Dubai: Sun, Souqs and Sand Dunes

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I arrived safe and sound in Dubai after a pleasant 7 hour flight from London Heathrow. I hadn't booked to do anything on my first day in Dubai as I knew I'd be pretty tired from the two previous days of travelling. I took a walk around the area I was staying in and visited a mall and had a lovely big piece of chocolate cheesecake and a coffee in a nice cafe. It was very hot in Dubai, around 40-41 degrees and so the mall and it's air conditioning came as a great relief. I tried to get to grips with the exchange rate between the United Arab Emirates Dirhams and the British Pound and worked out that 10 Dirhams was equivalent to around £1.60.
On my second day in Dubai, I had booked to go to the observation deck of the world's tallest tower. I had booked my time on the internet from Wales as I would then be guaranteed a slot and it cost 3 times more expensive to buy a ticket on the day! The Burj Khalifa is a huge building, standing at 828m (2,716.5 ft) high and the observation deck is up 124 floors at a leg wobbling 452m (1,483 ft). Now I don't like heights, in fact, I have been known to have a panic attack at certain heights (up the Eiffel Tower is a notable one) so I was a little apprehensive to say the least. The elevator took just 10 seconds to take us to our destination and as I exited the lift I carefully shuffled to the window. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was calm and collected and in fact, enjoyed the experience. Maybe it was because we were so high up, I'm not sure but I was great if I don't mind saying so myself! 😊 I took loads of photos from inside and outside on the open air deck, admiring the 360 degree views of the city. When, back down on the ground, I took a stroll in the Dubai Mall, a massive shopping complex with over 1200 shops! Pity I don't like shopping eh! I did, however enjoy looking at the artistic displays and waterfalls the centre had to offer. Pleased with myself for being so brave that day, I took the ultra clean metro back to my hotel.
The next two days saw me going on two half day tours; a desert safari and a city tour thanks to my friends at Newton Primary. The desert safari was a thrilling 4x4 drive up and down some big sand dunes as well as a nerve wracking tight rope style drive along the ridges of the dunes. After the exhilaration of the dune bashing we were taken to the desert camp where we could ride a camel, have a henna tattoo and where we had a tasty BBQ and salad dinner whilst watching some middle eastern dancing for our entertainment. I met some lovely people on the tour, Australians and Japanese (although the Japanese girls and I couldn't say much to each other because of the language barrier). It was a really good experience and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The city tour the next day was very interesting and took us to various places in the city such as the Dubai Museum, Jumeirah Mosque, the famous Burj Al-Arab hotel complete with its heli-pad for the hotel guests transfers, Jumeirah Beach, a water taxi ride across Dubai Creek and a look around the Spice Souq and Gold Souq in Deira. I learnt some very interesting things such as the fact that Dubai has 1.3 million cars today compared with 13 cars thirty years ago and that the United Arab Emirates is made up of 7 emirates with 7 ruling families that all come from the same original tribe. It was an interesting if not tiring day which I enjoyed.
That night I spent my time packing as I had a long day ahead with a 10 and a half hour flight to get me to Perth in a Western Australia. I was, by now, looking forward to seeing my family there....and having some relief from the sweltering 43 degree heat!

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