Dubai

United Arab Emirates, Dubai

16th and 17th May

We arrived in Dubai smack on time at 11am. And it was a lovely cool day. Only got to 100 degrees flat! 36.5. Yay.

They did roll out the red carpet for us.

I don't know why they call it reclaimed land.They are not re claiming it, they are creating it. Lots of it!

I headed out on the hop on hop off bus for a day of touring. It was a double decker but the top layer had a roof - or you would bake. The font part of the top is enclosed and air conditioned. But that is no fun! I sat out under the roof.

I did a loop off the CBD, old Dubai and around the river. I had been to all of these places so was determined not to revisit any that I had been to.

The Burj Kalefa, World tallest building, is as amazing as ever.

I controlled myself and did not get off at the amazing fruit and fish markets that I loved so much last time.

But I did make it to the Spice Souk which we didn't get to last time. Oh I l did love this place. rows and rows of tiny little shops with awesome displays. I just want to bring it all home to have the sacks looking pretty.

I did buy some gear from my lovely new Iranian friend Reza. A really un-pushy salesman.

My room smells glorious. I bought some curries and it just smell delightful.

I then did a one hour river cruise on a Dhow boat and very slowly chugged up the river, seeing the amazing contrast between life on the river and the majorly modern city.

There are so many mosques up an around the river. I didn't realise there were so many.

Then I sat in an air conditioned bus shelter while waiting for my bus!!!!!

There are many beautiful parks around with super grass and big shady trees. They all have under ground watering systems. I saw many many many groups of men out relaxing and chatting under the trees. Not one women was out enjoying it.

Geometric designs are a really important part of Arabic architecture. The infinity of the patterns brings you closer to god. There really are some stunning buildings.

I then went to the Dubai Mall. The biggest shopping mall ever. And it had everything. And more,

All the top end shops - Rolex, Armani, .......

A three story high fish tank.

A three story high waterfall.

An Ice rink...Every kind of shop you could want. Even Porters if you don't want to carry your packages.

It was really starting to get busy with many of the Emirate men out with their families. They were all having fun.
Putting kids into boxes to grab the tokens in the wind to win prizes,

Taking selfies with their selfie sticks.

It looks amazing with all the different clothing.

There was a car display. I thin I may have found my next car. A Roles Royce Cloud. Bullet and explosion proof. I could get it for around 2 million. Or the 6 wheel Mercedes G6 - again armour plated etc. It was only $1.5 million.

I was chatting with the guy and asked if he sold 5 of these value cars a year, or 50. He chuckled at me and said that I wouldn't believe how large the number is.

I met up with the Lehany's and we went out to watch the famous fountain show. It was to be on at 6pm.

We saw valet parking and wondered who needs valet parking at the mall, until I saw the cars.

So we waited, in the hot sun.....but no fountains at 6. Oh it must have been 6.30.
No fountains. Maybe it was because of the holiday today.

We went to a restaurant with views over the 'lake' to wait it out. Ordered dinner....but no alcohol till 7.30 due to the holiday. A Dry Day. That meant no grog, music, fountains etc until 7.30.

Just before 7.30 the sun disappeared, the call to prayer was heard then the show started.

And it was great. Huge fountains shooting around the lake, up to 70 metres into the air. The music was Arabic and the fountains 'belly danced ' to the music. So worth the wait.

Even if there was no beer! And no wine as it started at $100 a bottle.

The food was great though. Great Humus.

The city was very pretty after dark.

Then home to bed. No concierge lounge tonight. Home too late.

Tonight is the end of cruise one and the corridors are full of sad people' suitcases.

Today was a not vey eventful, driving around on the bus looking at things day.

Burg Al Arab. The supposedly 7 star hotel - even though there is no rating higher than 5 stars. It comes from a hotel reviewer saying that "this hotel should have 7 stars".

Dates everywhere. A date tree produces up to 200 kg of dates per year. We saw dates for around $85 a kg. That's a profitable tree.

New development at "the palms", the palm shaped man made island. This was not there when we went there in July 2014.

The native bird of Dubai - The Crane. Hahah - get it? A crane!

I went to The mall of the Emirates. Another ridiculously large shopping mall aimed at "luxury retail tourism".

That's a mosque on top.

And what every shopping centre needs - an indoor ski resort.

The ski resort is 22,500 square meters covered with real snow all year round and houses the world’s largest indoor snow park at 3000 square meters. Ski Dubai has maintained temperature of -2° to -4° and has five different slopes of varying difficulty and lengthy with longest run of 400 meters.