Dubai

After an uneventful flight and a few hours sleep along the way we arrived at our hotel around 1.30am. A quick refresh and off to bed not knowing what time we would awaken in the morning. Well it was a bit earlier than I imagined due to a ringing phone that no one was at the end of. I did wonder if I dreamed it but whichever it was that was the end of sleep for me. A look outside was disappointing as I had imagined a view of the water and all the tall buildings you see in any photo of Dubai but all we have is a worksite.

                                    

 

Never mind all part of the adventure as my friend Sharon said and yes you are right. After breakfast we came back upstairs as it was still too early for the shops to be open so spent some time trying to sort out using my devices to get the best use of them. Still not sure about some of that but I'll get there. Peter did a bit of walk to work out where we had to go to the Mall of The Emirates while I caught up on Facebook.

Once 10 o'clock hit we made our way on a 10 minute walk to the Mall in already 35 degree heat. We walked along a very narrow footpath which to me wasn't very safe with the cars whizzing past very closely. We entered the mall through a very shiny, glitzy hotel called the Kempinski, it was a sign of glitz to come.

We walked into the mall and straight away you are affronted by the gloss of everything from the shiny marble floors to the shop fronts all begging you to enter and try their wares. We walked around under the fashion dome which gave a real openness to the space. I even tried on a couple of items from one of the stores, not that I could fit anything else in my suitcase.

Everything is so bright and shiny but really it is just another shopping mall. We saw a few designer stores but not as many as I would have thought but then again we didn't spend a lot of time there. After a stop for a coffee we decided to go back and have a look at Ski Dubai which is an indoor ski park in the mall. There were a heap of people in there with lots of kids as well and I was wondering why they weren't at school but not sure whether it might be school holidays here in Dubai.

We walked around inside and then went upstairs to take a few photos through the glass of one of the coffee shops that are around the ski park. There are different runs that you can do with a chair lift taking you to the top. There are also lots of different areas for little ones to play in with a tobogganing area, a luge just like at the Olympics and snow ball rolling in the big inflated balls.

       

                                 

After we had finished watching what was happening there we decided to check out a hotel which is located in Jumeirah which faces the water. The Fairmont has a much nicer outlook and we were taken around by a nice young man named Tayler. It has 3 pools and a beach front where you can swim which when we come back will be a much better way to finish our holiday than staying where we are at the moment. We had some lunch there and decided that we would change hotels for the end of our trip. This is not a new phenomen for us as on every holiday we have had in the last few years we have changed one hotel every time because we haven't really liked the one that we originally booked, so why should this holiday be any different. Thank god for the internet which makes it very easy to do.

                               

We returned to our hotel to do some forward planning for when we come in 7 weeks time. While I have been writing this Peter has been resting (which is something I wished I could do) as we prepare to leave later tonight and board our plane to London.