Dubai 10-16 Dec
So much for my week in the sun, topping up my tan ready for Christmas – there has only been one day of sunshine with rain the rest of the time – not bad for a place where it isn’t supposed to rain!!!
Despite the weather I still had agood time, it was nice to have a friendly face waiting for me at the airport, a place to stay and someone to go out with at night – so thanks for that Nick. I have to say it was a lot more upmarket than I am acustomed to!
Jumeirah is probably the most famous area of Dubai where the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach hotel’s stand out from the other many buildings but for me it was my least favourite part and reminded me more of a building site than anything else, there is certainly no culture to be found there. If all your after is a nice hotel, a beach and a pool, then it will be okay for you, but it is quite a distance from the other areas of Dubai and the main means of transport is taxi, which given the traffic jams (rush hour seems to last forever because of the different working hours) in Dubai is far from ideal – especially if your in a hurry.
Bur Dubai and Deira are the other main areas and are seperated only be the creek. Deira to the North of the creek is more business orientated and home to the gold souk and central plaza. Bur Dubai (where I stayed) is the oldest part of Dubai and where it all originally began, it is also your best chance at getting some culture – especially in the museum here.
We went to the food hall in the Burjaman center (one of many shopping malls) every night for dinner – apart from the two nights I cooked (unsuccessfully I might add) and to satisfy Nicks nightly coffee craving, then we normally went on to a pub to satisfy my nightly alcohol cravings! On the first night we went to the Irish Villiage for some Killkenny’s, then another night to rockbottom’s for a bullfrog or 2 and on the last night we got all dressed up and went up the Emirates Towers for a drink there – very upmarket for me!
The highlight of Dubai was the last day when we did a dune safari which basically involved driving (or should I say sliding) 4 x 4’s through the sand-dunes for a while before stopping, having a camel ride, getting henna tattoo’s, watching a belly dancer, having a fab buffet dinner and then smoking an apple flavour sheesha pipe – not a real cultural experience but as close as I managed to get while in Dubai & it was good fun.
Tags: Travel, Travel, Travel
henna tattoo
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Arab Americans
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read.