the best hotel in the world

I've, of course, heard a lot about Dubai, but still I didn't really know what to expect. We found out there's not really much to do here, except from shopping and sightseeing. Since we have to carry our backpacks around the world for a few months, we couldn't do much shopping, so we spent the days checking out the Dubai sights. 3 days in Dubai is more than enough I think, and we got through practically the whole city. The distance between the sights was much bigger than i thought, and walking is not an option here. The cheap taxis (at least compared to Norwegian prices) became our transportation.

We went to the following sights:
- Burj Al Dubai: the only 7-star hotel in the world. We planned to eat lunch here the last day, but we didn't have enough time before our plane departured. Bad planning :( There's of course a dress code here, and if you want to go I can inform you that to drink tea here cost 435 AED (about 95 Euro) pr person and any average lunch cost about 600 AED pr person)
- Dubai Mall: The world's biggest mall. Still not totally finished and wasn't very interessting, yet. It also includes the world's biggest aquarium and is worth a visit.

dubai mall 2

dubai mall

Tiny guy at big chair :)

ski "resort" at emirates mall

It's winter time in Dubai now, and the temperature is very nice, about 30 degrees (celsius) and it's a nice change from the cold Norwegian climate.

dubai skyline at sunset

For thirsty tourist (like ourselves) I'd have to warn you: Dubai is NOT the place to go if you want to drink and party. They only sell beer at the hotels, and your not allowed to be drunk in public... Sad, but true :(

having a beer while waiting for the plane

The flight from Dubai to Beijing (through Doha) with Qatar was excellent. Every seat had their own tv, with a whole entertainment center, tons of movies, tv-series, music and videogames.

we're not drunk, it just looks like it...

We are 4 persons going on the first stage of the trip. We all live in Oslo. And except from Bernt, we also all work :p

Except from the 4 following places, nothing is planned, and for those who want to meet up (preferebly friends, but stalkers are also welcome :), we've set some dates for the four certain things we'll do:
27th of November: Beijing, China
10th of December: Bohol Island, Cebu, the Philippines
20th of January: Los Angeles, USA
24th of February: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil CARNIVAL!!!!!!!!

You can follow our journey around the world here. The departure date is the 23th of november and the first destination is Dubai...

Hang loose

written by  HikingViking on November 9, 2008 from Oslo, Norway
from the travel blog: World Tour 2008/09
tagged WorldTour
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et eller annet fjell

A new weekend and new adventures. Me and Tor wanted to get on a new trip, and this time we decided to go to Dovrefjell. We drove the 340 kilometers from Oslo to Dombås on friday after work, and got a cabin close to the centre of Dombås for the night. We bought a map and explored the area.

We decided to drive to Kongsvold Fjeldstue early saturday morning, and walk to a DNT-cabin in Reinheim. Our goal was to reach the top of Snøhetta, the highest mountaintop in the area.

Tor Asbjørn

After about an out of walking, we met 4 others that also were walking. There were no other people in the mountain and they were about to turn when we met up. But when they heard we were going to Reinheim, they wanted also. And that was perfect. We had a great company for the rest of the walk.

Sliten nå

After 5 hours we arrived Reinheim and we got into the cabin. The night we spent playing cards and yatzee while drinking cognac and beers :)

Snøstorm

We hadn't seen much animals yet, neither reindeer, muskox nor any birds, but this was about to change. After about three hours we came out of the storm area, and the weather cleared up. Soon we almost walked into a crowd of reindeers, about 40-50 of them. This is actually the only wild reindeers in Norway. We came a little bit too close, and one of the "chief"-reindeer threatened us. It ran towards us to tell us to go away, and we took the hint and walk around our route.

1 hour later we saw about 15-20 muskoxes. It's not recommended to be closer than 200 meters to the muskox, since they might attack. But we got past them quietly, but I got a bit nervous when one of them raised up and stared at us.

Norges eneste villrein

Moskus

We used about 2 hours more on the way back and we were all exhausted at the end. Luckily the last kilometers of the trip was flat and it wasn't too snowy.

Mer moskus

When we got back Kongsvold the weather really cleared up, and we could see the unreachable Snøhetta far, far away...

Jeg og Tor Asbjørn har en stund snakket om å ta en fjelltur, og endelig fikk vi gjennomført det. Målet var å få gjennomført en real treningstur og virkelig få presset oss selv.

Vi dro fra Oslo kl. 6 lørdag morgen og kjørte direkte til Gjendesheim som ligger i Jotunheimen. Vi kunne ikke vært heldigere med været på dette tidspunktet av året. Strålende sol og noen få varmegrader.

Turen startet selvfølgelig med masse oppoverbakker, og det var hardere og brattere enn jeg hadde sett for meg. Tor satte i gang i høyt tempo, og jeg sleit for å holde følge. Allerede etter første topp hadde jeg maxpuls, mens Tor maset om at det kom folk bak og at vi måtte gyve løs videre. Da var jeg bekymret for om jeg i det hele tatt ville klare å gjennomføre turen med verdigheten i behold. Fikk i hvertfall konstatert at Tor er i mye bedre form enn meg :(

Heldigvis hadde jeg kjøpt inn nytt kamera for turen, og Tor fikk dilla på å ta bilder. Over 600 bilder ble totalt på turen, eller nesten 2 bilder i minuttet i snitt på hele turen. Dette ga meg ihvertfall mulighet til noen småpauser så jeg fikk hentet inn pulsen.

Etter noen at det flatet ut fikk jeg tatt meg igjen, og da kjente jeg at kroppen begynte å fungere bra. Vi gikk uten stopp i x km til vi kom til begynnelsen av selve Besseggen. Det er her den virkelige stigningen kommer inn. Vi starter på xxxx moh, og i løpet av x km er vi på toppen på 2256 moh. Vi tok oss en lunsj her, hadde med suppe, men dessverre holdt ikke Claes Ohlson-termosen mål, og ble bare lunken suppe. Ny termos er allerede skrevet på shoppinglista.

Det var smalere enn jeg hadde forestilt meg opp ryggen på Besseggen.

written by  HikingViking on September 20, 2008 from Beitostol, Norway
from the travel blog: Hikingtrips in Norway
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