The Maldives - Dive Day Two

Went on a more advanced dive this morning. Took the speedboat out about an hour from my island to an uninhabited island with a reef around it. The waves were breaking at the reef at least 15 feet high, haven't seen such huge waves since the north shore of Oahu. We went to just outside where the waves were swelling, diving in search of the giant mantra rays. The current was very, very strong, sometimes you just couldn't fight it and had to go where it wanted you to, you just had to make sure it wasn't pulling you up so as to avoid the bends. We caught sight of one giant manta right as we went down to about 25 meters, but that was it. Saw several sea turtles poking around the bottom of the reef, and an absolutely massive fish, at least 10 feet long, just hanging out. I asked what kind of fish it was after the dive, but my japanese dive master had too strong an accent for me to make out what she said. She was hot though, so I forgave her.

The Maldives

Arrived at The Maldives yesterday midday. The islands I'm staying at are in the North Male Atoll, about a 45 minute speedboat ride from Male where you fly in.
The resort is a paradise. The Maldives is a couples place, no doubt, but the place I'm staying at is a private beach per water villa. I'll post some pics of it later. Americans are very rare here, considering its a 30 hour flight from the states, so everyone is very interested in talking about the US. Strangely, while many here haven't met an American, all transactions are in US dollars. They have their own currency here, its just not used on the resort islands.
I had my small spare camera out on the dive boat today so took a few pictures. Went on two dives today, haven't dived in years so was a bit rusty but it all came back fast. Met a pleasant British doctor whose wife doesn't dive so we are diving together while she spends the day at the spa.
The reefs here are astounding, its clear why The Maldives are considered one of the best dive sites in the world. The visibility goes on forever, the water is as clear as glass, and warm and comfortable. The dives here are all not too deep. I'm certified to 130', but the max depth of the dives here is 90'. Thats cool though, as more shallow dives last longer, and are more colorful, as color starts to go away as you get deeper. The divemasters here are super friendly and helpful. One thing I hadn't read about diving here before coming was that the waters are friggin shark infested. Saw three sharks on the first dive, one on the second. The don't care about you at all though. Also saw a sea turtle, some absolutely massive yellow tails, probably 5 feet long, moray eels, schools of barracuda. Its like a diving dream. Going out on the boat all day tomorrow too.

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Bangalore - Lamb of God Concert

Oh, look what I found on my spare camera from May 15, a few pictures of a Lamb of God, a US death metal concert at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore. It was very hot, very loud (but not quite loud enough), and interestingly, very much like a US heavy metal concert. Not a saree to be found.

Dubai - From the Burj Kalifa Observation Deck

Its costs about a $100 US to go up to the observation deck. You wait in a fairly slow moving line as only two express elevators go directly from the basement entrance straight to the observation deck, which is about 2/3 of the way up the tower. The sides of the deck are glassed in, the top is open, and the wind is loud and blustering all the way up there.

Dubai - Out and About

Took a tour, which involved walking around, checking out some different parts of town, walking through a gold market, and taking a boat across the river.
The sail shaped building is the Burj al Arab, the most expensive hotel in the world. Every room is a multi-level suite. The bar on the top has $1000 US drinks. Its not a place for us, so move along, move along...

Dubai - Atlantis Hotel

A huge hotel out on one of the palm frond islands. There are two palm islands, man-made islands made in the shape of palm trees to maximize ocean front property. The hotel is very impressive, massive in every scale. Its very reminiscent of a Vegas hotel, just on the ocean.

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A big glass statue in the lobby, apparently shipped from Italy (where-ever it is in Italy where they make obnoxious things) and worth several million dollars.

Dubai - Malls

I went to two malls in Dubai. Lets start with the Mall of the Emirates. The Mall of the Emirates is a luxury mall down near Jumeirah. Its huge, all high-end stores. A nice movie theater with 12 screens. A bunch of restaurants. A big Tower store where I picked up a couple PS3 games. Oh, and a goddamn skiing resort. The ski run from the outside looks like a huge silver worm like structure extending from one end of the mall up twisting up into the sky. From the inside it looks like a little ski village covered in snow. Its cold in the ski area, winter coat cold.


Okay, now lets talk about the Dubai Mall. The Dubai Mall surrounds the Burj Kalifa and is, of course, the largest mall in the world. Its really big, just like the building it surrounds. Again, its a high-end mall filled with high-end brands, an amazing brand new theater, lots of restaurants. Its mostly American brands, American chain restaurants. But, most of Dubai is. Its like a brand new city in the US, full of chain restaurants and new construction. Kind of like Scottsdale, Arizona, but on the beach. Its weirdly ironic that the middle east has built their own little USA right south of Iraq.
But, how embarrassing for the Dubai mall, there is no ski slope. What's that? Oh, right, there's a hundred foot deep aquarium running through the center of it like a huge column, filled with 40,000 fish, including sharks. That you can scuba dive in. But its so deep you need to be a certified diver. Oh, Dubai...

Dubai - The Address Hotel Downtown

'The Address' is a chain of super-luxury hotels through the middle east. There are three in Dubai, two right next to each other surrounding the Burj Kalifa, and one down in the south suburb of Jumeirah. I stayed at the larger of the two next to the Burj Kalifa. The Burj Kalifa also has two hotels and a residency condo part designed and run by Armani. Cheap, I'm sure.
So, anyway, The Address Downtown. There are three classes of hotels in Dubai (well, I'm sure there are crappy scary places somewhere, but I'm not including them). There is the fairly reasonable 5 star hotels, several of which are around the downtown area, a few in Jumeirah. There is the top end 5 star hotels, The Address is one of these, so is Atlantis (pictures of Atlantis in a later post). And then there is what they call a 7 star hotel, the Burj al Arab, the most expensive hotel in the world. I'll post about it later too. So, The Address was swanky to the extreme. It was modern, lots of black and mirrors. Reminded me of an even nicer W hotel. It was 63 stories tall, about a 1/3 hotel rooms and the remaining 2/3 condo residences. The room was lavishly spacious, all of the toiletries were Aveda (my favorite!), the two clubs were the places to be in town, the fine dining restaurant was amazing... obviously I'm not going to bash on this hotel too much. This is as nice as a contemporary modern hotel there is in the world. Parked out front when I first got in Friday night was a Ferrari California, and it was the first California I've seen on the road so that was exciting. Over the weekend, as I saw the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Ferrari California on the road, I, sadly, decided its the least impressive Ferrari ever built. Ever. It just doesn't scream "ITALIAN EXOTIC" (all caps were invented for talking about exotic sports cars). It more like whispers "classy luxury roadster". The car it most reminds me of is the Lexus roadster. I nice car to be sure, but not in the Ferrari class. So, "boo" California, although its clear they are attempting to strongly differentiate their brand in the starter exotic class from the Lambo Gallardo.
I'm including a picture of The Address downtown that I took from space... err, the observation deck of the Burj Kalifa to give you some scale. Remember, The Address is 63 stories tall. For my dear Angelenos, remember the tallest building in the LA skyline, the Library Tower (US Bank Tower, Wedding Cake, etc) is 73 stories. And while The Address is right next to the Kalifa, it looks like a tiny little model building from only 2/3 of the way up the Burj Kalifa. The Burj Kalifa is really tall. Mind boggling.

Dubai - Burj Kalifa

Dubai is a strange, awesome place. Its definitely a playground for the super-rich, as will be made evident by future posts. But, its also got plenty to do for the not super rich but still lots of disposable income crowd too. Its a place of striking juxtaposition, conservative Muslims next to liberal expats, Burqas next to bikinis, nightclubs next to mosques.
The weather was amazing, everything is spotlessly clean, the air quality is amazing, the water of the Persian gulf is the best I've ever been in.
No photoshop trickery, the sky was actually this beautiful color of blue when I took this picture. The Burj Kalifa, the tallest building in the world, is a majestic and futuristic site. Those three little towers to the left in the picture are actually huge tower skyscrapers themselves, but everything... everything is dwarfed by the Burj. I'll do another post on it about when I took the ride to the top.