Homeward Bound

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Our last day in Egypt and we had practically a full day to enjoy some more sight seeing.  We decided to go explore the Citadel and Sarah came with us.  At the citadel I think every School was on a day trip we had never seen so many kids and they all seem happy to see us as they never stopped waving saying hello ! The Citadel itself we didn't find particulary interesting but the Mohammed Ali mosque in the citadel grounds was worth a visit.  After the Citadel we got the same taxi to the Khan el Khallili markets where we headed to Fishawis for a nice coffee and mint tea. We then did some serious shopping, market shopping on Wednesday was much more pleasant than on a Friday. We then headed back to the hotel but not before stopping at our local cafe for one last Shwarma (Egyptian Kebab).  Out trip to the airport was a nightmare and it was a good job we left early because out taxi driver missed the turning onto the freeway and we ended up going through downtime Cairo!  1.5 hours later we got to the airport !  The traffic was horrendous and we learnt the Caireans aren't immune to road rage as two got out their cars and had a go at each other !

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A few hours later we were in Dubai a very different place to Egypt. Getting through the airport was easy just a simple stamp and your in.  We were met by the hotel courtesy bus and taken to our Hotel.  Our hotel was fabulous and room was amazing with a view over Dubai creek.  It was wonderful to sleep in a bed that had springs !  We had two whole days in Dubai so we decided to spend one day at Wild Wadi water park and another shopping!  We took a taxi to Wild Wadi and Dubai Taxis are a luxury compared to the demolition derby's contenders they have in Cairo ! The Taxi's were air conditioned, with leather seats and computerised meters !

A stop in Dubai for shopping

Entertainment in the local shopping centre
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Wild Wadi is a waterpark and is situated right next to Dubai's famous icon the 7 star Hotel - Burj El Arab.  I tried to get a closer look at the Burj but was stopped at the gate and that was as far as I was allowed to go !  Inside Wild Wadi was numerous water slides all interconnected together a wave and surf pool. You got yourself an electronic  wrist band which you put money on and then you could buy your food and drinks etc without having to carry money around.  The water slides were unlike any I have seen before. In this park they are all joined together.  You sit on a rubber tube and pushed up through slides by jets of water then when you come to an intersection you have a choice of directions of slides to go down and you never have to get off your tube.  We spent all day in the park and had great fun, highly recommended. Our hotel was close to the souks in Deira so we spent the evening exploring them and tried out an Indian restaurant recommended to us by one of the hotel staff.  The Souks were huge and grouped together by what they sell.  On the first night we explored just the electronic souk which went on forever.  Our last day on the Friday we decided to go check out the Gold Souk but nothing was open we had forgotten that everything closes on Friday and reopens again later in the day. The shopping Mall opened around lunchtime so we went there to kill time. Deira shopping mall was large but the prices were not much different than back home. What did make my day was that all the familiar UK shops were there like Top Shop, River Island and Marks and Sparks, shops I hadn't seen for years. The souks opened in the evening so we went to the Gold Souk and there must of been about 100 shops with window displays that looked like Aladdin treasure chest. I did buy some gold but after about the 10th shop we were over it and went and checked out the other souks.After we were souked out we headed back to our hotel where we were just in time to see fireworks going off over the creek.  It was Dubai Independence day so celebrations were happening. Back at the hotel the staff were kind enough to lend us a room so we could get a shower and prepare ourselves for that long flight home.