The Sands of Dubai

Dubai, April 24 - Dubai was a planned 2 day lay over to break up the flight from Australia back to London and to provide us with a taste of the extravagance of this quickly developing city. But after almost 7 months of traveling we were getting exhausted and found our hearts were not into our visit here. On top of that, the new $250 dollar welcome charge in visa fees further cut into our enthusiasm and budget for Dubai. Thank you Mr. Harper.

Jeremaih Beach, Dubai

We landed in Dubai at 5:30am local time and it was already hot. A 30 minute taxi drive took us through the sprawling city of Dubai to our hotel. Along the way we saw the world's tallest building and the world's first 7 star hotel before arriving at our relatively modest hotel near the marina. At about the same price to just walk into the 7 star hotel we scored a 2 bedroom 3 bathroom suite next to the beach. Oddly our room was not ready at 7:00am in the morning so we headed to the beach. As usual the heat got to Aaron first and he jumped in the water clothes and all. After a nap in the hotel we all returned to the beach in the afternoon where we got to watch the rich play with their yachts and take turns paragliding from airplanes.

Camel Riding in Dubai

Our second day it was a choice of going shopping, downhill skiing, visiting Wild Wadi's water park, going shopping, checking out the old city, going shopping, or taking in a desert safari. The desert safari won out and after spending the morning at the beach it was off to the desert surrounding the city of Dubai. As a safari it was far from our African experience, instead it was a joy ride through the desert bashing over dunes in a Toyota Landcruiser. Niall enjoyed the thrill, Aaron got scared, Susan almost got sick, and I hoped Susan wouldn't kill me when we got out of the car. Luckily, the event also included some sand boarding, a short camel ride and dinner in a desert camp complete with traditional(?) dancing. The male dancers were impressive and reminiscent of the twirling dervishes in Turkey. As for the belly dancing it didn't even compare with what we had seen in Istanbul. The experience wasn't what was hoped for but showed us one facet of Dubai in the short time we had here.

Desert near Dubai

After our excursion out in the desert, Susan and I headed out for a stroll along the outdoor mall. At 10:30pm the heat of the day had dissipated and we found the restaurants and sidewalks were now full of people. Of all the places we had been in the last 7 months, we heard more different languages being spoken in these few blocks of Dubai than anywhere else. It had become obvious to us that just as in the past, the Middle East is still a crossroads of world trade and commerce and Dubai is a symbol of the riches that come with it. Our 2 days in Dubai showed us that we were really just visitors to this realm of riches and as we departed Dubai we knew our own riches of home were becoming that much closer.

For a few more pictures of Dubai, check out our web album.