Feb 27

So today we wanted to tour the city with Big Bus Tours however it took 2 hours to go straight down that street and about 10 mins walk!!! That's what we were told every time we asked where the tourist info centre was. Finally we purchased our tickets and we were on our way.

Under the visionary leadership if Dubai's ruling Al Maktoum family, it has been transformed from a small fishing village into a modern vibrant city.

There are 500 mosques in Dubai. We went past the beautiful Jumeirah mosque which is the only mosque in the city which allows visitors to enter. The main religion is Islamic which is the second largest religon in the world after Christianity.

Saw the Burj Al Arab hotel which is the one that represents a sail on the Dhows. It's a beautiful building. Went onto the Atlantis on the palm which is a hotel on a man made island in the shape of a palm tree. Apparently the island can be seen from outer space!

Went into the Dubai Mall which is the size of 55 soccer fields (eat your heart out ladies) to see the dancing fountain which is based on the fountains at Las Vegas and basically its water and lights dancing to music. It was pretty awesome. Also in the centre is a humungous aquarium. It has all sorts of fish in it...stingrays, gropers and sharks to name a few and you can get in and have a swim with them all. It was really good to stand there and watch. Opposite this is a very, very large lolly shop. You could spend hours in there just browsing and wondering what to purchase. I was very good and didn't buy a thing although l was tempted. Would have loved to have spent more time wandering around in here but we had to get back to the bus.

Went past the gold souk (souk means market), spice souk, Dubai museum (would have loved to have a look but didn't have time), Dubai Creek, Old Fort museum, Burj Khalifa (a really, really tall building), Mall of the Emirates and Jumeirah Emirates Towers. There are quite a few big shopping malls which house al the expensive brands and because there is no tax on the goods things are a lot cheaper. A shame there was no time for shopping.

To finish off the day we went on an Arabian Dhow dinner cruise on Dubai creek. The night had cooled off a bit so we sat on the upper deck and drank in the scenery while eating our tea.