80s Party

Nick and Jessica, some friends of mine here in Doha hosted an 80s party this past weekend. I went to a local shop and got the cheapest, brightest clothes I could. I borrowed Jag's glasses!

Update 5

While in Turkey, I also got to go to Istanbul, which is a city of about 13 million people. This city is unique in that is divided up onto two continents: Europe and Asia. The west side of the city is in Europe and the east side fo the city is located in Asia. The east and west sides of the city are separated by the Bospherus River. Istanbual (Constantinople) marked the city where the ancient Roman Empire was split between West and East. It is also the city that marked where Christianity and Islam collided. In the picture above, I was invited by the waiter (left) and the cook (right) to break Fast with them at their family restaurant during the 30 day Ramadan fasting period for Muslims.

Below is a picture of the food and family I got to eat with to break the daylight fasting period for this Turkish family. They own a restaurant and shut it down at 8:15 so they could eat together. They invited me to join.

Here is a picture of the Blue Mosque, one of the most used and most well known mosque in all of Turkey. I joined a tour group and went inside.

Along the way, our tour group took us to this leather factory. This leather factory was trying to sell their most stylish new line of leather clothing for the fall, and so they put on a fashion show for us.

Here is a picture of one of the ancient Roman ruins I came across while traveling in Turkey. I spent 6 days in Turkey, and spent most of my nights at cheap hostels, traveled overnight by buses, and spent money joining tour groups.

Update 4

We are hiking in a valley near where we launched for the hot air balloon ride.

The pilot of the hot air balloon and myself have a little post flight celebration!

He are taking all the air out of the balloon after the flight.

When we launched our flight at 6am, there were about 30 other balloons trying to do the same thing. It made for some cool pictures.

More balloons taking off!

Update 3

Here is a picture of me up in the air in a balloon. I am in the basket with 14 other people and there are a few balloons in the distance.

Here is a cool shot of a balloon rising up right beside my own balloon.

Here is a picture of the balloon from the inside-out. It is as colorful on the inside as the out!

I am in the basket getting ready to launch!

Here is the liquid propane that is burned in order to get us up in the air. We went through most of 1 tank in the hour that we were in the air.

Update 2

This past week I took a trip to Turkey. I got to fly in a hot air balloon in a city in southern Turkey called Cappadocia. Here is a picture of the pilot lighting liquid propane to heat the air inside the balloon to make it rise. We left at 5:15am in order to get in the air to see the sun rise. A 1-hour ride will cost about $225.

Here is another shot of the hot air balloon being heated up. It starts laying on its side then turns "upright" as the air inside the balloon heats up and pulls the basket into an upright position.

Here is a picture of me being attacked by a giant ant in Dubai.

Here is the crew that went with me to drink $100 tea at the Burj Al Arab Hotel: Justin, me, Amy, Natalie, Lindsay, Brent, and James. We took this picture, then had afternoon tea from 1pm-3pm for $100! They started us off with champaign, followed by cold cut sandwiches, ice cream, hot sandwhiches, tea or coffee, then dessert.

Here is another picture inside the hotel. This shows jets of water being shot around inside a fountain.

Update 1

Some friends and I took a trip to Dubai a few weeks ago. Here is a picture of the inside of the Burj Al Arab. It is a "7-star" hotel on its own island in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Here is an outside picture of the hotel. You have to pay $50 just to cross the bridge onto the island to see the inside of the hotel.

Here is a view of the outside of a water park in Dubai. It is a high-tech water park that requires electronic waterproof bracelets to ride slides and buy food and drinks.

Here is a picture of the actual hotel that I stayed in with 5 other people. We got a great rate of $200 per night per room!

I am on an elevator in my hotel going up 38 floors. The elevator was really fast!