Day 16 - Dubai and Finale Dinner

We landed in Dubai around 6:00 am and checked into the hotel for a few hours of sleep. We gathered back around 11:00 am and headed to the Gulf Food Show in the Dubai Convention Center. This show was a highlight of our trip. We were experienced a variety of foods from around the world. Almost every country was represented with a wide array of products. Not only did we find new foods from exotic lands, but the food service vendors were out in force with a variety of products that would make even Emril envious.

After a few hours at the show we gathered in the lobby around 4:00 and drove about 1 hour out into the desert to a resort for our finale dinner. We had a round of drinks and watched the sun go down over the dunes and then went inside for a great feast. This included a variety of Arabic dishes and desserts that were a sharp contrast to the rice and beans we had in Africa. After our meal we spent a couple of hours discussing the last three weeks and sharing our favorite memories of the trip. After saying our good bye's, the group headed for the airport for another red-eye flight back to New York City and then on to California.