The dreaded Bali Belli has followed Gill to the Middle East. I have managed to shrug it off but Gill still is not 100%.
When we arrived at the Sheraton we took the option of a club room - this gives us breakfast and a club lounge with free drinks in the evening plus snacks - a worthwhile upgrade. The next day we chilled by the pool. The hotel has its own private beach on a small lagoon. This is where well oiled residents lie in neat rows with their feet toward the sun. However, the breakneck development in this part of the world has seen three new high rise apartment buildings being erected just the other side of the water, only about 100 metres away from the hotel beach, directly behind the camera on our blog picture. The roar of machinery, constant hammering and the clang of dropped metal does tend to distract from the nice surroundings; also, these buildings obscure any chance of enjoying the advertised sea view. On a more positive note, the breakfast is excellent. Although tucked away, there are even pork sausages and bacon on offer - I have never seen this before in a Muslim country.
The next day we decided to walk to the old part of town. This was not really apparent as most of the city only dates back about 40 years at a guess. The pace of building is such that the infrastructure just cannot keep up - wonderful buildings but rubbish pavements and abandoned pieces of land left as rubble. We visited a locals' shopping mall that seemed to only have about five different types of shop - ladies sari's ( all with white, blond dummies), phone shops, gold & silver shops, men's clothing and stalls selling football and UAE favours, colours and souvenirs. After both tripping over holes in the ground whilst admiring tall buildings we gave in and got a cab back to the hotel.
The following day we went for a long walk along the promenade, this is known as the Corniche. It was quite hot so we stopped in shady bits along the way & admired the various water features. We were hoping to reach a shopping Mall that we had spotted from the taxi the previous day but it turned out we were way off with our direction bumps so we went back to the hotel. We were hoping each day that I would have recovered from my embarrassing disposition so that we could do a touristy trip or two, like a desert safari & a sunset dinner cruise but it wasn't to be. I eventually found a pharmacy where I purchased some foul tasting Arabic mixture that started to set me right.
The next day we decided to be sensible and took a taxi to the tourist shopping mall - again plenty of jewellers but this time Rolex, Tiffany's etc etc. Window shopped (couldn't afford to go inside). Saw a little enclave of baby shops and bought Zac our new arrival some new togs. After some lunch we took a taxi back to the hotel and packed for the flight home.
Early start next morning - an hour and a half to the airport watching the sun come up over the desert. Dubai seems to be far ahead of Abu Dhabi in the skyscraper race, even though the latter is the capital of the UAE. These come in round, pointed, twisted and triangular shapes - just because they can. Mind you, they don't have a gherkin!
After an uneventful flight we arrived at Heathrow and checked back into the Crowne Plaza hotel from where we set off on September 1st.
The following morning we took a taxi to Kings Cross - with three large cases, two carry ons and a backpack the underground was just not a viable option. Taking the weekend upgrade to first class (we like to travel in style!) we arrived at Leeds then changed trains for Keighley where Sacha and Paul met us and drove us home after 12 weeks away to the day on the 24th of November.
For those of you who have loyally followed our blog and commented thank you for your support and kind words and we hope our journal has helped to introduce you to some friends old & new & some unfamiliar places.
The End.