Thursday 31 December
As I'm prepping to go for breakfast I find a switch that might be for the hot water. I hope!
Salad for breakfast! Yay. Excellent. And eggs. I like buffet breakfasts. Once in our room again I have a shower that is much warmer than last night. It feels so good to have my hair washed. We just relax, planning to go into town later. I decide I want to check out the local markets since they are not too far and we prepare to leave. There are lots of cheap shoes and clothes for sale. We will have to come back. We walk through the gold souk. Lots of jewellery and lots of ppl trying to entice us to come see their fake merchandise. The nearby spice souk is impressive. If only I needed spices! On our way to the metro we pass stores selling nuts and grains. We take the metro to the Dubai mall and take the long crosswalk in. There are signs everywhere for the fireworks. I was sure I read on the website that they were closing at 1pm today. But there are no signs of shutting! It's usually open till 11pm or -12am, so maybe it's open till 1am today! We were going to check out the old town but decide while we are here to do the shopping we need. Eventually we find our items and decide to head out to find a spot for the fireworks. It's pretty slow going through all the ppl. We find a spot and enjoy some dinner. I read some magazines I picked up about the New Years parties etc. Eventually I get so tired I fall asleep it's barely after 8pm. I nap on and off. Suddenly ppl are talking more and rushing by. There are some bright orange flames on the building right across the street. Is it part if the display? It becomes apparent it's not. The flames rip quickly up the building. Ppl are videoing and rushing by, or stopped gawking. It's quite disorienting. We make our way away from the building. Stopping where the press of ppl is less. Eventually large emergency vehicles come. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not keen to leave as we've already waited for hours and we don't know if the show us canceled. We wait and wait. The fire seems very bad. I'm just taking a picture of Malcolm with the burning building and there is a big flash and explosion. I hope everyone is ok. We have no internet so it's hard to keep up! We wait till midnight and thankfully our waiting is rewarding by spiralling fireworks and led lights. Hello 2016! Happy new year!
Getting back to the hotel takes a very long time in crushing crowds. Thankfully a few kind men helped us to the edge of the crowd a few times. It was a bit scary at times. Now for a good rest!