Dubai to London 19 Mar 2017

The alarm went off at 0455. That beat the local mosque by five minutes at least! Most mornings in Dubai, we've been roused by the call to prayers at this time, but usually go straight back to sleep. Today was rather different as we had a flight to catch.

We were out of the flat a few minutes after 0530 and before we had really started to look, an eagle-eyed driver saw us and whizzed his taxi over to us and bundled into his car. As usual around here, we drove flat out all the way up Skeikh Zayed highway and up to airport and within 25 minutes were being dumped on the pavement outside Dubai International airport.

We found our check-in desk easily and completed formalities in a few moments before heading for the emigration desk to get our passports stamped. Security was next and within 15 minutes of arriving at the airport we were in departures, possibly one of the fastest times we've ever experienced!

We quickly found Le Clos and bought a couple of recommended bottles of South African wine before finding something drink and eat whilst we waited for our flight to be called.

We were travelling on QF9 a Qantas flight that originated in Melbourne and was bound for London Heathrow. There was a shortage of seats for passengers awaiting this flight, but once through the gate check-in, there was plenty of room. We really didn't wait long here either and were soon ensconced in row 76 on our Airbus A380.

Advertised flight time is well over 8 hours,,but the captain announced he was expecting to be just 7 1/2 hours. We should get the Heathrow by 1200 at that rate. Our flight route today took us out of Dubai and across the Straits of Hormuz and into Iranian airspace. Then heading generally north we head up to Qom in northern Iran before turning northwest parallel to the Armenian border and into Eastern Turkish airspace.

About an hour after take off, we were tucking into a dinner of chicken tikka salad accompanied, I have to confess, by a last taste of Tasmania, a can of James Boag beer.

The aircraft continued northeast to the Black Sea and crossed that into Romanian airspace. By 0900, UK time, we were passing north of Bucharest at 40,000 feet with three hours flying time to go. By 1000, we were crossing the Danube not far from Budapest, Hungary. 1100 saw us travelling through the skies of southern Germany having flown across Austria. Sadly, for most of the flight there was thick cloud, but I could clearly see the Danube in Hungary.

Despite arriving in the London area about 40 minutes early, we then sat in a holding pattern for 20 minutes before finally landing at Heathrow at around 1230. After leaving the plane and getting through immigration quite quickly, we stood and watched the baggage carousel for a long time before our bags finally appeared, most other passengers had left by then!

Stephanie met us at the short term parking and we paid £3.80 for roughly 5 minutes parking. We had a good journey back up to Lincoln arriving back home at around 1630.

It's been a good trip and we've certainly seen some wonderful places. I think in the past 9 weeks we've flown around 20,000 miles, driven the best part of 10,000 kilometres and visited 5 countries. The planning for the next trip starts now!

Abu Dhabi 18 Mar 2017

Today is our last day in the UAE, so to round off our trip here, Aaron kindly volunteered to drive us to Abu Dhabi the only one of seven Emirates that we hadn't visited on this trip. The journey from Dubai takes about an hour and a half down a huge highway.

Heading south from the Tecom area, we passed through Jebel Ali, the Port area and also home to huge desalination plants that service Dubai. The traffic eased off and soon the skyscrapers were left behind and scrubby desert returned both sides of the road. About 20 minutes after this, we leave Dubai and enter the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi is by far the largest of the Emirates and also the richest as it has vast oil reserves under its soil. For this reason, Abu Dhabi city is the capital of the UAE. Having said that, Dubai is far more commercial than Abu Dhabi, although to be fair it has had to bail out Dubai financially in the recent past. The Burj-al-Khalifa in Dubai is named after the ruler of Abu Dhabu for that reason.

As we started to see signs of the city on the horizon, we turned onto the Corniche road that runs along the shoreline of Abu Dhabi. It is a work of art, but increasingly difficult to access the footpath and cycle track at its northern as there is nowhere to park a car. We carried on almost into the city before finding a car park, pulled in and took to,our feet.

Abu Dhabi is a lot greener than Dubai and there is nowhere near as much construction work ongoing. That's not to say there are no tall buildings, but it all looks completed alongside tree-lined footpaths and gardens. The footpath on the corniche is nicely laid out with plenty of shade and places to do and have a picnic. It also has nice beaches, some you pay for but get sunbeds and parasols in return and others are free public beaches. We found a semi-circle of beach restaurants near a public beach and decided to have lunch. 

It was very pleasant as there was plenty of shade and a slight breeze. We were able to watch the comings and goings on the beach whilst we ate. The food prices were pretty  cheap considering the location.

After lunch, we walked a bit further along the corniche before returning to the car via an ice-cream vendor. Back in the car, we drove across a causeway on to an artificial island where we parked again and had another walk and took some pictures. They are building a new hotel on the island that looks remarkably similar to the Atlantis on the Palm at Jumeriah.

When it was time to leave, we took a route through the city that went past the most enormous mosques I've ever seen. A fairly new beautiful building constructed in white marble. Cue for more photographs!

On the way back to Dubai, we called at an Outlet Centre somewhat bizarrely modelled on St Gimignano in Tuscany. A short period of retail therapy took place here and coffee consumed before we headed back to Tecom in Dubai. 

After our day out, we were left with the feeling that Abu Dhabi is a nicer place than Dubai, greener, less frenetic and with a more relaxed feel to it.

Later in the evening after we'd done our packing ready for the morning, we took the Metro to Jumeriah Lakes Tower and went to a Vietnamese restaurant. It was a fairly simple affair in a shopping area, but the food was extremely tasty and very cheap.

It's certainly been interesting to see the Emirates and how things operate here in the UAE, but I'm not sure I'd want to live here for too long. That said, I'm sure we will be back again and will have to see what else the region has to offer spent from gigantic shopping malls!

Dubai 17 Mar 2017

It's back to the travelling again today, albeit only for a couple of hours. It's the first day of the weekend here and, as everywhere in the Muslim world, the mosques are full for Friday prayers. The roads seem to busy too as we head to Dragon Mart to the southeast of Dubai city. This mall is loosely built in the shape of a Dragon and contains hundreds of small shops selling anything from an industrial generator to chopsticks and anything in between. 

As it is Friday, quite a lot of the businesses are closed, but it was still busy. The range of goods for sale is immense. Some of the clothes and materials might not suit Western eyes, but clearly they are popular judging by the stock in the shops and the number of customers. Some items stretch the imagination, we found a shop selling mainly kitchen gadgets that you'd never have guessed existed. The range of electrical gadgets to attach to your phone was beyond belief, some of the iPhone and iPad covers had designs of eye catching colours and shapes.

We visited an electric light shop, perhaps the most colourful and ornate shop I've ever seen. Designs were primarily oriental and ranged from small desk lamps to huge barrel-sized brass ceiling lights. None were wildly expensive, but really were only suitable for houses here, they'd look out of place in Europe. That said, we bought a very attractive standard lamp that has 7 hanging lanterns of different length spiralling around a central column. After a roll or two of sellotape and yards of bubble-wrap were used, it all got packed away ready to go in the car.  This afternoon, Siobhan unwrapped it all and reassembled it. It looks very pretty and suits the flat well.

As it was lunchtime, we left the mall and headed to Jumeirah and The Palm. Once over the bridge and onto the 'trunk' of the Palm, we parked and walked to Bidi Bondi an Australian-themed sports bar to have lunch. By the time we arrived, 'Dubai brunch' was in full swing. Dubai brunch is apparently a Friday event for many expats here. Restaurants and bars offer an inclusive price for food and drink from late morning onwards. It's not a cheap experience, but if your aim is to eat, drink and make merry and basically spend your day in a pub, it's perhaps not a bad deal. Bidi Bondi was offering 4 drinks and a meal, or 5 drinks for 145 Dirhams, that's around £32. A pint of beer on the menu is £10, so perhaps it wasn't too expensive.

We only wanted lunch so ordered off the menu, the food was Australian/American style and was fine, but we left the revellers to enjoy the rest of their day whilst we headed for the supermarket. We really know how to live!

As it is Siobhan and Aaron's wedding anniversary, we bought some rather large prawns for dinner tonight. We won't eat until quite late as Aaron is working until 8 this evening and it takes an hour to get back by Metro afterwards. It's not so breezy tonight, so sitting outside on the balcony is possible tonight. To stave off the pangs of hunger, we purchased some olives to eat as a pre dinner snack!

It's time to say again, that I'm sorry I couldn't post pictures in my blog this time. Before we travel again, I will find a blogging platform that works specifically with an iPad. Photo service will resume next time! Meanwhile, I have posted photos on Facebook (FB) regularly and should you wish to few them, look me up on FB!

Dubai 16 Mar 2017

Not much to report today as we really haven't done much. To be fair, there's not been many days that we haven't been busy for the past seven weeks. Someone even said relaxing and doing nothing is part of being on holiday. That said, I don't think I could take a holiday that involved just lying on a sun lounger day after day. For me, part of the reason for travelling is to experience new places, people, food and a different way of life. I accept that not all experiences are positive, but unless you try, how can you judge what is good or bad in other countries.

Although whilst travelling you see things that wouldn't be acceptable in UK or indeed Europe, you have to accept that habits and practices are not the same as we are used to. We are quick to criticise those visitors to UK that wish to change our habits and customs, but then can't accept things are different overseas ourselves. Arabic customer, habits and lifestyles are very different to those in UK and can be difficult to understand, but as visitors, we have to accept their way of life. The alternative is not to travel and that is simply not an option for me.

I like to think I travel with an open mind, but confess I do see and hear some things that make me wince. I suppose, for some visitors to UK, it must be the same.

It's been overcast a lot of the day and late afternoon, the breeze suddenly picked up. I heard some bangs and crashes and looked over the balcony to see the parasol over the tables in the small restaurant had blown over. In fact, it had more than fallen over, the pole was snapped in half and the rest of it wrapped around the railings, tables and chairs were scattered around too. The security guard and a waiter attempted to move it, but the wind was too strong and the parasol got shredded as they tried to move it. As I write, it is still flapping around!

Being Thursday here in the UAE, the weekend starts here! 

Dubai 15 Mar 2017

The lot of a pedestrian in Dubai is not a happy one, apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan! In the haste to build a modern city and fill every space with new buildings, pedestrians seem sadly to have been forgotten. Much like the USA, cars and roads are king, pedestrians very much an afterthought.

As you may have guessed, we've been out for a walk today. It was supposed to be both for a purpose and pleasure, but the end, it was far from pleasurable. The first issue from the Tecom area is crossing Sheikh Zayed Road. Calling it a road is an injustice. There are at least 6 lanes in either direction and if you add in slip-roads, sometime 8 or 9! It's really an urban freeway. The only way of crossing it on foot is where there is a Metro station where there is a bridge and there is certainly at least a kilometre between stations. Luckily, Dubai Internet City station is only 300-400 metres away from the flat.

We managed that fairly easily this morning and arrived on the other side of the freeway in one piece. It wasn't too bad a walk to Knowledge City, an area of University campuses. Some effort has been made to build walkways in this area although at one stage, the path was interrupted by a 4 lane road with no crossing and a concrete barrier on the central reservation. This entailed a 200 metre diversion to nearby traffic lights.

The stroll through the University area was quite pleasant, there were lots of students taking a break, sitting on the benches and grass or in one of the fast-food outlets. We did our business at the Post Office although we were delayed whilst we waited for the lady who dealt with stamps to return from Subway! We followed the same route back to the Metro.

From here, we started to head towards Arrows and Sparrows a small lunch spot we've used several times. Initially, walking isn't too bad as there is a pavement, then then it's only possible to continue by walking in the road as a building site has fenced off the pavement. Next obstacle is crossing another highway. This entails taking your chances crossing two lanes of fast moving traffic, ducking under a bridge through a sandy central reservation and then another two lanes of traffic!

Lunch was very pleasant and relaxed and allowed us the pluck up courage for our return trip! We had to go via a small shopping centre to find a postbox. There is no sign of one at the Post Office! We also went to the small supermarket there for a few groceries. Then the assault course started!

After 300-400 metres we came to a main road 6 lanes wide. The only way to cross was at the traffic lights. All very sensible except there is no footpath. Dicing with death, we made it to the lights and safely crossed the road at the Pedestrian crossing. On the other side, due to incomplete building work, there was no footpath, just rough sand with a few boulders embedded in it. Next was a roundabout. Here, as they are doing work, they had netted off all access to the crossings which forced us back on the road as we walked around the roundabout!

To get across the next section, there is no traffic but a huge building site where extensive ground works are ongoing. This forced us, and lots of other pedestrians, to head through the excavations keeping a careful eye out for diggers etc. It's rather dusty here too, so to keep this in check, the contractors spray it with water which turns it into mud instead! Surrounding all this are huge curbs to negotiate or broken paving stones on which to twist your ankle. One day, perhaps, it might be finished and look quite nice! Currently, it almost counts as fell-running for the twists, turns and obstacles.

Rant over!

I tried the rooftop swimming pool out this afternoon. It's a nice little oval-shaped affair on the roof of a 14 storey block. It was quite a pleasant temperature too, but I felt rather like a goldfish in a bowl as the pool is mainly surrounded by other buildings far higher than this one. 

Advertising is interesting here too. They seem to have perfected the art of wrapping tall buildings in advertisements. Clearly, the occupants don't notice this film wrapped around their office or housing spaces. One building here that was made out to look like a giant water bottle when we were here in January is now 'naked' again, and a partially completed tower block we can see from the balcony was wrapped in advertising until today. Since this morning, it's all been removed. All clever stuff, I've no idea how they do it and have no interest in the products advertised but I'm impressed with the technology that permits it. OK, I'm a sad bunny!

Dubai 14 Mar 2017

Well, I discovered something tonight, China World is in Bangkok not Dubai! It might be in other places too, but it certainly isn't anywhere near here. I spent some time hunting for it on Google Maps and in the Dubai Street Atlas this morning. I was a bit surprised that I just couldn't locate it. Now, all has been revealed! 

We did go out to buy dress making material today. Not normally a male pastime I know, but my navigational skills were required to find the stores as researched on the internet. As noted earlier, even my skills were overstretched with China World! We did, however find Ratti, a very nice air-conditioned store in the old pasty of Dubai, Deidra. 

We took to the Dubai Metro again, and travelled from Internet City to Burjuman where we changed trains and ended up at Al Fahidi station. The area around here is full of clothes, textiles and jewellery stores predominantly owned by Indians.  After a short walk interrupted by touts intent on selling (fake) watches, handbags and other fashion accessories, we arrived at Ratti. The staff were very helpful, even providing water whilst Lynn browsed. Many bolts of material were unwrapped and draped over the tables before suitable material was selected. Everything got beautifully wrapped and the prices very reasonable.

We stopped after this for a drink and found a cafe that served us Lime and Soda. The lime juice was fresher prepared for us. It was delicious and extremely cheap.

Just across the road we went in another shop. They had exactly what Lynn was looking  for, but insisted on displaying a huge range of similar fabrics of differing quality. We even ventured upstairs to buy jersey material to make t-shirts. We had excellent customer service and our salesman insisted on making a 'very good price'! For us, it was a good price which is the important thing, but we could have haggled him down some more I guess.

Loaded with fabric, we headed for the Mall of the Emirates as we needed lunch and groceries. Lunch was taken in the food court, my Lebanese chicken kebab salad was very good and just right for a lunch snack. Lynn's Indian curry was on an entirely different scale. It would have fed a family of four for the entire day!

Carrefour feels odd in that we could be in France, but the fresh fish counter is a sight to behold. Some vegetables and fruits would never make it into the supermarket in France too.

This evening, Lynn and I (well mainly Lynn to be fair) attempted to replicate food we had cooked at the school in Bangkok. I think it worked pretty well really, there wasn't anything left at end. I guess that's the best endorsement of all.

Dubai and Fujairah 13 Mar 2017

The travel bug is still sending us to new places, and today is was to Fujairah, one of the Emirates we haven't visited. Fujairah lies on the eastern side of the UAE and has a coastline on the Gulf of Oman. It's about a two hour drive from Dubai.

We set off fairly early, but there was still heavy traffic as we passed through Sharjah. The queues of lorries has to be seen to be believed. As they are restricted to using the inside lane of the freeway, they end up in huge tail-backs. 

Although most animals are fenced in alongside the main roads, they do escape! Instead of looking out for Emus and Kangaroos, now it's Goats and Camels.

As we headed into Ras-al-Khaimah, the mountains started to appear through the haze of dust that seems to plague the UAE. In RAK, as it's known, we turned east to head for the Gulf of Oman coast. Initially, the road passes through sandy desert with just a few acacia trees surviving here and there. Then after a ridge of rock, the road crosses a huge gravel plain. There is quite a bit of greenery there too and I guess fruit and vegetables are grown here. After passing a huge cement works, which are a common sight in the UAE, we started climbing up into the mountains. Despite the fact it is dry and stony, there are still villages and farms dotted around. 

Somewhere in the mountains, we left RAK and entered Fujairah. Within the UAE, its difficult for visitors to know exactly which Emirate they are in. I think we've been to six out the seven Emirates this trip. I don't think we will go to Abu Dhabi, the missing Emirate, on this trip!

Our destination today was Snoopy Island. The name? The island resembles the classic 'Snoopy' pose of him lying on his back on top of this kennel! We were lucky enough to be able to use the Sandy Bay Hotel by the island. Business contacts of Siobhan got us a deal to use the facilities for the day. Thank you!

Once settled on our sun-loungers, Aaron and I went to investigate the Dive Shop. They had no boat available, but offered us kit to dive around Snoopy Island. We quickly sorted ourselves out and abandoned Lynn on the sun-lounger and went for an hours dive. Although the visibility wasn't too good, we did see a lot of colourful fish and corals. After some hunting around, I managed to find some Rays too. It wasn't the deepest dive I've ever done clocking a maximum depth of 6.8 metres!

Back on shore, we cleaned out kit and returned it to the Dive Shop and went to find some lunch at the pool bar. The menu wasn't very adventurous, all burgers and pizzas, but I got a free beer with my burger! 

The hotel itself is quite nice, I'd like to stay there, but it's almost empty, lots of sun loungers and no guests. In all honesty, if we saw 20 guests today I'd be surprised. It must also cater for Russian guests as all signage is in Arabic, English and Russian. In fact the family in front of us were Russian.

After lunch, we decided to snorkel on the island and all three of us got kitted up and walked down to,the water. I thought there was a bit of seaweed washing up onto the beach, but as I got closer I could see it was heavy oil. I think about half the frontage of the hotel was affected. Staff later told us it happens regularly, it is due to ships flushing their tanks out in the Gulf of Oman. Absolutely criminal behaviour in my eyes. As we left the hotel, staff were out scraping sand into bags to dispose of it.

We managed, largely, to avoid the oil whilst we snorkelled. Once again, there was plenty to see underwater. I don't think I'd dive here again, there are better dive sites off shore. Snorkelling is probably the best way of seeing Snoopy Island.

After a two hour trip, we arrived back in Dubai along with the mad traffic!