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Published: April 10th 2009
Dubai Metro
Opening soon!Unfortunately the photos for this entry have been lost due to a technical glitch at Travelblog. I will get around to reloading them soon!
Back in Muscat, Russ managed to find a driver who was willing to drive (very) quickly but safely, to get him back to the Aston Hotel, pick up his passport, and deliver him safely to the airport in record time!
The flight to Sharjah was nothing special. It was pouring with rain when we left Muscat and it was still pouring when we got to Sharjah. The flights had been less than half the price of flying straight to Dubai. Even so, we were a little horrified to say the least when our taxi driver headed out into the desert and way out of the way. We hadn't expected to take the desert motorways all the way to Dubai, which pretty much trebled the journey's distance. When you are paying per kilometre, it soon adds up!
100 Dhirams later (£20) we were trying to find the
Jorman Apartments which we had booked through
E-bookers. The map on their website isn't exactly clear and we ended up at the wrong place! The Jorman SUITES then showed
us the way and we walked the ten minutes rather than continue by taxi! When we got there, what a change from our first Dubai apartment. It was lovely, just a shame about the weather!! There had been fierce storms, hail covering the desert, torrential rain and floods. Hardly the Dubai people dream about eh.
Sunbathing out, we went to look at the Bur Juman shopping centre where we ate at the foodcourt. The cheapest option was, would you believe, Burger King! Well, we can't get that in Azerbaijan and we won't go to McDonalds!! Unsurprisingly we had a siesta later, then went for an Indian. How boring are we?!!
On Friday our friend Chris, a fellow Brighton fan, drove up from Abu Dhabi to see us. The weather was still pretty grim so we went out to see Dubai's most recent extravagance, the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeira. You sometimes forget just how far you have to travel in Dubai to see anything at all. Chris drove for the best part of an hour before we got there. As we drove down the corniche the sun came out and it was glorious. It seemed everyone was
out for a glimpse of opulence.
We got a close up look at one of the new metro trains about to spring into action. From there we went into part of the hotel and were awed by the huge aquarium. Getting a close up view was difficult because of the crowds. After posing for a photo outside the Coldstone Creamery (photo doctored to Goldstone to pay homage to the mighty
Seagulls) we looked at the expensive restaurants and the water park before trying to get into the hotel itself. There are security guards in many places wanting to see your room key, but they can't stop you going to the reception area where a huge glass sculpture dominates the atrium. The artwork is pretty good too and the view over the lucious swimming pool stretches along the gulf coast and its famous landmarks like the Burj Al Arab hotel.
Once we'd had enough of watching the wealthy (or were they just poor like us and there for a look around?!) Chris drove back along the coast and we sat outside a Lebanese restaurant and watched the world go by. The rain held off and we enjoyed a relaxing
meal in the fresh air. Well, fresh if you ignore the traffic fumes! Tasty though.
Having said goodbye to Chris we ended up in the Dhow Palace Hotel just over the road where they had
Happy Hour in the bar. It was still expensive but we enjoyed a refreshing beer each in their atmospheric
Queen's Quay pub. Then we did Dubai on the cheap by going to the supermarket and buying some samosas and a load of salad. Almost healthy!!
Saturday morning and, well I'll be, SUN! So we spent the morning by the pool! After lunch the sun disappeared again and the rain clouds gathered so we went souvenir shopping having spotted some things before we went to Oman. The rain continued into the evening so what was there to do but go to a shopping centre?!
We tried and failed to get a bus so ended up in a taxi to the
Dubai Mall, one of the largest shopping centres in the world. It is truly massive and also contains an ice-rink and Dubai's state-of-the-art aquarium. One huge tank is on prominent display at the centre of the mall. The Pad Thai restaurant in the food
court was excellent, and it was the first time we have ever received a pager to tell us when our food was ready!
Just outside the Dubai Mall is the Souk Ak Bahar. It's a very exclusive version of an Arabic souk and well worth a wander. We wished we had gone before it began to close for the night as we felt under pressure to leave! Between the souk and the mall is the huge Burj Dubai Lake and for once our timing was very fortunate. They are in the process of doing
test runs on the musical fountain and, though short, it was quite entertaining. All this stands under the watchful eye of the Burj Dubai which will soon be the World's tallest building. Nearby is another posh hotel,
The Address which we quite fancied staying in. We think it might cost a bit more than our apartment though!!
So that was Dubai. On Sunday we made our way back to the airport and then endured the worst flight we have had with
Azerbaijan Airlines. It must have been the oldest, most dilapidated plane in their fleet and they didn't even have enough food on board to feed all of the passengers.
Shark? Whale?
Who knows? It was huge!! Back in Baku, the skies were grey and the temperatures seemed arctic after our trip to the Gulf! Welcome to Baku!!!
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