Both of us were awake early, and this morning it was Narms off the starting block first. She was down at breakfast by about 7.30am, and I followed on about an hour later. Once again sat with the chap from Franz Josef Sky Dive Club. He had injured himself yesterday - apparently came down heavily on his heels and he was limping pretty badly this morning. He didn’t think he was going to be able to jump today and was pretty disappointed as the conditions have been perfect. After breakfast Narms headed off and I went over to the Mall of Emirates to buy a cabin bag to carry my goodies home. Everything is fitting in at the moment, but I want to be able to separate out the declarable stuff to make it easy at the airport. And the bag will come in handy for my next trip!!!! Oh where to next – I see on the Vuda website that the Croatia trip is listed for 2013, so I may have an extra 12 months to save for that. That will be a good idea. And so, as I sit here charging my laptop - I reflect on what the highlights of this trip have been – but like my Vietnam trip every day has been a highlight.

So what have I done • I’ve ticked hot air ballooning and a trip to the desert off my bucket list. • I have bartered for pashmina in the textile souk and • have smoked sheesha with an Arab, and

• gotten a henna tattoo (although it is starting to fade already).

• I have ridden a camel, been dune bashing in a four wheel drive , and • I have shopped and shopped, and then shopped some more, and

• I have been introduced to the Muslim faith, at the Sheik Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, shared a meal and learnt how to wear the abaya and sheila and walked home from the Mall wearing the abaya and • I have spoken to Muslim women from Bahrain and had lunch with a Muslim lady from Jordan and • I have chatted to Pakistanis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Iranians, and Malaysians, bartered with a Syrian and shared the Creek cruise on a dhow with a Venezuean Italian, and an Argentinian and • I got chatted up by a local in Abu Dhabi and had my photo taken with him • I have eaten Lebanese food, African food, Emirati food, Turkish food, Italian food and had a Starbucks Christmas Gingerbread Latte and eaten the most delicious fresh dates and

• I have been to the Rugby Sevens and had my photo taken with a couple of rugby players

• I’ve had a drink with a Welshman, a South African and two poms while watching the finals of the Sevens on TV at the hottest bar in Dubai (The Barasti where all the ex-pats hang out) and • I’ve lost my phone case containing all my credit cards and money card and drivers licence at the Sevens and made a panic phone call to NZ to cancel the card, only to find it again at the Lost and Found Tent on the way out and

• I’ve seen the largest dancing water fountain in the world, , taken photos of the tallest building in the world, visited the world’s 3rd largest mosque in Abu Dhabi, been to the world’s newest and most technological sound and light show, and I’ve paddled in the water alongside the Burj Al Arab and

• managed to negotiate the metro, the bus system and chatted my way out of paying the fare on a bus because my metro card had run out of money and ridden on the abra and • been trapped in a shoe shop by an Indian who wasn’t going to let us out until we bought the shoes and • seen the most gold I have ever seen and the most beautiful snake bracelets and rings and necklaces • and just when I thought I had done all the shopping I needed to I discovered the Dubai Mall and so then I’ve shopped some more. Well I had to didn’t I, there were 1200 shops there. Wow, what an amazing holiday, and the grand finale’ is yet to come. We have one night left here at Ibis Mall of the Emirates and then we go to Atlantis the Palm tomorrow morning. We plan to check in very early and make the most of our twenty four hours there. I am hoping to be able to swim with the dolphins – another of my bucket list items. The guy from Franz Josef said I just have to do the water slide ride, but I am not sure if I am brave enough to that. He said just get out of your comfort zone – alright for someone who jumps out of a perfectly good plane just for the hell of it, I said to him. He said you have got to do that someday too, and assured me that Franz Josef Sky Dive is the safest operation in NZ and if I decide to jump, then to go see him. Let’s see how I feel about that when I get home – maybe my birthday present to me!! So time to hit the road again – I’m meeting Narms at the Dubai Mall at 2pm. I’ve go till 1.30pm to use the last of my Big Bus pass, so I had better get a move on. I need to find the bus stop, somewhere over at that huge MOE. Dubai Mall – over 1200 shops. OMG.

Granny Goes Gallavanting

Up early and down to breakfast early while Narms was still asleep. I chatted with the chap from Franz Josef that we met the other morning. He is here for the World Parachute Champs. He was telling me that the Prince of Dubai is a sky diver so he has poured millions of dollars into developing a place to sky dive here. He said it was the best facility he had jumped at. Then upstairs to repack my bag to find that, amazingly, everything is still fitting into my case. Narms was just heading down for breakfast as I came back to our room I am humming and haaing about whether I need to buy another hand luggage bag to pack all my goodies to go through customs or whether to leave as is. I still have my overnight bag and my big blue denim shopping bag and back pack empty. I opted to go off on my own this morning and went down to catch up with Narms who was happy with that. So, off I went. I caught a taxi to Jumeirah Mosque in time for the guided tour at 10am. This was taken by two very lovely Musliim ladies and was done as part of the Sheik Mohammed Centre for Cultural Learning – Open Doors Open Minds programme.

That took just over an hour, and just as I came out from there I saw the Big Bus on the other side of the road. So I decided to catch this bus to travel around for the rest of the day. At Dh220 it was going to be good value I decided and it would land me at all the places I wanted to visit. Crossing the road was a bit of a mission, had to walk about 400m down the road to find a crossing, and then back up the other side. There was a fence down the middle of the road, so no J-walking here. Luckily the bus stop was right outside Starbucks (Yep all the franchises are here: KFC, McDonalds, Subway, and I see Burger Fuel is about to open) so time for an iced mocha before the next bus. The first stop was Burg al Arab – yes almost right outside this iconic building, and right on the beach so I even got to get my feet wet. The water was lovely and warm, and if I had had my togs with me, I may have been tempted to have a swim. Twenty minutes later it was back on the bus and next stop Jumeirah Madinat. This is a hotel complex but also has a traditional souk and lovely restaurants and the Arabian waterways. Did some souvenir shopping here and found another Pride of Kashmir outlet, and once again resisted the temptation to buy here. This shop is very expensive, but the merchandise is very beautiful. Had a cup of Earl Grey Tea and a cheese pastry for my lunch at Costa, overlooking the waterways and got a couple of good photos of Burg Al Arab from here. My camera was playing up today, keeps getting a message “unexpected error. Please turn your camera off” and then when I do that it keeps wanting to connect to the internet. And then it ran the battery down really quickly and by this time (only about 1pm) and I was down to only one bar of battery. Back on the bus to Wadi where I changed onto the Red Bus Line. I was hopeful of making it to Stop 5 in time for the 3.30 dhow cruise, but I was 7 minutes late and the next cruise was to be 5.30pm. I decided to hang around and do it, seeing I had made my way all the way here. Got talking to a guy from Malaysia – started chatting to him as he had a NZ World Cup polo shirt on so I thought he may have been a kiwi, but he wasn’t. He was from Malaysia and he hadn’t even gone to the World Cup. He was in NZ last year. He was interesting to talk to, he works for an American telecommunication company in Malaysia and travels all over the world. He decided not to wait for the cruise – wasting too much time having to wait for another hour and a half, he said. But I wanted to wait, and was hopeful that I was not going to be the only one waiting. Then got chatting to a guy from Argentina, Leandro, and his friend Hugo who was originally from Venezuela but living in Milan. Leandro is a librarian and Hugo a flight attendant for Air Italia. Charming young men, who are going off on a cruise tomorrow. We sat on the wharf chatting until we were allowed to board the dhow at about 5pm. Sat up on the deck and watched the sun going down, and finally the cruise started at 5.30pm on the dot. Not a minute sooner, not a minute later. Very nice cruise. Food and drinks were available and they were cooking a lamb kebab which smelt very good, but it was interesting to see that nobody on the boat (which was full by the way) had anything to eat and only a few people drank soft drinks or beer. The guys were excited to see their cruise boat at the wharf. Hugo had been to NZ on a cruise a couple of years ago, and Leandro was hopeful of coming to NZ so we exchanged email addresses and I told them to look me up if they ever come over. After the cruise we got back on the Big Bus and were taken to Burjaman Mall – yes another mall. The three of us wandered around for a while, but they wanted to do boy shopping so we parted company and I headed to the foyer to check out the Da Vinci exhibition which was the highlight of this mall for me. I am obviously over shopping. The exhibition was brilliant, all his paintings and inventions on display. From the mall I managed to find the Metro and get myself to the Mall of Emirates where I had dinner at Tribes, an African restaurant. I had another delicious salad, lettuce and 3 colours of chargrilled capsicum, red cabbage and grilled Haloumi cheese with a very light balsamic dressing. I even treated myself to a mocktail here – Tribe Special and it was strawberry, lime, cranberry and brown sugar. Yummo. While waiting for my meal to arrive they brought out a wooden bread board with a loaf of freshly made bread with a pottle of French butter. We were entertained by African drummers, very good but ever so loud. This place if very popular with young people – yep I would have been the oldest one in there. Behind me was a table of about 25 young girls, maybe early twenties, mixed ethnicities but very very very trendy dressers. No abaya, head scarves or buquas or covering of any sort, in fact very short skirts and very high heeled shoes. They were celebrating someone’s birthday, complete with birthday cake and candles. Very dark, shiny black wait staff, but extremely well spoken and incredibly polite and extremely efficient. My salad was delicious and I looked around to see what other people were eating and it also looked amazingly good. Put this one on the list of places to visit for any one coming here. On the Metro I sat by a young guy from Sri Lanka, his name was Dilan and works as a chef at a French restaurant at the Atlantis. He helped me to negotiate my way off the metro and through the MOE . Gave me his phone number and said to call him when we get to Atlantis and he will look after us. Wow, what an amazing day. People are just so friendly. I have said this many times in this blog, but it is so true. Even the tour guides, both at the mosque and on the dhow cruise said that all nationalities and ethnicities live together in harmony in Dubai. And that would be so true. I have not seen one angry person. Everyone smiles, helps you to find your way if you ask, opens doors, stands back to allow you to enter a lift, and I even had a young man stand up for me to sit down on the metro the other day. Wow, what a wonderful place. And now today it is Monday morning. Narms has beaten me up this morning and already she is down at breakfast. It is only 7.30 now and she has already been gone the whole time I have been typing this up, so I had better get a move on. So time for a quick shower and I will post this to my blog while I have my breakfast. Only one more sleep here at Ibis Mall of Emirates. Tomorrow we go to Atlantis. YEAH YEAH.

Seven’s Day Awoke to an amazing sunrise and hot air balloons drifting past. It is a very busy weekend in Dubai – the Rugby Sevens, the world parachuting championships and the UAE ballooning championships. We went downstairs for breakfast – this hotel is much nicer and the breakfast much nicer. The staff are certainly way more friendly and helpful here as well.

I can’t really remember what time we got away now, but it must have been around 9.30am. We had heard that taxi was the best way to get out to the stadium – about a 30 minute ride and it should cost around Dh85. We went out the front of the hotel and walked down past the Novotel and then asked the security guard how much a taxi should cost us. He told us Dh85 and then called one of his mates from across the road to come over. He chatted away to him, then told us he had negotiated a price for us. The driver said yes Dh85 and showed us into a really nice car. Narms said, No, we were expecting a taxi with a meter. He explained that the security guard had negotiated a price and that he was a limousine and he would take us for the same price as a taxi. So we had a nice comfortable trip out to the stadium.

What an amazing set up they have here. Very efficient. And so much to do – there are four pitches where games are being played and there are dozens of other activities – such as ball skill games and pushing a Landcruiser. Loads of stuff for kids, and all the food and drinks can only be purchased with tokens which you purchase from a stall. Plenty of food and drink choices. Oh forgot to mention, we had our bags searched – not allowed to take any food or drink into the stadium. Luckily Narms had heard about this and so I emptied my bag before we left the hotel, but Narms smuggled her lunch in. Not sure how she got away with it, as her handbag was only tiny. We made it to the main grandstand just as New Zealand were about to play England. And to our shock, horror, England beat New Zealand. And then later in the day, NZ was beaten (well actually thrashed) by the Australians. Oh dear. Not a good day for the kiwis. I managed to get some good photos of the kiwi players

but shortly after taking my last photo, I realised that I had lost my camera bag, containing my credit cards. OMG, panic panic panic. I emptied my backpack three times to check that it wasn’t hiding in there somewhere, but no such luck. So then we walked backwards and forwards around where we were standing taking photos of the NZ team, but couldn’t find anything. I had this awful sick feeling, but I rang the ANZ Bank and cancelled my money card. Luckily I had my travel diary with me and it had photocopies of the cards in the back so that was easy to do. My Diners card was proving a bit more difficult to cancel as I hadn’t copied that one into my diary, but I was hopeful that it would be okay as I had tried to use it twice and had not been able to, do it would seem that not been places accept it. So decided to wait until I got back to the hotel and then worry about that one.

Because NZ were now not in the final we decided around 5pm to head home, I was pretty much rugbied out (and I must admit that the games were not particularly exciting and just as you they get into it, it’s all over) And it would seem that pretty much everyone is just here for the partying. We did catch up with Narms friends in the Heineken tent, and yep they had partied hard yesterday and last night, and it appeared that was what they were going to do tonight as well. So we headed off to catch one of the free buses. On the way out I asked if there was a “Lost and Found” and was directed out a side gate, to the last tent in the row. As I went in the door I saw a young lady holding onto my phone case, and the guy beside her was going through my cards. Oh phew!!! What an incredibly amazing feeling. And they were concerned because my phone/camera was not in the wallet, but I assured them that I had the phone. How lucky was that. Just another example of what an amazing country this is. So we proceeded out to the bus line-up. We had been told by Narms friends to head to Barasti – that was the place to be – so we got on the Barasti Bus at just after 5pm. The bus was scheduled to leave at 5.30 or when the bus was full, whichever was last. And because the rugby was still being played, there weren’t a hell of a lot of people wanting to leave right now, so we waited and we waited and we waited. Guys got on, some got annoyed at waiting so long and got off and went and got taxis, but we waiting and finally we were full. We then had to wait another ten minutes, (not sure why, but a great cheer went up went we finally pulled out of the car park. It was a forty minute drive back to Barasti and when we got off the bus, a group of guys escorted us into the bar. One was a South African, one Welsh and two poms. Really nice guys who then showed us around the place and bought us a drink. They had all been working in the Middle East for many years, and told us that the Barasti Bar was the place where all the ex-pats hung out. What an amazing place, absolutely buzzing. Just across the water is the Atlantis Hotel. Yeehaaaa, only three more sleeps and we will be there. The guys gave us heaps of suggestions about places to go and things to see – we need at least another three weeks here!!!!! Two of the guys – the one from South Africa and the Welshman, work at the airport and they gave Narms their card and told us to ring when we get there on Thursday and they will look after us during our two hour wait. We caught a taxi back to Ibis MOE and after a shower I went down to the hotel restaurant for a very late dinner. I was feeling incredibly tired by this time – Narms had already crashed!! But a yummy dinner – lamb chops with skinny chips and a delicious salad. Doing well on salads still but not getting to experience very much of the local cuisine. I was too tired, to continue writing this to post last night, so headed up in the lift, walked into the room, lay down and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. It is now almost 7am and I am about to get up and go down for breakfast. I want to head off to Jumeriah today – would like to go to the Mosque and there’s a big themed mall, with one section Egyptian, one Persian and three others which I can’t just remember what they are at the moment. Narms is wanting to go to the Outlet Mall, but I am pretty much over shopping, just want to see the different cultural things now. So we will probably go our own ways today. Only four more days. 

After breakfast we had our last visit to Deira City mall to post my blogs before being picked up at the hotel for our overnight safari. I had tried to get hold of the tour company to see if they could help with transporting our luggage – the hotel were most unhelpful. No we could not use the Ibis shuttle service. And no, they would not ring the company for me. So much for being an Accor Club Member. We got back to the hotel lobby early because each courier so far has turned up at least fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled. We were picked up by a ‘cute as’ Arab in an awesome 4 wheel drive Toyota Landcruiser or some such vehicle. You would love it Rowan. There was one other couple with us, from Korea, and they spoke very little English which made communication very difficult. We headed out on the road towards Oman, and had a short stop about half way for a loo stop and some souvenir shopping, where we had our photos taken with a falcon on our arm. Shortly after this we turned off-road and headed into the desert. We stopped to wait for about four or five other groups to join us and then off we went – into the sand dunes.

Only one word to describe the whole experience – AWESOME. I was in the back seat so difficult to get a good video, but it was just like the video on You-Tube. We stopped to take photos of the sunset which was spectacular, before going on to the campsite.

What an amazingly organised operation – a permanent campsite set up, complete with souvenir shop, henna tattoo, a place for people to try and have photos taken in Arabic dress, the camel rides, sheesha smoking.

We were greeted with Arabic coffee or tea and dates, and settled down at our allotted table for nibbles – which comprised of chicken shawarma and falafel. It was then off to have our tattoos done and camel ride. Back to our table for dinner and entertainment. Dinner was barbeque of chicken, lamb or fish (no baby camel as mentioned in the brochure).

Entertainment was the belly dancer – she dances for 25 minutes non-stop (such energy) and then a guy dancing for about 15 minutes – a very theatrical performance. Phew!!! Would like have of that amount of energy. There were about 500 people at the dinner and would you believe it – Narms and I were the only ones staying the night. So we had the cute Arab all to ourselves. We sat and I tried the sheesha – it was okay, smelt nice and fruity (strawberry I think or apple and something) In the middle of our dinner, the camel ride guy came and found us, we had had our photo taken and Narms then did her haggling bit and got the price down from Dh for four to Dh 60 for three, but then came back with all four photos for Dh 60. Way to go Narms. She’s really good at that. ($21.95 for four photos) After everybody left they brought us our mattresses and sleeping bags and we made up our bed. At about 9.30 they turned the generator off and I sat out under the stars for about ½ an hour after Narms went to bed. You could hear dune buggies belting around outside the compound and there was a constant stream of planes coming and going – we were directly under the flight path. We both had a great nights sleep – in fact we both thought it was the best we had had since we got here – only waking once, and seeing what we thought was a dog come into the tent. Narms was a bit concerned, but I said it was probably a pet dog belonging to the staff who live on site, and we both settled back to sleep. I awoke at 6.30am and Narms was already up, and sitting up on a sand dune waiting for the sun to come up. Breakfast was at 7am – sausage, egg, juice, Nescafe coffee, bread, cream cheese, strawberry jam (once we got the jar opened) and yummy orange juice, plus fresh fruit – which we put into our bags for later.

Back on the track again, stopping briefly to take some photos at the camel farm (breeding farm for racing camels) and then out onto the highway to Dubai. We asked the driver about the dog – he said it might have been the German shepherd or it might have been a fox coming in to scavenge the food scraps from last night’s barbeque. OMG Our driver very kindly took us back to Deira Ibis instead of dropping us at Ibis Mall of Emirates, so we could pick up our luggage and we then caught a taxi to MOE which cost us Dh42.50. Ibis Mall of Emirates is really nice – the staff at reception were very friendly and extremely helpful – way more so than at Ibis Deira. (Hard to believe it is the same hotel chain) At first we were told we couldn’t check in until 2pm (and this was just after 9.30am) but we could store our luggage until then. We sat in reception and sorted our gear and charged our phones, and within about ½ an hour the chap came across to give us our room keys and directed us up to the sixth floor to a very nice room with a fabulous view. What wonderful service. He also gave us tourist pamphlets and advised us which trips to do. Will certainly recommend this hotel to people coming to Dubai, and it is only costing us $71 NZ per night. After getting up to our room and sorting our luggage and having a shower, it was off to the Mall of Emirates. Oh my gosh – this is very posh, very expensive. All the big labels here – Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Armani, Dior, etc etc etc. Way out of my league. But to my delight, I did find the Pride of Kashmir. Checked out Pashmina and carpets. Very nice. Found a lovely wee carpet 2’ by 3’ with the starting price of around $2000 NZ but because I come from NZ and because I have been to Kashmir he halved the price. Used the excuse it was too big and heavy to carry home, and he folded it up into a reasonably small parcel. Told him this was my first day here at MOE and I would be back later in the week, so managed to get out before I bought anything. But it is a really nice carpet and would cover up the spot on my carpet at home where I spilt the bottle of bright pink finger nail polish!! The pashmina are more expensive than the ones I bought at the textile souq. We split up about here and Narms went off to do some more shopping at Carrefour and I headed to Costa Coffee to check in to the free wi-fi to load some photos to Snapfish. I am loading photos each day, so hopefully it will be all done by the end of the trip and will arrive at home just a couple of days after we arrive home – well, that’s the plan anyway. So now I am sitting at the window in our 6th floor hotel room watching night falling over Dubai. What a beautiful sight. It’s only 5.45pm and it’s dark already. And there is an amazing coverage on television of the Anniversary Celebrations. I don’t think I have mentioned anywhere in the blog about the celebrations going on this week. It’s the 40th celebration of the UAE and everywhere there are flags and bunting of Black, red, green and white. Every building is adorned with flags, every lamp post has a flag flying from it, people are wearing scarves, or ties, teeshirts and hats, and even the ladies are wearing shayla decorated with the national colours. Cars and four wheel drive vehicles are painted with the Sheik’s photo, and flags or painted in the national colours. The ceremony has just come to an end, and because of the language difficulties we have been unable to establish whether it is here in Dubai, or in Abu Dhabi, which is the capital of the UAE. But what a spectacular show involving thousands of people, but also some very high tech imagery and lasers, mixed with fireworks at the end. It would have been great to have been there, if only we had known where it was. Wooops, I thought it had finished, but it appears that there is more. Now we are being entertained by Arab men dancing (quite sedately actually). Dressed in traditional gear and carrying walking sticks, they are chanting (or is it singing) and bobbing up and down and waving the sticks, and in the background the crowd is cheering and applauding. And now we are seeing images of the UAE military, which is interesting because all the tour guides we have have mentioned that this is a very peaceful country and has not had any wars. Must remember to check that out when next I get onto google. Not sure how much longer this programme is going to continue so I will stop here and say - that’s it for another day. Ela al Lekaa (see you later)

On the way home we asked for a loo stop, and Narms decided it was time to eat – she chose a chicken burger (similar to a KFC) and I chose a chicken and cheese roll from the Indian food bar. It was a very timely stop as our driver had been looking decidedly tired for the past ten or so kilometres. I haven’t done too well on the Emirati food as yet, and then at this stop I finished off with an Iced Mocha – very delicious. It was then back on the road and Narms asked the tour guide if we could make a small detour to stop off at her friend Mel’s to pick up our tickets for the Sevens for Saturday. Bit of a mix-up, as Mel had bought Friday/Saturday tickets for Dh350 each, but Narms is very good at negotiating and got the price down to Dh 200 and left Mel to sell the Friday tickets. We got back to the hotel and while Narms had her Nana Nap I typed up the blog. We had decided in the car to dress up tonight for dinner – me in my new abaya and Narms in her long black dress and my black shawl, and go down to the Turkish Restaurant just next door for a meal. But – disaster one – I spilt make-up down the front of brand new and very expensive abaya – I said a fit “sh.. bug… and dams” under my breath, and then I couldn’t get the shayla to sit proper and felt a bit of a fraud and uncomfortable and worried that I might cause offence, so did a quck change into my long black and silver dress and used the shayla as a scarf and headed off to the restaurant. When we got there Narms decided she didn’t want to eat there as she felt the need for some vegetables – they have certainly been lacking in our diet since we got here and said she would head over the foodcourt at the mall. I had already decided that Turkish was my choice for the night, so I stayed, and as it turned out, Narms ended up just next door at a Chinese restaurant called Four Seasons where she enjoyed a Beef Stir Fry. I had a kebab which was very tasty, followed by a cup of Turkish tea, which tasted better when I put a couple of sugar cubes in it. After dinner we packed our bags ready to check out in the morning and packed a backpack for the overnight trip to the desert tomorrow. So far so good, I can still fit all my gear plus purchases into my suitcase. Will maybe have to buy a new carry-on bag to put all the foodstuffs in for the trip home, which will make it easier for clearing through customs. And another good thing – I have been able to balance my spending money at the end of each day, and apart from the one purchase which I put onto my Visa card (the Abaya) I have stuck to my spending allowance pretty much every day. And that reminds me – got a text from the National Bank on the way to Abu Dhabi asking me to telephone the bank urgently. I immediately knew why – I had forgotten to let them know I was going to be out of the country. I remembered when I went to Vietnam, but for some reason I forgot this time. And so, a big red alert on my account today as the shop processed my purchase, and my credit card had been stopped until they established that I was in Dubai and they then authorised the transaction. Wow, what a great service. The bank officer did say that I may get texts again if they are worried about any use of my card, and hoped that it would not inconvenience me. I said no, I was pleased that they were so alert. And, so we settled in for our last night at Ibis Deira. Tomorrow we check out and put our luggage into storage until we get back from the desert.

I left off last yesterday afternoon saying we were going to go off on the Big Bus Tour. Well we got over to the Deira City Mall where the bus leaves from to find that the last bus had left about ten minutes ago and there was a two hour wait till the Night Tour started at 7.15pm. So Narms went off to get her hair straightened and I went searching for souvenirs, but decided against buying any in case I found just what I was looking for at the Women’s Heritage Centre in Abu Dhabi. The bus trip was great – very informative, but the bus driver didn’t stop or even slow down so we could get any decent photos, except for a stop at Atlantis The Palm. WOW it looks fantastic. Can’t wait to get there!!!!!! The bus trip included a stop at the Wafi Centre for the Sound and Light Show which was pretty amazing. The city looks incredible at night – so many huge buildings and the Burj Al Arab looking pretty stunning in the colour purple, but unfortunately the photos I got really don’t do it justice. Hard to take good photos from a moving bus. The tour ended back at the Deira City Mall, so we had a very late dinner (10pm) in the food hall. I opted for New York Fries where I had fries and an Arabic Salad. Not quite the traditional food I was hoping for, but yummy all the same. Today we were on the Day Trip to Abu Dhabi. Our Sri Lankan tour guide was waiting for us when we came out from breakfast. We were expecting to be in a bus, or a mini-van at least, but we came outside to find that there was just the two of us and we were to spend the day in a very luxurious car. Way to go girls!!!!! Thank you Kylee. We headed out of the city on a 7 lane highway at about 120 kph and passed all the huge buildings we drove past last night. Good to see them in the daylight. Abu Dhabi was quite different from Dubai, but again very luxurious – the place is just money money money. The buildings here are huge as well, and the gardens are beautiful. We visited the Emirates Palace – well that is we drove in the drive, to the foot of the stairs for a photo stop and then back out the drive. The property is beautifully maintained and the garden has 9000 trees planted in it, and all fed by underground irrigation. We visited the Mosque – the third largest in the world ( the largest is in Mecca, and the second is the Blue Mosque and I can’t remember if he said Pakistan or Iran, but I know I have been there) We had to put on an abaya before we could enter and of course take off our shoes. The mosque is built of marble from Italy, Thailand and Indonesia. Inside there was a 5,000 square metre hand woven carpet from Iran and the hugest and most beautiful chandelier. It can hold 5000 people for prayer. Surprisingly we were allowed to take photos inside, although it felt a bit wrong to me, although I did take lots of photos We went to a very up-market place selling genuine Arabic art, clothes and jewellery and we had a personal tour through here by a charming young man who did his best to sell me some more pashmina. You will be pleased to hear that I resisted the very very expensive Kashmiri pashmina, but I was very impressed with the quality of the goods. Had to buy something so bought a table runner - now have one from Italy, Vietnam and Abu Dhabi. From there we visited the heritage centre and then the date market before starting on the journey home. Here I got to try about five of the 168 varieties of date and learned that there are 52 million date palms planted in Abu Dhabi alone. The tour guide said that the very best dates come from Saudi Arabia, but the ones I have had here taste pretty good. Our guide on the Big Bus Tour and the one today filled us in with lots of statistics - Won’t bore you with them all but here are some to think about. Population of the UAE is 9 million and of that 1.5 million are Emirati; 4.5 million Indian/Pakistani/Bengalese; 1 million Filipino and the other 2 million are “others” and altogether there are 156 nationalities represented in the UAE. Wow and I thought we were doing well with 41 in Tauranga. And get this – water is more expensive that petrol which costs 7 Dh ($2.86 NZ ) per gallon and Deisel is 10 Dh per gallon. There is no tax here and the government gives an Emirati couple (that is local marrying local) 70,000 Dh for a wedding present and a house. There is free education but everyone must have medical insurance. Working Emirati’s have their insurance paid by their employers, but others have to pay their insurance, which is compulsory. Non-Emirati coming to the UAE must have jobs. No job – no stay. Abu Dhabi is the richest of the emirates, because of the oil – 1460 oil rigs (mostly offshore, but some onshore) producing 2.6 million barrels of oil per day. Last night on the tour we drove past the court house, and the tour guide told us that the courts are kept busy with recording births, deaths and marriages and handling divorces. There is very little crime – a little white collar embezzling, buy no violence or murders. Phew, what an amazing place. No wonder people want to come here to work.

Day 3 An uneventful morning as Narms caught up on her sleep and I wrote the blog and sorted photos on the laptop. Then we headed once more back to Diera City Mall as Narms was having problems with her phone. We had lunch at Colours Café and it was there that I was able to get one hour free wi-fi so I could post the first two days notes to my blog. I wasn’t able to add photos which was a bit of a pain. Not sure why, but I will try today to do that. While I was doing that Narms went twice back to the phone shop before finally getting it sorted. It was then up to the second floor to Carrefour where we did our serious shopping. I got the gift boxes of dates I was after – probably the only dates I am likely to have!!! Woops, forgot to mention the lovely lady we sat with while we ate our lunch. A professor at the university teaching structural engineering. She came from Jordan and had previously worked for some time in the USA. She is married with young boys, so her and Narms shared children stories. We spent a good couple of hours shopping in Carrefour, it is huge and sells absolutely everything. After we got back to our room Narms discovered that she had left one of her shopping bags in a shop called Forever 21, so she headed back there to recover it. We had earlier decided that an early night was in order as we had had a phone call from the tour company advising that pick-up time for the Hot Air Balloon trip in the morning is 4.30am. OMG, I wasn’t sure there was such a time.

Both of us had restless nights, waking hourly and so by 3.45am we were both wide awake. We showered and dressed and were ready to go by the time our wake-up call came from reception. We headed down for early breakfast – available from 4am – just tea/coffee and croissants, and the bus arrived fifteen minutes early. I had to run upstairs to pick up my phone which was on charge. The battery had run down overnight – dammed thing. I am having to recharge at least twice a day, not sure why, as I have turned off all the applications and am keeping it off-line. There was a couple already on the bus when we got on and we picked up an Australian family of four and proceeded to drive out of the city to meet another van load before heading out to the desert. We were quickly briefed on safety procedures and the landing procedure before jumping in the basket – all 24 of us and off we took. We shared our corner of the basket with a guy from France and a couple of girls from Baharain – quite delightful they were – quite scared to start, and terrified as we came in to land. It was great chatting with them when we got back onto firm land. One of them is married (and she added unfortunately and when we asked if it was an arranged marriage she replied no her choice, but it is only after marriage that you find out what someone is really like – ain’t that the truth and appears to be a universal problem) She works at the airport and she is in charge of flight scheduling. Her friend, single and vowed to remain that way, works for a tele-communications company handling all the complaints. This is their second trip together to Dubai. The balloon ride was fabulous, very smooth, it was a still calm morning and although cool before we got in, it soon warmed up from the heat of the hot air. It was very cosy, not a lot of room to move about. The sunrise was beautiful but not as dramatic a colour as our sunrises in New Zealand – not as red across the horizon. The landscape was just as I expected it to be and we flew at about 3-4000 feet above sea level.

The landing was very bumpy – we came in at about 20kph and the basket tipped on it’s side – the pilot hadn’t warned us of that and we certainly weren’t expecting it. The pilot jumped out and took a photo of us all hanging on for grim death. And so, the flight, like all good things, was over too soon. By 8am we were back on the road again. Of course we ordered the traditional tourist photo of the flight and the landing which cost me $US30. It was a very quiet group on the ride back to town. Not one person spoke and the driver was very erratic. A couple of the passengers, including Narms were feeling a bit motion-sick . and by the time we got back to the Hotel around 10am Narms was feeling rather poorly with a migraine and carsick feeling, so she put herself straight to bed and said she was going to lie low for a couple of hours. I went downstairs for a coffee and croissant and got chatting to a young Iranian man who joined my table. We chatted about his life and how difficult everything is for an Iranian. He wants to set up a transport business with his brother here in Dubai but cannot get a visa to stay here. He said that most countries make it very difficult for them to enter. Made me realise how very lucky we are to be New Zealanders.. We so take life for granted. We have so much freedom and for us to come to Dubai we just had to buy a ticket and get a stamp in our passport when we arrived at the airport. How simple is that. I came back upstairs and had a quick shower then headed over to the Mall. I wanted to check out the Arabian Perfume place. I had read that they mix perfumes to suit you personally, but alas, that was not the case when I got there. However I did find some lovely shops selling the most exquisite fabrics – Again wish you were here Roxy, you would love it. And then some shops selling abaya. They are also absolutely exquisite, with embroidered trim, jewelled trim or coloured fabrics. I tried on a couple and of course I just wanted fairly plain black for I am wanting to wear mine for the theatre. A lovely young Filopino girl helped me and showed me how to fix the head scarf (I think called shayla but I will check that spelling when I get a chance) An older lady, wearing an absolutely gorgeous abaya and head scarf trimmed with purple jewels came to talk to me and ask where I was from and wanted to encourage me to buy one with more colours. I explained I wanted fairly plain and the reason why. This lady came to live in Dubai with her husband 21 years ago and this was her husband’s shop. She took off her scarf and showed me the piece they put in their hair to make the scarf sit so nicely. She then took it out of her hair and fixed it on my hair. What a lovely thing to do. These woman are just so beautiful, not only in looks but also in their nature. I chose an abaya, but it needed an extra button so that it didn’t gape across my boobs, so the lovely wee Filipino girl said she would fix it for me and to come back in an hour and a half. So I headed off to find some lunch. I was wanting to eat something local, but there were restaurants of every nationality – Chinese, Thai, French, Italian, so I settled for a Lebanese one called L’Auberge. Didn’t sound particularly Lebanese but I ordered an Arabic Salad, which was really yummy – lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spring onion, lemon and radish. But it was the dressing that made it, and I have absolutely no idea what that was. Perhaps quite lemony, but hard to distinguish the other flavours. As I sat there in the restaurant I did a lot of people watching. This place is so fascinating – so many nationalities – such a diverse range of clothes. But the Emirati women are beautiful and their abaya are absolute fashion statements. And the Arab men in their white outfits and headdress are just so dashing. I went back to pick up my abaya and the ladies and the guy who owns the shop talked me into wearing it back to the hotel. What an amazing experience. It is so beautiful, the fabric really soft and flowing and I felt like I just blended in with the locals. Got back to the hotel, but Narms had gone out, so she missed my grand entrance – we must have just missed each other – or maybe she didn’t recognise me!!!! We are now off on a bus tour around the city so time to say Ela al lekaa. – see you later.