Hobart, a mountain and the Huon Valley 31 Jan 2017

I'll start on the odd subject of 'road-kill'! I know someone who is quite good at recognising the remains of unfortunate animals that have not made it safely across road. Here, it's a more difficult task as I, for one, don't recognise the animals alive or dead. That said, even I have sadly recognised the remains of both small wallabies and Tasmanian Devils and there were a lot of them. The Tasmanian Devils, to a degree, bring it on themselves as they will happily wander into the road to devour the remains of another Tasmanian Devil and then become a victim themselves. I'd like to report we saw some live wallabies and Devils, but not we didn't! Needless to say, we did se a few birds though.

I suspect neither of us would have noticed being run over last night, we were dead to the world immediately we got into bed. It was a long day yesterday!

This morning we breakfasted on fruit before heading out to explore K-Mart! I know it's not really exploring, but we did get a bit lost searching for a small cool bag and ice-pack.

After a cup of coffee, and as it was sunny and clear, we headed out of Hobart to take a trip up Kunanyi/Mount Wellington. Although it's only 1270m (4166 feet in old money) it rises directly behind Hobart at sea-level. If you happen to look at the photos I posted on my FB page, you will be able to see the tremendous view. It has two names as, like Denali/Mount McKinley in Alaska, the native name is now preferred over the English name.

When we left Hobart it was 19C, by the time we reached the summit it was 9C with a strong cold wind adding a considerable wind chill factor. We quickly donned sweaters/cardigans and cagoules as we got out of the car!  The city below looked like a toy model, but we could see a huge view in every direction. We had a good walk around and enjoyed the viewing platforms before heading back down to Hobart.

We drove through the centre of Hobart and it has some amazing buildings, some were late nineteenth century and others Art Deco style. It was really buzzing, it seems to have lots of small shops and lots of bars and restaurants.

Heading south we climbed over a saddle in the hills and dropped down into the Huon valley. This is a big fruit growing area, so there are lots of farms selling fruit directly or offering PYO and several wineries too. We were feeling thirsty and hungry as it was nearly 1300, so we drove to Huonville, the principal town in the area. We both thought we could have been plonked down in a small American town! 

We parked and walked to the DS Coffee Bar and Cafe Lounge, a slightly alternative coffee and food place. There was plenty of choice and all prepared to order. We found a settee in the window and enjoyed our lunch whilst watching the comings and going both in the cafe and out on the street. Highly recommended!

From here, we headed down the Channel Highway to Cygnet, one of the oldest towns in Tasmania. It lies a very sheltered inlet, with the Huon river running into it. Probably an ideal spot for early settlers.

We continued down the peninsular to the south passing an awful lot of the aforementioned road kill en route. Right at the bottom of the peninsular you get good views of Bruny Island across the strait. From there, the road looped around to the eastern, as less blustery, side taking us through Woodbridge and Kettering, the terminus for the ferry to Bruny Island and on to the delightfully named town of Snug. From there, it was about 20km back into Hobart and back to Motel. 

It was a good day out and we ended by eating dinner in our room and packing our bags for tomorrow.

Singapore to Hobart 30 Jan 2017

Well, despite believing we'd be leaving Singapore late on Sunday evening, it was well into Monday morning before we got airborne. Sadly, the First-Officer assigned to our flight was taken ill and so we were delayed whilst a replacement was found. This entailed two and a half hours extra sitting around in the airport.

The airport at Changi is very impressive and at least there comfortable seats and places to charge your gadgets all over the place.

Eventually, just before midnight, we started the process of going through security prior to boarding. An A380 carries a lot of passengers so it takes a while to screen them all, but to be fair it wasn't too bad and we started boarding quite quickly. The flight was pretty full so we weren't lucky enough to have an empty seat between us on this flight.

The flight distance tonight is just over 6000km and out route took us south from Singapore flying between Sumatra and Borneo before crossing Java and then out over the ocean. Landfall was made over north-western Australia and then right across the middle of the country and down to the south coast.

We flew over Adelaide, although it was cloud covered and from there directly to Melbourne, we should be landing at 1140. We have less than an hour before our flight to Hobart, but suspect we won't make our connection.

By the time we had got through immigration, collected our bags and got through customs, we'd missed our flight. The Qantas staff at the airport had already assigned us seats on the next flight, so we checked our bags back in and back through security to domestic departures. We were feeling peckish, so tried a slice of pizza, it was very gooey!

We also tried to call the car rental company in Hobart to tell them we would be late. The number on the rental voucher didn't work, but the Qantas customer services kindly found a different number and dialled the number. Although I spoke to a Europcar representative, I'm not entirely sure she understood what I was trying to do!

In the end, we arrived at Hobart airport about 90 minutes later than we had expected and our rental car was waiting for us there. Hobart airport is really quite small, there is only one baggage carousel. It's about 20km into Hobart on the Tasman Highway and it's a four lane road and not much traffic. Just before driving into the city you drive across the Derwent River on a high arched bridge, quite spectacular. Once in the middle of the city, it's a two minute drive up Argyle St to the Argyle Motor Lodge, a Motel-like establishment.

It's quite an old style Motel, but nice and clean, our room is quite large and has a lounge/dining area and a small kitchen. We sorted our luggage out and managed to put some washing through the machine. It got hung up outside in the breeze and had mostly dried before dark.

I made a brief visit to a supermarket and bottle shop, which explains the full fruit bowl and can of Cascade beer in my hand.

We walked down Argyle St, turned off up Federal St and onto Elizabeth St this evening. This part of Elizabeth St is the town centre for North Hobart. There are plenty of places to eat there, we ate well in a Thai restaurant.

We really flagging now, so it's time for a shower and then bedtime, it won't take long to fall asleep tonight!

China Town and farewell to Singapore 29 Jan 2017

Our last day in Singapore before we head for pastures new!. We arranged a late check-out for 1400. I asked if I could extend it and got quoted S$150! We will sit in the hotel lobby instead I think!

We headed back downtown this morning, but this time to the end of the Metro at Chinatown. The last time I was here, it was still possible to see rickshaws and drivers sleeping in them in the shade. The shop houses are still there, but the streets have lots of tourist tat on sale on stalls in front of the houses.

We walked to two of the temples. We went into Buddha's Tooth temple, it is spectacularly decorated for New Year. People were praying, making devotions and contributing to the temple, it was very busy. 

It's difficult not to notice hand-written signs that don't make sense in English, but some are amusing. Things are very cheap in the touristy shops. I saw one with three watches for S$10, t-shirts for S$1 and material shopping bags, there for S$10. We resisted the bargains, just buying a fridge magnet for S$2. The same ones at the zoo yesterday were S$6.50.

Back at the hotel, we showered and packed and took our bags down to the lobby for storage. Then it was back to Food Republic for lunch. Sadly, as New Year is still affecting commerce, most of the food stalls were closed. We chose an Indian stall that was open and had a very mediocre chicken and fish biryani. I shouldn't complain as we've had some wonderful food in the city. As a melting pot of food cultures it is a foodie heaven. After lunch we returned to the hotel lobby.

After a couple of hours watching the comings and goings, including a very noisy birthday party, in the lobby, we collected our bags from storage and headed for the door. We only waited 2-3 minutes for a taxi and we were on our way to Changi airport.

The journey only took 20 minutes as traffic was light and the fare was just over S$20. It would have been 25% cheaper if we had done the journey before 1800. 

It didn't take too long to check in, but passing through emigration was very slow. Our finger prints were taken again, I guess to compare with the ones we gave on entry into Singapore. Oddly, now we are airside, our bags haven't been x-rayed! I guess that will happen at the gate. Now we have a 2 hour wait for boarding. At least we have free wifi and comfy seats!

Next post will be from 'Down Under'!

Singapore Zoo and Gardens by the Bay 28 Jan 2017

I've noticed in UK and London in particular, the huge number of people walking around glued to their portable media. People aren't looking at what surrounds them which can be rather frustrating when they walk into you, to say the least! Here, portable media usage is, perhaps, even more widespread. Worse still, many have their phones and cameras attached to selfie sticks! The desire to take photos of yourself with random backdrops seems to be all consuming for some people. I wonder who gets to see the photos? On the Metro, everyone is using the phone as it works even underground. The digital revolution has certainly hit Singapore

Chinese New Years Day seemed to be a good time to visit Singapore Zoo. It was a good time, clearly, for a lot of other people! We caught the Metro part-way, and then caught a bus to the zoo. Once again, we got a tour through the jungle-like suburbs of Singapore.

We had already bought a combined Bird Park and Zoo ticket yesterday so didn't have to queue for tickets, but did stop for a coffee and breakfast pastry.

We enjoyed the Zoo overall although it was very busy. It's not normally the sort of excursion we would do as we prefer to see animals in their natural and unfenced environment. We were interested to see some of the Southeast Asian wildlife as it's often difficult to see them in the wild. Some things were more notable than others. The Orang-utans, for example, have free range across the Zoo as they rarely descend to ground level and just follow ropes and vines draped between the trees. The Ethiopian Baboons too, had a huge enclosure and were clearly breeding!

One huge enclosure was a 'walk-in' area like a jungle, one of the animals in there were Fruit Bats. They were flying around freely, but roosting close to the viewing platform.

Lunch was taken in a rather manic food court, but it wasn't expensive and was local in origin, tasty and relatively cheap.

After 4 hours, we'd had enough and headed back to the hotel to relax. We also had a swim in the outdoor pool on the fifth floor. It was rather refreshing swimming as it was raining too!

After tidying ourselves up, we headed out again, but this time down into the heart of the city. We took a Metro down to Bayfront and walked through an underpass and came up at Gardens by the Bay. This immense green area is built on reclaimed land and was started in 2007. It consists of a number of small themed gardens, two huge biospheres and a grove of 'Supertrees'. One biosphere is a rainforest whilst the other was full of flowers. The biospheres charge for entry. We wandered the circular route around the smaller gardens as it moved from twilight to dusk. By the time we got to the 'Supertrees' in the middle it was almost dark. 

The Supertrees are constructed of steel, some connected by an aerial walkway, and covered in natural vegetation which is gradually vertically colonising the towers. They are certainly a wonderful sight in daylight, but take on an even more spectacular mantle when it's dark. They are softly lit in pastel shades which highlights the plants growing up them. Then at around 1945, a sound and light show bathes then in a variety of startling colours to the sound of chinese music. It is certainly something to behold, and all for free!

After the show, we attempted to find food in the massive shopping centre nearby, but it was so crammed with people enjoying New Years Day, we gave up and caught the Metro back to Orchard.

Here, we went upmarket and ate in the outdoor foyer cafe at the Marriott across the road from our hotel. It was very busy, but they found a space at the bar where we had a great view of the world strolling around. We both had local food again, which was delicious. The experience cost us S$90, but given the lack of places open elsewhere, was well worth it, and not far to walk back to our hotel.

Jurong Bird Park and New Years Eve 27 Jan 2017

It's Chinese New Years Eve today, everywhere is decorated and many of the food outlets closed. Tomorrow, we begin the year of the Rooster.

This morning, we headed back to the Metro and jumped on the North South line for the long haul to Jurong East Station. Luckily, much of the journey is above ground so were able to enjoy looking around suburban Singapore. At Jurong East, we swapped to the East West line and went a couple of stops to Boon Lay. Here, we switched to local bus and headed to Jurong Bird Park.

Having bought our tickets, we started heading round the park and were initially very disappointed as we were expecting big walk-in aviaries. There were some interesting and colourful birds in individual cages, but nothing to catch our imagination. Then after about an hour we came across a larger aviary containing a lot of Loris! This was a large walk-in aviary and the birds were well used to visitors. It was possible to buy some food and they'd come and perch on your hand. They were very colourful and also noisy.

From this point, the really started to enjoy the visit as we found several other huge walk-in aviaries similar to ones we had visited in Kuala Lumpur in Malasiya. One even had a huge waterfall in it. I won't bore you with a bird list, but if like pictures, try my FB page! The photo opportunities were excellent throughout the park.

The park is well worth a visit, you cannot fail to be amazed at the variety of tropical birds. In the end, we spent the best part of 6 hours there.

We came back by the same route and came back to the hotel to recoup our energy briefly before setting out to find dinner. Due to Chinese New Year, the street food courts are closed this evening but we eventually found the Basil Thai restaurant. The food and the service were good, we had chicken spring rolls, sea food pad Thai and chicken with cashews. It was all very good and the bill inexpensive.

Singapore Botanical Gardens and Newton Circus 26 Jan 2017

Rather to our surprise, we didn't wake until 1000 this morning! After a bit of fruit for breakfast we headed out to find out how the public transport system works. We bought a 3 day tourist pass for all buses and trains for $30 each, but get S$10 back when we hand the cards in afterwards.

Actually finding the Metro in the maze of underpasses under the junction of Scotts Rd and Orchard Rd was a nightmare, but we stumbled upon it eventually.

From Orchard Station, we caught a train to Newton then swapped to a different line for the journey to Singapore Botanical Garden Station. 

Back at street level, the entrance to the gardens was right by the station entrance. I think you have to accept that Singapore is always going to be hot and humid and walking around is therefore a bit sticky. We had a very slight breeze and walked in the shade as much as was possible.

There are lots of sections of the gardens and I think in 4 hours we covered them all. Needless to say, everything is very green and faintly jungle-like. We did see a few creatures, Squirrels were everywhere and fairly large Monitor Lizards are pretty common. The most common birds we saw were Mynahs but we were lucky enough to see A Crimson Sunbird, a Crested Flameback and a Buffy Fish Owl. There are only 4 Fish Owls known to live in Singapore and we saw three of them.

We stopped fairly early on for a coffee and pain au raisin and coffee and later for a cold drink, there are several places to get food and drink dotted around the gardens. The gardens are immaculately kept and beautifully clean. They are also a no-smoking zone.

By late afternoon, we were back at the hotel to cool down in the air conditioning!

Shortly after six, we headed out for dinner. We decided to try the local bus service. The bus stops are quite comfortable as they have plenty of seats whilst you are waiting. Our journey was only two stops, and we quickly reached Newton Station where we alighted.

My wish came true as we headed into Newton Circus food market! Quite a few stalls were closed in advance of Chinese New Year which is on Saturday. Next year, by the way, will be the year of the Rooster!

After a wander around looking at all the food choices, I invested in a bottle of a Tiger beer and we found a numbered table. After that, it is just a case of going to a stall or stalls, choosing your food and returning to the table. Food appears shortly afterwards and you pay on its arrival. 

Our starter was Chicken Satay, the peanut sauce was particularly tasty. Next I came across Margaret, who was extolling the virtues of her food. After a bit of negotiating, we ordered Chilli Crab and Chicken fried rice. The Chicken morphed into prawns but was delicious and a small S$5 plate was sufficient for two people. The crab was sold by weight and came to S$33, but as a treat we thought we deserved it.

Let me tell you, eating spaghetti in a restaurant doesn't begin to describe the mess you get into whilst dismembering crab which is slathered in chilli sauce. To be fair, the crab had been cut up and the claws cracked, but there is no other way than to pick up the pieces in your fingers and dismantle the crab, sucking meat out of the legs is a particularly messy feature. The only 'tools' provided were a pair of chopsticks each and a Chinese soup spoon to share!

We enjoyed the experience and it was all very tasty, but there were lots of other goodies available for a considerably less money. Bring on the next time!

After our bus trip back, we took a walk to the Lucky Plaza as I wanted a spare camera battery. Electronics, cameras, phones and their accessories are very competively priced in Singapore. I got what I wanted and haggled the price down by almost 20%.

A good day overall. It is very much a 'garden city' and the pace of life amazingly relaxed. Maybe living 1 degree north of the Equator is a good thing! The only surprise was that we had a dry day, quite unusual here.

Arrival in Singapore - 25 Jan 2017

At 2200, last night, we did our 'moonlight flit' and headed to Dubai airport. After checking in, we had several hours to experience the delights of the duty free shops here. Certainly Le Clos, the wine and spirit outlet, must be front runner for the most expensive duty free here. I can't imagine casually buying a bottle on 1902 Petrus whilst passing through an airport.

Our flight left on time and our route took us across the Arabian Sea to Mumbai and from there across central and southern India and out into the Andaman sea.  Then passing over northern Sumatra we headed down through the straits of Malacca the n to Malaysia and finally a short loop over northern Java before arriving in Singapore

The flight was good and we arrived on time at Changi Airport. We were seated in row 42 on the Emirates flight which weirdly, on their A380-800, is right at the front of the aircraft. On arrival, we were first off the plane and therefore one of the first in the immigration queue. We did have a bit of a wait for our bags, but we we're still out of the airport and on the Hotel Shuttle Bus within the hour. The Shuttle Bus, by the way, is good value for money, S$9 each from the airport to the hotel door.

The traffic was pretty bad in town and we were the last of 4 couples that was dropped off. We also had a heavy tropical shower en route, but it had stopped by the time we got to the Royal Plaza on Scotts Rd, almost at the junction with Orchard Rd.

Check-in was quick and simple and we got a room on the 8th floor. It's very large and quiet.

After sorting our bags out, we headed out of the hotel to find an early dinner nearby. With their excellent reputation, we headed for a food court, and chose Food Republic underneath Tangs department store. After a quick wander around, we settled on Korean food. Lynn had a Rice Kimchi whilst I was slightly more adventurous with Bimbimbap! This was seafood and vegetables cooked in a stoneware pot with a fried egg on top. Both dishes also came with a soupy broth and some chilli cabbage and tiny fish fry. It might not sound good, but believe me it was tasty with exception of the broth which was a bit insipid.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, but I wanted to stretch my legs a bit after the long flight.

For over 30 years I've been wanting to return to the food hawkers market at Newton Circus here. Since the rest of the city has changed so much, I wondered if it still existed. It is about 1km from here and so I walked there wondering what I would find. Thank goodness, it was almost exactly as I remembered it, probably over a hundred small stalls selling delicious food. I sat and has a large Tiger beer and watched the customers, almost entirely local, enjoying dinner under the stars. Needless to say, we will return in the next day or two to eat here.

Garden centre and Post Office 24 Jan 2017

"Lets go to the garden centre"! Well, that makes a change from shopping malls. Not far from FGB Metro station (many Metro stations are sponsored by commercial enterprises, FGB being First Gulf Bank) is an oasis of green amongst the car dealerships in this part of the city, the Dubai Garden Centre.

We walked from FGB station the couple of hundred metres to the garden centre passing many car showrooms including Opel/Chrysler, Jeep, Lexus and several other Japanese marques. Across the street were the Lamborghini and Bentley outlets. We've certainly seem evidence of car extravagance here, Ford Mustangs and Porche are two a penny, whilst Lambos, Ferrari and Maserati are very common too.

The garden centre itself was quite large and had all manner of huge ornaments, massive plants and trees, ginormous BBQs and interesting garden furniture apparently made from scrapped tractors and seemingly old boats.

Far more interesting was the cafe on the ground floor which had an interesting range of lunch dishes, cakes and coffee. My smoked turkey frittata and iced latte was very good. 

Once back at the flat, I went out on an errand to find a Post Office. I managed to find one on google maps, but then had to navigate to it on foot. After a 2km walk, mainly through Media City and Knowledge Park, I found the Post Office  next to the International School of Culinary Arts, just before it closed at 1500. I bought some 6 Dirham stamps to post letters to Europe.

On the way back I sought enlightenment but sadly neither the University of Westminster or the Wollongong University were admitting mature students! There are several other University campuses from the UK represented in Knowledge Park.

Back at the flat, we packed our bags in preparation for our 'moonlight flit' tonight. We plan to escape by taxi around 2200 and head for the airport. Our body clocks will get advanced by another 4 hours overnight.

High-flying cocktails; The tallest building in the world

Another day that started slowly as holiday mornings should! The cleaner was due to arrive at 1000, so we got showered, dressed and had breakfast before she showed up. We hung around long enough to do our domestic chores, as in empty the washing machine and hang the contents up on the balcony.

Then it was time for another 'Mall' experience! We caught the Metro south for a few stops, then walked to the Marina Mall. We could have taken the tram for one stop, but it didn't seem worth it.

One in the Mall, we bought a SD card reader for the iPad before exploring the food court as it was lunchtime. Once again, we opted for a middle-eastern food outlet and had a meat sharwama and a Fattoush salad, both very tasty and fairly cheap. We sat at a table overlooking the Marina and watched the boats sail by.

It wasn't too hot, so we walked alongside the water on the way back to the Metro. There are some very large luxurious yachts moored up there.

Back at the flat we continued our mission to get as many of our clothes washed before heading east tomorrow., at least things dry quickly out on the balcony.

At 1730 we set out for our date in town! Dressed again in our glad rags, we headed for the Metro. At this time of night, it gets rather busy. Once at the station, we found the 'up' escalator was not working, so we managed to miss a train whilst waiting for the lift instead. We were well crammed in on the train and had great difficulty getting out of the carriage at the Dubai Mall station. 

Our plan was to catch a taxi from here to the Mall. I know that sounds daft, but it is about 1km on walkways and that would have delivered us to the opposite side from where we needed to be and Lynn's feet were an issue. We quickly discovered down at street level that the traffic was gridlocked and there were no empty taxis! Somewhat disheartened, we started walking toward to Mall hoping to encounter a taxi en route.

We walked as far as the Mall in the end, but were on the wrong side of a huge dual carriageway and no sign of an obvious entrance. After seeking advice, we managed to find a pedestrian crossing and eventually an entrance too. By now we were 10 minutes late for our meeting.

Luckily, we weren't too far from where we were meeting and finally found Siobhan and Aaron! We had no choice but to continue walking around the huge fountains as we had a booking for 1930 for cocktails. Our route march continued as we found it extremely difficult to find a pedestrian entrance to the Burj-al-Khalifa, clearly it is designed to be approached by car, preferably a chauffeur-driven limousine! By the time we entered the Armani Hotel, Lynn and I had walked around the perimeter of the Burj-al-Khalistan tower.

Finally, we made it and after a few minutes we shown into a lift and sent down a floor! Here, we swapped into a different lift and sent up 123 stories on a high speed lift. On the 123rd floor, we checked-in to At.mosphere, a cocktail bar and restaurant. This time, we walked down a spiral staircase with glass walls that permitted huge views across the city. We were shown to a table and given the drinks menu. The prices were sky high, rather appropriate considering our position 442 metres about street level. The views are impressive, it is an odd thing looking down on a skyscraper a huge distance below knowing the skyscraper itself is 50 stories high.

After lounging around with our drinks in the lap of luxury for about an hour, we headed back to the high speed lifts and ground level. From here we caught a taxi to Boca, a restaurant in one of the free-trade areas of Dubai.

Boca, is a tapas-themed place, very cool, with its own DJ mixing music for the diners. Sitting outside, we had grilled sardines, grilled squid, crab and avocado, mini pizza and fresh bread. All rather delicious and washed down by a pint of Estrella Damm. 

Finally, we jumped in another taxi and headed back to TECOM and the flat. All-in-all, a rather decadent evening by our standards.

Exploring the local area/building sites 22 Jan 2017

I'm drinking camel milk in my tea this morning. To be honest, apart from a very slightly earthy flavour, it's difficult to tell the difference between cow and camel milk, but I had to try it.

The great entertainment show here at the flat has been the road below us, or rather the traffic using it. I don't wish to be disparaging about driving standards here, but drivers do attempt some interesting manoeuvres, especially during the evenings. Next door to us is a large hotel. The hotel, the Grand Millenium, is also an entertainment hotspot too. Many of the visitors attempt to park in the street outside and their parking antics provide moving targets for the taxis serving the hotel. We've seen several close calls and one crunch, luckily that was a slow speed reversing incident.

Crossing roads here can be a bit dicey. They have pedestrian crossings marked on the roads, but there is no certainty anyone will stop for you. To be fair, those that do, are very courteous and always respond to a thank you wave from us.

After our long day out yesterday, we stayed local and just ventured out into the TECOM area. Having played dodgems with the traffic, we managed to walk to an area with neatly planted trees and bushes in amongst residential flats. We found a lunch spot, 'Arrows and Sparrows', that served delicious deli-style food. Our drinks were bright green and contained parsley and mint along with a variety of other fruits and vegetables. My wrap came with chicken and ginger and a small salad of cauliflower, seeds and berries. I felt tremendously virtuous as I walked out after a tasty, healthy lunch. Now, mid afternoon, I'm peckish!

Whilst we were out, we found a couple of artificial lakes which we walked around. There were several types of birds here. We saw both Common and Pied Myna birds, some form of Sparrow, Hooded Crows, a Hoopoe, Egrets, Cormorants, Gulls and a Ring-necked Parakeet. The last of these is considered a pest as they are not native and destroy crops.

As we walked back, we found three men tending the grass. They appeared to be trimming the grass with their fingers. Maybe they were pulling out clover.

We managed to struggle to Carrefour through a building site. There is not a single way to get to this quite large supermarket by road or pavement at the moment. I can't imagine it could happen in Europe, but it all adds to the experience here!

FB told me this morning that rain was expected. It is very cloudy and I'm sure I've felt a few drops of rain whilst sitting out here. Variety is the spice of life!

A Selection of Emirates and a Mountain 21 Jan 2017

Firstly, I must apologise for the lack of photos in my blog. For reasons I cannot explain, my iPad and Blogspot seem to have taken a dislike for one another when it comes to inserting photos! For those wishing to see photos, I have posted some on my FB page.

Today, we have mostly been visiting some of the other Emirates and driving part way up a huge mountain!

This morning we left the flat and headed out into scrubby desert in a north-easterly direction. Our destination was Jebel Jais, the tallest mountain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is over 2000 metres high and over the past few years they have been constructing a road up to the top of it. It still isn't finished, but it is possible to drive a long way up before the road is closed.

Our route this morning took us out of Dubai and into another Emirate, Ras-al-Khaimah, the most northerly of the Emirates. The mountains here form the border with Oman. It is quite a drive and gave us a chance to see some scenery other than cityscapes. We certainly saw several herds of camels grazing by the side of the road as we drove. 

Eventually, the mountains cane into view as we crossed a stony desert plain. As we got closer, the road initially took us into a gorge with unstable looking cliffs of loose rock towering above us. Gradually, the road started wriggling upwards as we started to climb into the mountains. There wasn't much signs of life with the exception of a few goats and hoards of ravens. 

Finally, we reached a point where the road was barred although we could see it continuing upwards, but construction is still ongoing. I'm told the plan is to build a hotel up there eventually.

We parked at this point and took some photos, sadly, there was quite a sand haze, so the photos weren't good. We also bought a cup of coffee, with evaporated milk in. That's something I haven't tasted since I last ate compo rations! It was also noticeably cooler up there, but lots of locals had erected tents and had small fires burning as they spend their day picnicking with their families.

After a while, we headed back down to go and find some lunch as the only food on offer from the coffee stall was banana chips and hard boiled eggs!

Back in the middle of Ras-al-Khaimah, we chanced upon a snack bar claiming to be a Canadian Pizzeria! This piqued our interest enough to stop and investigate. There were a wide range of pizzas on offer including some very strange options including fries and gravy as a topping. Those who know our distrust of food advertised in North America as coming with 'gravy' will understand we didn't try these.

After lunch we headed back to Dubai passing through several more tiny Emirates, Umm-al-Quwain, Ajman and Sharjah. The roads are so full of cars zipping along at high speed, it's difficult to differentiate between Emirates.

Back at the flat, three of us set off to stretch our legs with a walk to Carrefour. The building work going on around here actually makes it quite difficult to reach the supermarket without walking through building sites. 

Now, I'm sitting on the balcony supping a bottle of Dos Equis Mexican beer and eating olives stuffed with peppers, what could be better!

Dubai 20 Jan 2017

Today, being Friday, is the first day of the weekend, so we all went out to do some sight-seeing!

We left the flat and walked to the Metro despite someone having blisters on her feet from the day before! Having swiped into the station, we waited for 10 minutes with no sign of a train, so swiped out again and hailed a taxi outside a nearby hotel. Having made it to the Marina Mall (it seems our trip is being dominated by trips to Malls), we walked straight through and bought tickets for the ferry to Al-Ghubaiba on Dubai Creek. It cost £10 each which seems very reasonable for what turned out to be nearly a two hour trip.

We left the Marina, packed with expensive motor-yachts as you'd expect, and headed under the bridges that carry traffic and monorail out to the the Atlantis hotel and the artificial islands in the shape of a palm. It's an immense building project which is nowhere near completion, but it's not somewhere I'd want to live.

Carrying on northwards parallel to the coast, we could see in the distance, the Burj-al-Arab, the worlds first, self-proclaimed, 7 star hotel. It's a very striking building which dwarfs everything else on the coast near to it including the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. The Jumeriah Beach Hotel itself is very distinctive too, shaped like a giant wave.

Although it was hazy, which it seems to be every day, we could see the skyscrapers of the financial and commercial centre of the city in the distance too. The skyline is dominated by the immensely tall Burj-al-Khalifa. Much of the coast between Jumeriah and the middle of Dubai is being 'reclaimed' from the sea, so many huge stone jetties stick out like fingers from the shoreline. The ferry stopped at one of these which is also the entrance to the Dubai canal, another new feature of the city. Quite a lot of people got off here to take a tour along the canal.

Eventually, we started passing the commercial port and cruise ship berths as we got closer to the Creek. Not far beyond the Creek, another of the Emirate States, Sharjah, is clearly visible. We disembarked at Al-Ghubaiba and walked into the edge of the souk to a restaurant we'd seem from the other side of the Creek yesterday, called Bayt-al-Wakeel. We ate a selection of Middle Eastern dishes for lunch whilst watching the small water taxis, Abras whizzing back and forward across and along the Creek. The food was delicious and the restaurant recommended!

After lunch, we got the full brunt of aggressive salesmanship from the local sellers of textiles and associated tourist trinkets as we attempted to wander through the souk! It's a shame that the hassle is so intense as we'd quite liked to have browsed the stalls, sadly we were rather put off by people draping scarves over our shoulders in an attempt to sell us their wares.

After a short walk, we found an oasis of calm in a small cafe/restaurant, the XVA Art Hotekl and Gallery. He we drank coffee in the shaded and cool courtyard of a reconstructed old-style town house.

Then it was Mall time again!

Once again, we hailed a taxi to take us to the brand new Dubai Opera House. Sadly, our driver didn't appear to know where this was, but did drop us fairly close by. A production of 'Cats' is on there at the moment, but I wasn't inclined to take out a second mortgage to buy tickets!

Siobhan and Aaron had some errands to run in the Mall, but Lynn and I indulged in ice-creams instead. I also dispatched an iced coffee from Tim Horton's!

We then wandered around the huge lake between the Mall and Burj-al-Khalifa. The massive spire that is Burj-al-Khalifa, is quite astonishing from ground level.  The lake plays host to a huge water display during the evenings. Apparently, it puts the display outside Bellagio's in Las Vegas to shame, perhaps because it was designed by the same person.

Finally, after wandering around a temporary outdoor market under the tower, we headed past the Opera House on foot before hailing another taxi to bring us back to the flat. As a footnote, taxis are plentiful, metered and cheap in Dubai. The drivers seem to be friendly and understand English.

Dubai 19 Jan 2017

A view of Dubai creek today

I left you last night as we were about to go out to dinner at the Dubai Golf Club. We caught a taxi outside the flat and headed the short distance to the club. Driving anywhere here seems to involve doing U-turns on dual carriageways and lots of last minute lane swapping! 

The Golf Course is a green oasis in the middle of skyscraper blocks and is playable day and night as all the fairways are floodlit. 

Dinner was very good and the wines being showcased very tasty. Siobhan, who was hosting the dinner, introduced each wine and gave us a background to the provenance and production of the wines. I was most impressed with the 'port-like' wine from Argentina. After dinner we headed back to the flat and bed.

This morning, we had another slow start, so, late morning we headed towards to Metro again. We'd decided that the old part of the city might be an interesting excursion. The first train took us to BurJuman where we changed lines and caught another train to Al Ras.

This station is on the northern side of the creek and is home to a variety of souks. The first we came across sold gold. The gold varies in quality and is sold at the market price for gold set twice daily. My wallet stayed firmly in my pocket! We were verbally encourage to purchase anything from pashminas to watches to iPhones, but refrained. The streets here are all narrow and thronged with people. Most goods seem to be delivered by small van and then barrowed to their final destination. The clothing and textile shops were bursting at the seams with bright colourful garments and rolls of materials stacked ceiling high.

My favourite part of the souk was the one selling spices. The aromas were wonderful, especially the frankincense. Some shops specialise in saffron, but much of it seemed to be far too cheap and available in large quantities to be the real thing. Our only issue was finding somewhere to get a soft drink.

Eventually, we made it to the waterfront where small water taxis ply their trade back and forth across the creek. We will doubtless explore this area further in the next few days. There were several dhows tied up along the creek, all loaded to the gunwales with goods.

Having failed to find lunch there, we caught the train back to the Dubai Mall which lies in the shadow of the Burj-al-Khalifa. The Mall, is enormous, gigantic, humongous! Quite aside from a huge waterfall and skating rink, there is a massive aquarium in the middle of the Mall. It's a bit surreal watching Reef sharks gliding by which you do your shopping. Again, we will explore the Mall further in the coming days.

Lunch was taken in the food court from an Iranian stand. Delicious BBQ meat with yoghurt and flatbread.

Back at the flat, it was time to sit on the balcony and watch life go on below.

Dubai 18 Jan 2017

It's rather pleasant to be able to sit outside and write a few words today. Perched on a stool on the 5th floor balcony I can just about see the sea in the distance, I've also got a partial view of the Burj al Arab too. The traffic is a bit noisy, but I can hear birdsong and the bougainvillea is flowering in the gardens below.

This is one busy city! We have been out this morning and walked to the Metro station a couple of hundred metres away. The station is located above the main east west road through the city. The road appears to be 7 lanes in each direction and is a constant flow of traffic. We were kindly provided with Nol cards, the local equivalent to an Oyster Card, so we started by putting 20 Dirhams on each at the station. A short journey costs 3 Dirham, so this was a good start.

We only travelled two stations down the line to The Mall of the Emirates. This isn't the largest mall here, but it's still enormous and has a full size indoor snow ski slope, apparently complete with penguins. Our aim was just to buy some postcards and have lunch, but had to start with coffee. One thing that was immediately apparent here is the very cosmopolitan make up of the shoppers. The other thing is how friendly and polite everyone that we interact with is. This morning on the metro, immediately we got on the train, a man stood up to give his seat to Lynn. Then, a young man got up and offered me his seat too. I must looking old!

We lunched in the food court on local food, although the selection of outlets ranged from the usual fast-food suspects to a wide range of oriental food and a 'London' fish and chip stall. Following lunch, we had a 'coals to Newcastle' moment and went shopping in Carrefour!

I'm sipping a beer by the name of D2. It's come all the way from France and is a bit unusual in that it was brewed by the Bordeaux vineyard Lynch-Bage. The D2 refers to a road number that passes many of the most famous and prestigious wineries in Bordeaux. Certainly a tasty tipple, but, oddly, unavailable in France.

Our next stop this evening will be for a South American themed wine dinner at the Dubai Golf Club, 'Hasta Luego'!

London London to Dubai 17 Jan 2017

Wow! The Airbus A380 is a BIG aircraft. I'm amazed so many people got on the aircraft in such a short space of time. It's probably helped by the fact the flight today isn't full, we've been told our row of three seat downstairs, in economy, will only be occupied by the two of us. Once on board, I'm impressed with both the seat width and pitch, it promises to be a comfortable journey.

We are airborne by 1210 and are told our flight time is just over 7 hours. The route is going to take us across the channel and then through Belgian, Dutch, German, Czech and Austrian airspace. After passing Vienna, we will pass through Slovakia and Hungary and on over Romania and Bulgaria to the Black Sea.

Lunch, a salad of rosemary chicken with radicchio and grains is taken as we fly over Southern Germany, my bottle of wine lasting well into the Czech Republic. It's incredible looking down, that I've driven most of this route at one time or another.

Three hours into the flight and we are just crossing the Black Sea coast at Varna. Our next country will be Turkey followed by Iran before heading down the Persian Gulf to the United Arab Emirates.

The flight arrived at 2242 and we are now 4 hours ahead of UK, temperature 22C!

The journey through Dubai airport involved a giant lift and a train journey, but passing through immigration, baggage claim and customs was hassle free. We found an ATM and drew some local currency, the Dirham, and found the taxi queue.

We were directed into one of the local taxis, ours had a female driver, and set off from the airport. Even late at night, traffic was busy, especially around the airport and the journey through the centre of the city was on a 7 lane highway. After 20 minutes we arrived at Siobhan and Aaron's flat on the fifth floor of a tower block.

London Heathrow - 17 Jan 2017

As astute readers will have noticed, this is a new post on my travel blog. This can only mean one thing, check-in for our flight was successful!

I'm currently sitting in a relatively quiet Terminal 3 at LHR catching up with the past few hours. We were waiting for our taxi by 0810 this morning after checking out of the Premier Inn (15 Bath Rd). I have to say that for £45 the hotel was good value for money. The room and bed were comfortable and it was pretty quiet too despite being a couple of hundred metres from the end of the North runway.

The taxi journey only took 10 minutes and works out cheaper and quicker than using the 'Hopper' bus service, £12 versus £13. Our driver was chatty and very polite. Once inside T3, we quickly found the Qantas check-in desk and there was no queue! Much to my relief, there was no drama with check-in. We handed over passports, heaved our enormous bags onto the scales and received boarding passes in exchange! I can't believe we've set out with over 55kg of baggage. So much so for 'travelling light'!

Once through security, again a pretty painless experience, apart from Lynn having to remove her shoes and being told she needed to remove a tissue from her pocket before entering the x-ray machine, we headed for food.

As seems to be traditional, we had 'full english' breakfast in an Italian restaurant and very tasty it was too. After a brief wander around the shops, we settled for a newspaper and free bottle of water. The last of the big spenders or what!

Now, we just have to wait for another hour and we should be on our way. Our flight should take a little over 7 hours, next stop Dubai.

Off to a wet start - 16 Jan 2017

I wake up slowly and suddenly realise it the first day of our holiday. This provides added impetus to get out of bed, head downstairs and make a cup of tea. Lots to do!

The first job is to move impossibly heavy luggage downstairs whilst wondering if we really did pack the kitchen sink. Then I recall that we are acting as 'alcohol mules' for the first leg of our journey and have carefully wrapped wine bottles in the bags. I always thought the idea was to bring back duty-free goodies from holiday, not take them with you. I'm hoping that my walking socks will provide sufficient cushioning when we abandon our luggage to the mercy of airport baggage handlers! (In the unlikely event that any baggage handlers are reading this, I'm sure, in truth, you always take great care with our bags).

Back to wet in the title. Opening the front door revealed a grey sky and a good amount of rain falling from it, so I got a bit damp loading our bags into car. As we drove through Lincoln it was clear it had been raining all night. First stop, the Doctor's surgery! Due to a prescription malfunction, Lynn had to politely persuade the staff to give her a new prescription on the spot whilst I went for a haircut, a summer haircut! Having been successful in our endeavours, next stop was the pharmacy to collect the drugs.

Jobs done, we arrived at Stephanie's house, reversed our car onto her drive and shifted our bags into her car. Ten minutes later, we were heading south bound for London Heathrow.

It was a very wet journey south, the spray from other vehicles and standing water making it a difficult journey at times. That said, with the aid of an app on Stephanie's iPhone, we took just short of three hours to get to the Premier Inn. I asked about early check in, but was told it might be possible for a payment of £10. Suddenly, it seemed like a good idea to have lunch and wait for an hour to pass.

Having checked into our hotel room on the dot of 1400, I tried to check in for our flight tomorrow. Not possible, says the website, your given name on your passport has to match your given name on the flight ticket. Simple you say! The ticket has our surname spelled correctly followed by a comma and a space then given name(s) and title, i.e. MR all run into one word. Qantas seem to be under the illusion that my given name is timothykevin!

Warning! Trying to phone Qantas customer services in UK is likely to cause a nervous breakdown and severe damage to your phone as you hurl it against the wall after listening to adverts for 10 minutes and not getting to speak to anyone. Staff at The Flight Centre, however, we far more helpful and managed to allay my fears about being denied boarding. Check in at the airport tomorrow is the advice given.

So, readers, you will either get a blog post written in Dubai in the next day or two, or this post will represent the shortest travel blog if have ever created. Wish me luck!