Arrival in Abu Dhabi

The Emirati's Palace... pretty much allll gilded.

We left Nepal on Monday evening, and arrived in the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi, just a few hours later. I can’t describe how I feel… even on the plane I got good food, Baileys, and was able to watch two awesome movies of my choice because I had my own TV screen. Then after Chris met us at the airport and we started on our way toward the capital, we saw all kinds of Christmas lights (not for Christmas, but for the country’s national day) and huge buildings lit up, and a line of trees each watered by their own little irrigation hose. Talk about a change of scenery.

Monday was near the most awesome day of my life, and the coolest I can think of for a first day out of Nepal. I took a shower. I washed some clothes in a washing machine. I went to a grocery store that had at least 17 aisles (I lost count after that… and I seriously got a little dizzy looking around in there. Don’t make fun of me), located in a mall that had 3 levels!!!! And then… oh, then…. We went to a spa. We got Morroccan baths where this lady scrubbed every inch of me. I got highlights. There were mani-pedis and facials for Mum and Chris. And lots of tea or coffee, whatever we wanted. We spent almost 4 hours in the spa. It was perfect.Me at the spa!!

After lunch, we headed to the Emirati Palace to meet with Sam for tea. Emirati Palace is not only a palace, it’s a huge hotel and convention center (Sam was there to see the Killers); if the royal family wants to use it, everyone is out by the next day. Cray-cray. It’s covered in gold lief mosaics and has intricate floor and ceiling designs in its four storey dome; it’s quite lush all around, really. We had delicious Afternoon Tea (complete with scones and clotted cream) in good company before looking around a bit and heading home to bed. A perfect first day out of Nepal and into the richest country in the world… I feel like a princess in a fairy tale!Sam and I having a good time at tea.