Snowboarding in Dubai

So today is Friday in Dubai, and for those of you who don’t know, that means it is the weekend! The weekend here is Friday and Saturday, the business week goes Sunday through Thursday. Derek, Rajat and I took off to the Mall of the Emirates this morning to go to Ski Dubai, the indoor Ski resort here in Dubai.

We got to the mall just after 10am, and found our way to SD shortly there after. On the way I saw an Oakley store, so I made plans to stop in there after we were done on the slopes. At Ski Dubai you can pay DHS180 for a 2 hour lift ticket and ski/board/clothing rental. We found out that Rajat wouldn’t be able to ski or snowboard as they don’t let newbies go up without a lesson, and they didn’t have any lessons scheduled :( He ended up getting a park pass which allowed him into the snow park, but not the slopes themselves.

Derek grabbed his skis, and I my board, we changed so we could head out. It was even cold in there, not cold enough to be too uncomfortable, but cold enough to make you appreciate the jacket and pants they provided. We had a blast for two hours, it was great. If you are ever in Dubai I highly recommend taking a few hours for the experience. The snow was soft, cold, and the slopes weren’t half bad considering they were indoors! It definitely takes longer to get up the slopes than down, but it is still worth the effort.

After the snowboarding we headed out to the Oakley store so I could purchase some shorts (somehow I didn’t pack any) and then a swimsuit as we plan to go to the beach tomorrow. I didn’t buy anything else from the O store, but I sure would have if there had been any deals. We grabbed a bite to eat for lunch and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our desert safari.

The desert safari was a good time as well, though I definitely should have taken some Dramamine before the trip. The driver from Lama tours picked us up at the hotel and took us out to the meeting point. It was an interesting location, hundreds of people, lots of land cruisers and quads running around, I’m not sure how someone didn’t die there, it was completely insane. From there we headed off into the sand dunes, a stop for sunset and then into a conservation area where we went to the camp for dinner. They had dinner, drinks, and a belly dancer.

I’ll try to get bigger photos posted on Flickr after I get back to the states. Here are some uploaded to the blog.