Dubai - United Arab Emirates

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Tuesday 13th May - Woke up at 8am for hotel breakfast and then caught a cab for a tour of The Mosque - one of the very few that are open for the public to enter and take photos. I found it very informative about Islamic culture and then watched as a muslim prayed before Allah (God). Caught a cab to Jumeirah again, this time to get daylight photos of the Madinat and Burj Al Arab as I was disappointed the ones I took the previous night did not turn out well. Then another cab across to the Mall or Emirates - The biggest shopping complex I have ever seen which houses an indoor ski centre. Bought a pair of Arnette sunglasses and then chatted to an American girl who has been living in Dubai for 8 months. Went past the (soon to be) tallest building in the world again for some more photos before heading back to my hotel. Was picked up at 15:00 for the desert safari in a top of the range Land Cruiser and went to the palace entrance of Sheikh Mohammed (The Dubai King) and saw dozens of peacocks. Then we hit the sand dunes and absolutely thrashed this brand new Land Cruiser sideways (or any way we could) getting airborne over the steeper dunes before the front tyre slipped off the rim. I thought we were stuffed out in the middle of nowhere but the drivers had us sorted within 10 minutes and we were off again. Followed up with some quad bike riding over the dunes which was great fun - again getting airborne over dunes with plenty of side sliding on a 2 stroke. Finished up with dinner at a camp and smoked some sheisha and a belly dancer entertained us for an hour. I sat with a couple from Iran who did not speak English very well but they were so intruigued about Australia from what they had seen on television. Chatted with a Canadian girl before heading back to my hotel for an early flight to London tomorrow.

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Photos

7 Star Luxury
The infamous Burj Al Arab Hotel - complete with helipad at the top

Mosque
One of few open to the public

Muslim
Praying to Allah

Muslim 2
This guy was very open and informative about Islamic culture

7 Star Luxuary 2
The front entrance is as far as I could get

Entrance to the Madinat
These trees looked amazing when lit up at night

Ferrari
There is more coin in this city than sand!

Madinat 1
The Burj Al Arab viewed from the Madinat

Madinat 2
Water view

Madinat 3
Great place to sit for a drink at night

Madinat 4
Boats cruising around the Madinat

Madinat 5
Life is tough

Madinat 6
One spot where the boats docked

Indoor Ski Centre
A good place to cool off but as for snow boarding - did not fancy catching the chair lift every 2 minutes

Worlds Tallest Building
The photo does no justice - this thing will be huge

Peacock
There were dozens of these Peacocks outside Shiekh Mohammeds Palace

Dune Bashing 1
The convoy

Dune Bashing 2
More of the convoy

Dune Bashing 3
Out in the desert flogging brand new Land Cruisers

Dune Bashing 4
Oh shit!

Sand Boarding
A bit slower than the snow but had to try it