Paddleboarding in the Ocean

Today Akhil, Michelle, and I went paddleboarding in the ocean...got up bright and early at 6 am to head out to the Jumeirah beach and get in the water by 8:00.  Paddleboarding is kinda like surfing with a paddle.  It's a huge, wide board that you stand on facing forward and paddle out into the middle of the ocean with an oar.  We were a little wobbly at first and took a few initial plunges, but it didn't take too long to get the hang of and before long we were way out in the ocean underneath the Burj Al Arab.  It was awesome, kinda like walking on water.  Once we got out real far, Akhil took a fateful tumble.  He went one way, the paddle went the other, and for some reason it sunk.  Talk about being up the creek without a paddle...      

John, Michelle, Akhil

After that we went for some sightseeing at the Medinat shopping center and the Jumeirah hotel, one of Dubai's 7-star hotels.  The Medina center was full of cool gift shops, restaurants, and antique stores.  There was a music shop full of guitars and other assorted instruments.  I picked up an Oud and played the surf song wipeout in memory of our surfing adventure.  We had worked up quite an appetite paddleboarding, so we stopped at a Costa coffee shop for some sandwiches, coffee, chocolate cheesecake, blueberry muffin, and donuts.  Collectively, we have a lot of sweet tooths.  Next stop was the Jumeriah hotel.  When you first walk inside the hotel, there's a gold ATM.  Instead of dispensing cash, it gives you bars of gold.  I don't think it gets used much, most people just take pictures of it.     

Jumeirah Hotel

Friday is not only the first day of the weekend, it is the holy day.  After all of these adventures, we went to church in the evening.  The church meets in a school gymnasium just outside the heart of the city.  It was a great service, it's so nice to be able to worship freely in the Middle East.