Dubai

Well Dubai was an adventure. On the first day I did get a but of culture shock, the plane ride was very long and waiting around to be checked in was a nightmare. I was staying in Deria, which is the business district, great markets but not the Dubai I thought it would be. Upon arriving at my hotel I had an hour spare so i thought I would take a walk and look around. This African man followed me and walked to walk with me and have a coffee, I thought why not, then he started telling me how beautiful I was and how he wanted to spend time with me - Just what I needed after a 24hr flight - and all the arab men were staring at me, it was very disconcerting.

Well that was it for Day One.

Day Two:

I met a lovely lady called Mrs Amure, She is from africa and london, is about 70ish but looks around 45-50ish.Was great having someone to walk around with and go shopping and just general chat. Shw saved me a lot of money as she wouldnt let me pay what they were asking, by the end of my trip I was getting good at it. I went on a desert safari that night, it was great. Went on a camel ride, 4wd, had hubby bubby, watched a belly dancer and got henna painted. i think this was the highlight of my trip. I met 2 crazy ozzy dudes, they were the best, Paul and Dave, both from Sydney and totally totally crazy.

Day Three:

Dave and Paul picked me up and we went all over the city, emirates mall for 5mins - not missing much as all the same shops as at home - Tried to go up the emirates towers to have a look at the city but surprisingly they didnt let us cause we were wearing t-shirts, shorts and thongs, lol so off to the water park, huge place but is so not made for girls wearing two pieces, water shoots everywhere!!! Especially on the slide that drops straight down and all you can do is pray you dont get shot out of it. There are lots of rides and water jets shoot you from one to the next. After that we went to another mall where Dave went to the gym and Paul and I walked around. Each section of the mall was from a different country. There would be china town, indian palace, paris etc, it was huge and each part had tiling to represent where you were. After that Dave decided he wanted to go to Abu Darbi, this is at 8.30pm and it was about 2 hours away and we still hadnt had dinner but as Paul said, when Dave gets something in his head there is no point arguing, you just go with the flow. So after the very long staight drive there we found somewhere to eat - Asian food - wasnt very good but I didnt get food poisioning from it, so all good. I ended up driving home cause both Dave and Paul were too tired to drive, it gave me something to do as I was also falling asleep. Got back to Dubai about 3am.

Day Four:

got a very early wake up call as Mrs Amure woke me at 4am thinking it was 8.30am and I was nearly going to sleep through breakfast. lol. Didnt do much that day, just walked around and shopped some more, most places were closed till 4.30 as Friday is a day of pray for most in Dubai. At 5am the speakers would start calling people to mosque and if you didnt make it you would just start where you were in the start. I got to see the one at 12. It was quite different but very beautiful. The men would pull out their mats and start praying in groups in the street. One huge group started praying in the middle of the road and all the traffic could do is wait for them to finish, this only goes on for about 10-15mins, I found it very grounding and gave you a sense of peace - Mrs Amure and I just sat and watched.

Day Five:

The hotel organised for a taxi to pick me up but I am sure it was the bell boys friend and he just wanted the extra cash, which didnt bother me as I got to the airport on time but apparently I am very beautiful and should get married straight away so that I can start using that firm beautiful youthful body!!! he was very open on his thoughts so I told a fib and said Darren was my boyfriend and we were eventually going to get married in time. Dont worry Darren, I didnt give out your number this time. lol

Overview:

Although I didnt stay in the flashest place - and there are so many - but I enjoyed my time in Dubai, i got to experience the culture and the true way of life in Dubai. i must admit, there are a lot of visitors who really dont read up on Dubai before they leave, sure it is a hot place but respect the customs, a lot of female tourists would walk around in singlets and not cover themselves up, be respectful!!!

I would recommend to anyone going there, do a desert safari, you will not regret it

ttyl

K*