Our last day in Dubai dawned all too soon. Where does the time go? After a last swim in the hotel pool we went out to make the most of our final morning. We went first to the Mall of the Emirates, another shopping mall but looking a little tired in comparison with the newer and more splendid Dubai Mall. Renovations were underway, however, so upgrading is clearly in progress.

Shopping was not our reason for being here, though. We came to catch a glimpse of the amazing indoor ski slope of which we had heard so much. We wanted to see if it could possibly be as spectacular as so many email forwards seem to suggest.

To be honest, it was so much more than we had expected and we found it completely mind boggling! The world's largest indoor snow park with 3,000 square metres of snow. Bob sled runs, tobogganing,
and much more. You can ride a chair lift up to five different ski runs varying from beginner to black runs and there is a freestyle zone for jumps, ramps and tricks. All this and penguins too, yes, real ones! We were so sorry that we had not left time to have a go ourselves and could only watch through the windows of the mall, but someday if possible we will be back!

From there we went in search of Desert Springs, where Amanda used to live more than 30 years ago and has never been back since. It was a small residential estate of 2 and 3 bedroom prefabricated bungalows way out on the road to Jebel Ali, surrounded by nothing but desert. We heard that it was still standing which was hard to believe, but we found it, a complete anachronism nestled in the middle of high rise buildings and near a metro stop. Now called Desert Springs Village, we were amazed to find that it has survived all this time although the clubhouse, tennis court and swimming pool are disused and delapidated. The houses all have gardens now and are very overgrown and Amanda found it difficult to be sure which one she used to live in. Still another piece of personal history which will surely be lost soon.

Back to the hotel, a quick turnaround and off to the airport and our flight back to Doha as our Middle Eastern trip nears its end. On arrival at Doha we had to go out and collect our bags in order to check them in for the London flight so we took the opportunity to go back to the Ramada Encore and collect the bunch of keys we had left behind!

Back at the airport, at the BA check in desk we were amused and delighted by the sign above the desk and just had to take a photo. Everything was so smart and posh that it was comforting to see that they suffer the same problems with mis-spellings as we get in the rest of the world. Wherever you are it seems you just can't get the staff these days!

On our way home after another fascinating trip. We love to travel, where shall we go next?!!