Dubai

 18th-20th October

Goodbye Amsterdam- hello Dubai

The view from my room, but only for a few hours, I was right above the restaurant which was playing very loud music, with a lot of base, I put up with it for a little while, tried earplugs but the base was reverberating through my bed, as it was going to continue to 2am and apparently Sunday night too, they moved me to the other end of the hotel, thank goodness, not sure why they put me in that room to start with, would not have been worth the stop over if that had to continue. 

A little sleep. Deprived in the morning, I had a quick breakfast so I could be ready in time for my tour of Dubai. 

So that’s the worlds tallest building the Burj Khalifa - I think, I didn’t realise it was so close to my hotel, it was very pretty when I arrived last night with blue lighting.

Our guide told us that Saudi Arabia is building one 130 metres taller, so there are already plans in progress to build a taller one in Dubai at 1.3km tall- eeek!

Some of these photos are taken out the minivan window so please allow for them not being perfectly framed, and the occasional reflection.

So we stood on the man made beach of beautiful sand imported from Australia and looked at the Burj Al Arab the one that looks like a sail, a luxury hotel with helipads and butlers and suites only at exorbitant prices. The other one is the Jumiera beach hotel, not quite as expensive. The area is called Jumeira, it means beautiful. Our guide Axmed from Egypt was a full of facts, the population is only about 10-14% Emiraties and the balance foreigners. I wonder who has all the money? I was chatting to an Irish lady Sarah who was on her way to Australia for a few weeks, we were trying to figure out where Axmed was from, before we asked him, she said he wouldn’t be an Emirati because he was working too hard. 

We then visited the Blue Mosque, one of the few Mosques that allows visitors. Renovated by a business man who lives nearby, we, the tourists had to put on suitable attire, for me it was just a headscarf as I was already well covered before going inside.

Modern but still rather lovely, the geometric patterns are so interesting. We learnt how prayer times are ruled buy the passage of the sun - it depends on location so in the far north and far south during Ramadan, the Muslims have to fast for much longer than those places closer to the equator.

Next stop is the museum of the future, Wow it is very futuristic! The inscriptions on the building are written by the sheik from Dubai, the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE second tothe President who is the ruler from Abu Dhabi.Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is his name.

When I looked up his name as I couldn’t remember it it says he is credited with developing Dubai into a global city as well overseeing projects like the Burj Khalifa and Emirates Airline, he is also an accomplished poet and equestrian.

We only had time to look in the foyer, but the staircase and the lifts are fairly cool!

There was also an explanation of the script on the outside, now that I know the sheik is a poet , they make sense as they are quite profound. 

“The secret to the renewal of life, the evolution of civilisations, and the development of humanity is simple innovation”

“The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn’t something you await, but rather create.”

“We may not live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity leave a legacy long after we’re gone.”

There is a little girl having her photo taken here, the sculpture means, Win, victory and love, a gesture coined by the Sheik, again, has become a trademark symbol for the UAE.

Proof that I was actually there and able to be outside for brief periods of time, temperature was only in mid 30’s which was perfect in between periods of air conditioning.

Then it was the museum of the future Inside we also saw this little beastie performing tricks, quite cool, but my fellow tourist was a bit freaked out as she had seen a film recently where such little beasties were killing people.

We then went to Old Dubai and the souks, we were taken to a shop with air conditioning, treated with camel chocolate covered dates with pistachios inside, very yummy, then shown spices, teas and perfumes. Followed by a walk around the market, lots of gold and silver, the stall holders were called out to you but were not insistent, which was nice, but a difficult way to make a living I would think.

From there we were treated to a boat ride across the river in a traditional boat, very pleasant interlude.

Followed by coffee and dates in a restaurant in what would have been a traditional house, this one had air conditioning - thankfully although the traditional method of cooling was explained, by towers with openings in four directions to take advantage of any breeze.

a drive back to our hotels followed, along what seems like motorways going in circles, so a few out the window shots, at some of the fantastic architecture.

Not a great photo because the post is in the way but that horizontal bit cantilevers into mid air.

Dubai certianly has it’s beauty and the architecture is sometimes unexplainable, but it is certainly of the future, within the next five years we were told they are going to have air taxis - yep The Jetsons! 

It was back to the hotel to rest, pack and sleep for what was to become a very long journey, an extra hour and a half on the ground at Dubai, just what you want at the start of a 14 hour journey to Sydney, holding time at Sydney before we could land and then a very hairy flight once we got to NZ on a windy Tuesday afternoon, lots of turbulence, I was holding on to the armrests, and a hard landing, followed by about an hours wait whilst they struggled to open the luggage holds in the wind. Very pleased to get into my own bed on Tuesday night. There ends another adventure, feels like I have been away a lot longer than 6 weeks. I sure have packed a lot in, even with some rest days in Norfolk. good to be home!