had to leave the day we went to see it). They are also building a Versace condominium complex, and the list goes on and on!!

This city is essence of opulence and extravagance. It is founded on commercialism, Dubai is the only place in the Mideast with 59% of the population owning credit cards, which according to the newspaper I was reading, makes it a developed country. In comparison, Egypt only has 1.2% of the population using credit cards. On that note, thank God I had my credit card with, because let me tell you the shopping in Dubai is something else!! Really you have no choice but to shop, because the city is so new, it doesn't have a huge amount of historical sites, and the weather is stifling, so you are forced to take refuge in the malls. That's my story and I am sticking to it, if anyone asks why I shopped like a crazy woman!!

But, we did take part in some of Dubai's nightlife as well. Night 1 we went to the Jumeira City hotel complex sat on bean bags, had drinks and shisha, and wow wow we wah it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!! Night 2 we were pretty tired from chillaxing on the beach and shopping like crazy girls, so we grabbed a quick bite and drinks at a bar called Scarlett’s. Night 3 we went out with a friend of my cousin who lives in Dubai to a super chic place with the best sushi in Dubai called Sho Cho's, and then up to Boudoir for some hilarious clubbing action. And on our last night Diana and I decided to splurge and go for dinner and drinks at the Emirates Tower to Vu's restaurant, which is aptly named, the view was from the fiftieth floor (the restaurant, and fifty-first floor, the bar) was amazing, as was the food!! All in all it was a pretty fun place to check out, but not somewhere I think would want to live, it's a pretty artificial city, where money and more money rules all. But that said, Diana and I did find a super cute café, called the Basta Art Café, if you go make sure you check it out.

So we got into Cairo on Thursday evening, and on Friday I had ANOTHER wedding to go to, my cousin's best friend Menna (who's Katb Ketab was last week, oh and I also bought a dress in Dubai to wear to the wedding). I have to say I think this was the most extravagant, but beautiful wedding I have ever been to, and Menna couldn't have looked more gorgeous. It was a lot of fun and went very late, I think we got in around 6:30-7 a.m. Egyptians do likea good party!

And finally on to my last part of my longest blog ever:

Last night cousin Dina and I jumped on one of those big restaurant boats, where surprisingly we ran into some of the guys we met at the wedding, and went for a ride along the Nile complete with dinner, soufi dancers, a belly dancer, an Arabic band, etc. Needless to say, it was a whole lot of fun, and quite the experience. So it looks like I will be off to do the Valley of the Kings tour and then off to Sharm el Sheik for some beaching and scuba diving (YAY!!) And then the day after I get back, aka June 3 I start my job at Live,the entertainment magazine I have been hired at.

So it looks like Egypt has provided me with everything I could have asked for this summer: travel and adventure, sunny beaches, family visits, work experience, and great people. I am a happy cookie.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/cairocaroline/