Dubai - Land of Sand!

---

---

Hello.
Here are some shots of us on the plane, looking a little worse for wear on our 14 hour flight fromMelbourne to Dubai.
Dubai was definately an experience in itself - about 40 degrees celcius by 7am. It was hard to walk around with the heat baking up from the footpath. No one has backyards - they were all just plots of hard dirt surrounded by a fence. There were camels tied up as pets, and everything was really sandy.
We went on an amazing desert safari that included a 4WD kamikaze ride over sandunes, a BIG (awesome) cultural feast, camel rides (yay!) henna (temporary) tattoos, dress-ups, & a cultural dancer or two. It was really, really excellent. Shopping (especially Duty Free) is ridiculously cheap in Dubai, especially if buying gold products or electronics.
It really was interesting to see a place so far removed from New Zealand culture. It seemed quite safe, but next time I would definately choose to go in their cooler season. Pick of the trip - the safari, easily - what an awesome way to spend 6 hours!
Cathc you next time,
Toni (& Vaughan) xxx

---