Kyle Edward Weeks

This leads me to the main attraction of old Dubai--the souks (general area indicated by the black arrow in above map). These open-air markets hold some of the region's finest product and toughest bargainers. There are three large souks: textile, spice, and gold, each holding hundreds of individual shops. 

I spend the majority of my time (and money) in the textile souks, especially because one deal I was made took 30 minutes and involved me walking out a couple times. But in the end, I ended up victorious with a 100% cashmere scarf at 20% of the merchant's starting price :) Here's a picture of me in that shop with a traditional headdress the merchant tried to sell me on before he knew I was interested in something else 10x the price! 

As I mentioned, I also ventured to the gold souk, just to look around at the extravagance. Amongst my findings were a pacifier constructed of white gold:

...as well as the world's largest gold ring (under the watch of an intimidating guard):

This had been on my list for some time, as it's one of the most famous things to do in the "only in Dubai" category. Ski Dubai is a full indoor ski resort with almost 250k square feet of ski area. The thing is attached to one of the area's biggest malls, Mall of the Emirates. It looks really out of place from outside: 

Little did I know, I was entering Masdar City--a $22 billion development which will someday become the world's first carbon-free 100% renewable energy city. My first hint that I was no longer in Kansas was the means of transportation that I had to take from the car park to enter the development: 

These little bad boys run on magnets and make me feel guilt-free about my carbon footprint. Not that I ever have felt guilty before. But now I feel even less guilty. 

For now, Masdar is a high-tech ghost town, as the project's development was slowed with the financial crisis. Final construction should be completed between 2020 and 2025 and look like this (it's about 1/10th this size right now): 

The session was 2.5 hours--20 min in the classroom and the rest behind the wheel of a Toyota 86 equipped with tires optimized for drifting (that have to be replaced every week or so, I should mention). First, we drove over large plastic panels that, when wet, are slipperier than ice. The challenge is that there's a hydraulic plate that, when driven over, quickly pushes the car's back tires out with varying direction and intensity. This immediately pushes the car into a drift, and allows the driver to practice straightening out without overreacting. It's quite a feeling to have your back wheels kicked out when it's not your doing. I was much better at this part of the session than the second. We moved to an area of the course that had orange cones set up in a figure-8 formation. The drill was to learn how to break into (and maintain) a drift all the way around the cones. I found myself either not punching the throttle hard enough to drift, or overdoing it, leading to an immediate 180. 

Overall, I had a blast and hope to be prepared for the opportunity to show off in a parking lot somewhere, should it present itself ;)