Blogs from United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 9

This morning I took a picture from my window overlooking the Jumeirah Beach resort area. There is a big Ferris wheel and, beyond that, the Persian Gulf. I took a taxi to the central mosque at ten o’clock so I could go on the popular public tour. I’ve been in a few mosques, sometimes with guides, but have never had such a thorough review of what Muslims do there. Specifically the presenter showed us how he performs ablutions before prayer and how, exactly, he prays - first standing, then bowing, then kneeling. He encouraged us to stare and to take photos, things I don’t feel comfortable doing without express permission. My next stop was the Dubai Museum, another busy spot - I would not have guessed that Dubai had so many tourists! The museum reviews the ... read more

Monday, 17th September 2018 Things started to slow down considerably as our 8pm flight to Singapore approached. Nevertheless, I started my early morning routine at the hotel pool. For my final swim in Dubai, I had the whole pool to myself which I appreciated since it wasn't so spacious to accomodate that many people. After the swim, we had breakfast at Shakespeare and Company again. This time, we occupied the table at the quiet upper level thus avoiding the transient office crowds at the busy lower level. After breakfast, it was back to the hotel to rest, to pack and to get ready for checkout at two in the afternoon. And after leaving our luggage with the concierge, we made our way to the Burjuman Centre where the Dome Cafe had a branch. Service was great ... read more

Saturday, 15th September 2018 After breakfast at Burger King this morning, we headed to the Al Ghubaiba Bus Station to embark on our 140km journey to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. There was a long wait for service E100 when we arrived at the bus stand and it was not a pleasant experience standing and waiting under the hot sun for over 20 minutes. Very soon, we realised that we needed to purchase the silver NOL travel card as it was not possible to pay the AED 25 bus fare by cash. We headed to the ticket window, got our travel cards and rushed back to join the queue again. Not a smooth start for the day! Things however started to pick up soon after we boarded the bus. The journey to Abu Dhabi was ... read more

Thursday, 13th September 2018 Our 3pm flight to Dubai was delayed for more than 2 hours at Changi Airport due to some air-conditioning servicing. The passengers onboard this flight were civilised as none of them vented their frustrations at the helpless cabin crew. It was closed to six in the evening before the flight was given the green light to depart. Seven hours later, we landed at Dubai International Airport. UAE is made up of seven kingdoms and this is where we would be spending our weekend away from Singapore. With little expectations on how things would pen out over the weekend, we continued our journey to the city centre via the Dubai Metro. Barely 20 minutes into the ride, we reached the Emirates Towers Station where our hotel, the Millennium Plaza was right at the ... read more

With our flight departing Manchester at a very civilised 2.00pm there was no need for us to rise at a ridiculous hour. We had done most of our packing yesterday before dinner and finished it off before bed so we were able to shower and dress and have our breakfast in a leisurely fashion. Once we’d cleaned our teeth all we needed to do was pack our toilet bags and we were ready to go, which made us happy ... and sad ... at the same time. It will be great to get home to see Finbar and family and sleep in our own bed, but it is always sad saying farewell to good friends. Kath and Albert do not currently have any travel to Australia booked so we are not sure when we will see ... read more