Dubai

Got off the plane in Dubai at 2 in the morning and it was 32 degrees, didn’t think it could get any hotter after Thailand. We were herded to the taxi line outside where fans (heaters) blew the super hot air down on us. Lucky we only had to wait about 5 mins before jumping into an air conditioned taxi.

Talking about taxi’s…. There doesn’t seem to be a speed limit on the motorways here or if there is it’s either 140km or no one cares. Our driver was constantly going over 130 km, and like Thailand they don’t seem to be big fans of lanes or indication, not very reassuring when we past an accident involving a mini bus and a pole, not pretty! On another ride our taxi almost had 3 nose to tails, locking up the wheels twice to avoid smashing into the backs of other cars.

We woke up and heard the weather forecast was for clear skies and a temperature of 38 degrees, arrr! So we decided to take a little dip in the pool. Of course this is Dubai and nothing is little here. We spent the day at Wild Wadis, a water park out by the big 7 star hotel that looks like a sail in the wind but which name escapes me. We went on all the rides and generally had a good time.

That evening we went to the ‘mall of the emirates’ the biggest shopping mall you will ever see (I think), it’s the place that houses the indoor ski field

Rach thought the shopping was awesome, the prices are a little less that NZ but the stuff is way cooler. So many shops to choose from, we spent 4 hours there and only covered about a quarter of the mall.

In the centre of the ground floor a stage was setup where the shoppers and us were treated to a yoyo show. It was really good and quite funny but we think the humor was lost on most of the locals as we and a rowdy bunch of Indians were the only ones laughing.

Everything here is extravagant, marble floors in the mall, huge domed ceilings and the skyline is dominated by bigger and bigger skyscrapers. Even in the carpark at the mall there was a ropped of area for the VIP customers to park their rides.

Off to the desert tomorrow, hope we don’t get lost