One night in Dubai

I think the song was One Night In Bangkok - but I'll change the words to suit.

An early start as Linda was being picked up at 6am for her fight to Canada, so LL and I went down to have a cup of tea with her while she ate her breakfast. And then it was my turn. all packed and ready to go so LL and I went down for breakfast at 8am and Amr picked us up just before 9am. We dropped LL off at the bus depot - OMG what a rough looking place, but LL was quite comfortable stopping there and catching a bus to Dahaab. (must look that up on thr map when I get home.)

Next stop Cairo airport and Amr directed me through the security check and to the entry gate for Emirates. We were the first in line, and he waited while I checked in my luggage.

Little Anxious Moment - I had to make a choice - luggage straight through to Madrid or collect in Dubai. Through to Madrid. Oh no, I hadn't packed overnight clothes in my carry on luggage as I am more worried about keeping all my shopping with me, so change that - pick up in Dubai. Final decision. Change the labels!!

Now I had almost three hours to kill in the airport - did a little shopping - managed to find some Hibiscus Tea, but it is packaged and labelled as apposed to the loose stuff in the markets which could be anything. And I got some dates. So now I have my shopping bag of purchases, my overnight bag and a plastic bag. No more shopping Heather till you buy a bigger bag in Spain.

As I was about to board this delightful elderly Egyptian woman grabbed my hand and kissed me on both cheeks. She was travelling with her son and husband for the first time on a plane, and although she couldn't speak English, through her son she said "Thank you for coming to Egypt" and wished me an enjoyable flight. They were sitting the row in front of me on the plane and she was just so excited. Hard to tell how old she was, but she was tiny and looked very old.

The plane was fabulous - a Boeing 777 and the most leg room I have ever experienced on a flight. I was sitting right near the back and in a space where there were only two seats, so I didn't feel crowded at all. My neighbour was a young man from Korea who had been on a business trip to Egypt - works for Samsung.

After a delicious lunch we started the descent into Dubai. I found my way to the right place and to the Arabian Adventures desk where I was to pick up my transfer to the hotel.
We had to wait for one more passenger, and while waiting I got talking to two amazing women from Belgium who were on an overnight transit from Afghanistan to Belgium. They had been to Afghnistan to check on their project - working with the local people to set up schools and farming projects. They asked if I would meet up with them and show them around Dubai, but all of sudden their driver arrived and they werre whisked off before we could make any definite arrangements. I had already suggested that they do the night bus tour and found the details for them from the desk.

Suddenly the fourth passenger arrived and we looked at each other and both went WOW at the same time. It was a guy who was on the plane from Hurghada to Cairo and then apparently on the same flight as me from Cairo although we didn't see each other on the plane. So we got into our shuttle bus and yakked the whole way. He gave me his business card and said for me to text him when I got settled in my hotel and he would come and meet me for dinner. He was Egyptian, and working in the oil industry based out of Houston Texas, but working in Iran. He was delightful man, and before he went on to his hotel a couple of buildings down the road, he gave me a wee silver pendant - an engraved scarab.

I checked in, and made it up to my room on the second floor, showered, had a cup of coffee ( I do like these hotels that provide a jug and complimentary tea and coffee) and looked for his business card, but alas I had dropped it or it had fallen out of my passport when I checked in. Oh darn - another missed opportunity.

So I went acrorss to the Deira city mall where Narms and I did a lot of shopping on our trip in 2011. And I went up to the third floor to the restaurant I ate at a couple of times.

Still the same, and I ordered the Fatoush Salad. Still as delicious as I remembered, lettuce, cucumber and tomato with toasted garlic croutons and pomegranate dressing.

And then - AN ANXIOUS MOMENT (No. 5) - somebody went past me and slipped a note onto my table with a little sachet. The handwritten note read : From Egypt To ?

OMG what is happening here. Who knows I have just come from Egypt. Who put that there, it was slipped there so quickly and at first I just thought it was my bill. I looked around but couldn't see anyone suspicious, and the waiters were all just going about their work. Think about this Heather. Of course I am still showing a Nubian henna tattoo on my hand and I have a Kartoush around my neck. Pretty obvious I have been to Egypt I guess.

I attracted the attention of the girl who had shown me to my seat. I asked what it meant and who put it there and the little waiter who had served me came over and explained that the restaurant was run by Egyptian people and most of the staff were from Egypt and they were just acknowledging me as a special guest!!!. They think I have been at their restaurant before. Phew!!!

The young girl is from Uganda and has been in Dubai for six months. She is 27 years old and had to buy her job opportunity and her government loaned her the money and every payday she has to send money to Uganda to pay back the loan. She hopes once it is paid back she can stay and she will have a better life in Dubai than at home. Oh my goodness, how lucky we are in New Zealand. We take so many things for granted, good food, drinkable water, our freedom, security and safety. I will never take these things for granted ever again. And I will try hard never to sweat the small stuff ever again. There are so many people in this world with far more problems to overcome and they do it with such courage and dignity and are so happy to have the opportunities to improve their lives.

Just a little bit of shopping - Bought some more dates - this time Dubai dates, all packaged up for Christmas. I only bought two small packages, would love to have got more, but maybe if I have room as I transit through Dubai on my way home in two weeks time. And now I really need a bigger carry bag.

And now I am sitting in the hotel lobby awaiting my transfer back to the airport. A huge party of about 30 Asian women , all carrying orange travel bags are just checking in. so the nice quiet lobby has all of a sudden become incredibly busy, but they must be very tired as they are incredibly quiet (well compared to the Chinese people on the cruise ship on the Nile who made such a racket) And as usual they are all attached to ther phones, texting like crazy.

It is such fun to sit in a hotel lobby and just people watch. I have about ten minutes until my ride arrives - woops here it is. Must go.