Final Day in Dubai

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Saturday 25 April



Sadly the whole 100^th anniversary of Gallipoli has passed us by. We had originally planned to be in Sydney for this but then that didn’t work out so we opted for London. However we couldn’t get the accommodation we wanted that night (due in large part to the London Marathon being on the 26^th) so we ended up in Dubai, where there isn’t a strong ex-pat contingent. Not to worry though as we will go to Gallipoli in July.



Our last day in Dubai. A good solid sleep and Zachary actually slept until 7:30ish. This did rather hinder our plans to make an early trip to the beach though so instead we headed out to the old Al Fahidi fort which houses the Dubai Museum. All the exhibits are underground and it details life in the area over the last 5000 years or so. It was very good – the exhibits were well set up with lots of re-creations. It was rather busy and Zachary was in a bit of a rush so we didn’t perhaps get full value out of it. I did learn some good stuff though and answered a few questions I had about Dubai. Entry was only 3 dirhams!



From there I headed back to the hotel to pick up Lily Ladybird and Heather and Zachary went to the Mall so Zachary could go on the playground there (which he absolutely loved). Then I went to get tickets to go up the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. We went up to level 124 where spectacular views of the city are to be had. It would have been better yesterday which was clear as today was unfortunately a bit smoggy. However we enjoyed the experience and I can tick it off my “to-do” list. We decided to splurge a bit and buy our official souvenir photo. While we were on the deck there was an unscheduled fountain performance which looked really cool from that height!



We bought Zachary some cool sandals as his jandals are uncomfortable and about to break then thought we’d check out the Mall of the Emirates. Before Dubai Mall was built this was the biggest mall and very state-of-the-art. We rather liked the design of it and it would have been good to have had a bit more time and energy for this. We did have a look at Dubai’s famous indoor ski slope and saw the penguins there also. A quick food-court dinner and then back to shower, pack, and sleep. We need to be up and ready to leave by 5:15 tomorrow morning to get a taxi to the airport so we can catch our 7:45 to London. Weather forecast isn’t too bad – showery tomorrow and then mostly sunny for the next 2 days but temperature a comparatively Arctic 15 degrees!



Final Reflections on Dubai:



People are extremely friendly, respectful, and courteous.



It is hot, sandy, and busy.



There are no road “rules”, more like road “suggestions as to what you should do, but there is no compulsion for you to do so. In fact you just go ahead and do whatever you want and other people will get out of the way”.



It is a modern city continuing to grow rapidly. I have no doubt in 10 (even 5) years the landscape will be vastly different again.



I could have happily stayed here another week and explored a bit more. The heat doesn’t bother me that much, but Heather is well and truly over it! I would have liked to get to the marina and the creek and get out on the water. But overall, as an introduction to the Middle East and its people and culture, this is a good place to go. Next stop Iran????

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Comments

[Zeetra]

What a fantastic time you're having already. Love the blog, makes you feel like we are there with you. Keep safe and have fun...