Day 1 - Dubai - Touring the City

Day 1 started early - with 6am photos of the Burj from our balcony. The temperature is 100+ and a wall of humid heat. Camera lens gets fogged up after being inside air conditioning.

A delicious buffet breakfast (the choices covered several rooms, western, Chinese, Japanese, East Indian cuisines -- I can see the diet is gonna go away real fast).

Then we're off for a 5-hour tour of the city, with our guide Mary-Rose and our EXCELLENT driver Sama.

One comes away with several impressions. The hotel-suburb that is the Jumierah district feels like a vast cavernous Disney-world or Las Vegas. But on steroids. At this time of year (hot season, and Ramadan) it's amost deserted. A bit eerie. The infrastructure of roads, monumental skyscrapers, hotels and condos is all less than 5 years old! One sees old buildings being cleared away for luxury. But the recession made a dent -- dozens upon dozens of cranes, and it seems very few at work. Highway infrastucture is vast, and everything is sparkling clean. No grafitti anywhere. There are a number of malls in the works -- with hundreds of stores. One wonders who's going to buy all this stuff -- certainly not the locals.

Diera, the old city, with its bazaars, just on the other side of the "Dubai Creek" (a river, really) is much more populous. We took an abra - a small boat, across the river.

It's SO HOT and humid, we're glad to be doing most of the excursion inside an air-conditioned SUV (gas is CHEAP here -- and no tax on it). Walkabouts in the bazaar just about do us in.

Back at the hotel, we grab a quick light bite and then retire -- me to working through my photos (there are hundreds each day, and lots to learn about my new camera).

Then dinner at the Burj! We leave about an hour early to take pictures along the way. The mode of transport is a golf cart through the Jumierah's extensive grounds, and across a causeway to the Burj. It's opulence is incredible. Inside, fountains play the most amazing water games. Huge aquariums flank the escalators. We arrive at the sky-bar and have non-alcholic drinks (no drinking before 7:30, even for tourists, during Ramadan). Spend the time relaxing (are we doing enough of that?) and taking photos of the Jumierah from this incredible view, as dusk sets in.

Dinner was INCREDIBLE! If there was enough time, I'd blog all the restaurants and food we'll eat.

We decide to walk back -- not strenuous, but by the time we get to the hotel, we're all DRIPPING with sweat because of the stifling humidity. Oh, well, just take another shower.

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Part of trip: Dubai and Africa 2009

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