After leaving Sydney at 10pm and 14 hours of flying, we arrived in Dubai at 5am. As we rode in the taxi to our hotel we could see that downtown was shrouded in what looked like fog. Our very friendly taxi driver assured us it would only last an hour (since he was friendly, I asked him about Gas prices. In Dubai its ~$1US / L but he said in Saudi it's closer to $0.50 US /L). We checked in and Bill went straight to bed since he did not sleep much on the plane. I went to the rooftop pool, which was very nice. Our room was not at all like the great apartment we had in Sydney. It was a basic hotel room with a poorly equipped kitchenette and a bad view of a vacant lot through a sand clouded window. Not terrible, but not good either. We didn't do much day one except recover from jet lag and visit the grocery next door. It was small and not very westernized so we struggled to find our staple items. There seemed to be a frenzy over Easter candy. People in Muslim attire buying Easter candy? The aisles were impossible to get through. Food was fairly cheap after the exorbitant costs in Australia.

We read up on the culture before we arrived in Dubai and learned that women should not show their knees, shoulders, or cleavage in public. They also should not wear tight or shear clothes. This presented a bit of a problem for me since my clothes all seem to violate one of those rules. I had long pants and cover ups I could wear over my tops of course, but it is hot here so that was not very appealing. Also not all my options were clean. As you might imagine, we saw lots of women that did not adhere to these guidelines, but Bill and I are rule followers at heart, at not risk takers, so we stuck to safe territory even though it meant I wore the same pants 4 days in a row and was not pleased with my limited options. You also are not allowed to show affection in public, which includes holding hands and kissing. This too was difficult since we always hold hands. We would forget and Bill would take my hand only to then snatch his away as if burned when he remembered. What a change from Australia where skimpy clothes are the norm. You also aren't supposed to swear, point or raise your voice. As you can imagine, Bill struggled with this as much as I struggled with the clothing restrictions.

Bill had also read that alcohol is not readily available, which he told me, but I did not comprehend just how difficult it really was to get a beer. The grocery store did not sell beer, so we looked on line and asked at the front desk. I had read online after we arrived that most people buy their alcohol at the airport, but that window was closed. There were only a couple dozen places in the whole city of 2+ million people that sold beer. We set off to find the one that the hotel directed us to, only to discover it was closed. We walked to the nearby Ramada to talk to their concierge and he directed us to a different location. When we arrived, the entire shop had blacked out windows so you could not see inside. We had seen references to a license being required, so when we went in we inquired and were told that was for residents only and the license would take at least 30 days. As tourists we were not allowed to buy alcohol, but we were welcome to look around. WTF? I was ready to split, but Bill checked prices anyway. As were leaving, the sales lady said if we promised to take it back to our room and only drink it there she would sell it to us on her license. We scored 2 six packs, which we hid in the backpack. Unbelievable!!! The next morning, we hustled down to the lobby to catch the hotel shuttle to the beach, only to find a sandstorm had blown in overnight. At first we were confused and thought maybe it was fog again. We decided to return to the room which turned out to be the right decision. Apparently this was a bad storm. They had a big accident on the freeway and warnings to stay inside especially if you had respiratory issues. They closed schools and delayed flights. Fortunately, the next morning was better but there was still a lot of dust in the air so we chose an indoor activity and took a cab to the Dubai Mall. It claims to be the worlds largest. Seems like one of the Bangkok malls made the same claim? It was pretty amazing with two massive water walls three stories high with life size silver divers on them. It also had a huge indoor amusement park with full size rides and a full blown aquarium that you can dive in if you are not too fond of your money, as well as 1200 stores and a mega theater. Everything was expensive even by Australia standards. The stores did not seem to be having much in the way of sales like at home, and lots of them were super high end designers. Just out the back door are the Dubai fountains which are similar to the Bellagio fountains in Vegas except of course they are much bigger and claim to be better. We fought for a spot along the rail to watch the first show at 7pm along with a few thousand other people. While the water choreography was really great the entire show only lasted about three minutes so that was a bit disappointing. After walking the lagoon we headed for the taxi stand only to discover a line about a mile long. We opted for the metro instead.

It was our third day in Dubai when we both agreed we were tired of exploring new places and ready for home. Neither of us were eager to go see anything, but with three more days to go we manned up and headed to the Palm. The eighth wonder of the world is only wondrous from the air. While we were not very awed by the great engineering of the palm itself, we were appropriately awed by the fact that the hundreds of villas that line each of the fronds average 3.5 millions US dollars each. We visited The Atlantis, at least the publicly accessible part, and were struck by how many people were there spending tons of money to enjoy the entertainment offered. There was a water park, aquarium with more diving options, a dolphin experience, pool cabanas, shopping and dining and all of it was outrageously expensive. Is everybody rich, or are we just really super cheap? We would skip eating rather than pay $40 for a hamburger, fries and a coke. That is one of each, not one for both of us. We sat on the retaining wall around the man-made island and looked out at the ocean while we ate an apple and candy bar I had stashed in the backpack. At least Bill and I are on the same page about this. It's not like we can't afford to spend the $, it just baffles us that so many people can and will.

Next stop was the Marina. This area was not what I expected. It was actually a lovely waterway that snaked between the fantastic towers of downtown Dubai with yachts docked everywhere and a great boardwalk with tons of al fresco dining lining it. The architecture here is astounding. The buildings look very new, all are artistically shaped or have some interesting design and each tower seems to have a unique cap. Since Bill was feeling like we need not always be so cheap, we found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner and went all out with appetizer, salad, entree, water and cokes (no beer available even at restaurants). We still shared, and the total was about $40 so not much of a blow out.

The next day we went to the gym and the pool, and then struck out for the gold and spice souk. This turned out to be the place to go if you like pushy hawkers, which I do not. Their storefronts are maybe 10 ft wide and every one of them has a guy standing out front trying to drag you inside. Since one of Bill's favorite things to do is engage in battle with these types, he would talk to them, then ask me if he should " make a deal " with them. Not my idea of fun. We only got ripped off on some cashews when the guy promised to make us a good price. Even after haggling, we paid twice as much as we should have. The next close call was a guy selling an iPhone 6 for $400. We got overcharged or ripped of in some way several times at other places. The grocery, the bakery, the du SIM card we bought, all in unique ways. We were offered fake designer watches, purses, sunglasses and Bill was even offered Viagra, since all old guys must need it. I couldn't wait to get away, which was to the metro. The metro stations and trains are very nice, air conditioned, no graffiti, clean, really immaculate. The problem arises when you go to board. You must force your way in to the cars where you stand jammed against people that may not smell very good and may not want to be touched by women? It is not that they are low class, it is just the combination of too much heat and lots of clothes makes for smelly bodies.

We left the souks and went to The Mall of the Emirates. After lunch at the food court we went to see the indoor ski park. It offers every winter sport, skiing, snowboarding, sledding, luge, even penguins on display. Next was Cinderella at the movie theater, then another train ride back to the room, where we called Emirates to see if we could do stand by for our trip home. No such luck, so we are spending the last day just killing time. We are more than ready to come home. Our flight leaves at 2:45am and arrives in Dallas at 10am after 16 hours of flight. Bill splurged (or got lucky) and we have a whole row of 4 seats to ourselves on the half full Airbus 380.

I can't wait to get home to the rest of my wardrobe, I'm tired of wearing these clothes) and to see family and friends. Only 16 hours to go.


As always, higher resolution photos are available on Flikr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_and_ dessa/sets/

...Bill and Dessa