Dubai - Monday 5 April 2010

Left Sydney at 9pm.
Sydney to Dubai - uneventful, though long trip - the airbus was fantastic - Graham slept quite well.
Arrived in Dubai at 5.45am and got onto a city tour at 9.00am….. didn’t really take in much, but it was good for keeping us awake. Visited Dubai Museum in the old part of town, a gold souk, drove across to Jumierah Beach and saw the 7 star hotel that is in the shape of a sail. Had lunch in the hotel’s Chinese restaurant - one of the best Chinese meals we have had - and then fell asleep at 4pm and woke next morning at 8am! felt good .

We finally found the person supposed to be driving us to the hotel - he had kept our name under the desk so we couldn't see it! took a photo in case I lost him again!

View from our hotel room - the Marco Polo situated in Deira, part of the 'old' town

A peacock outside 'his' palace - seen from our tour bus

Burj Al Arab Hotel - a seven star hotel that costs $200 to go and have a look inside and $350 for breakfast!

Looking at it from the beach was enough for us!

One of many mosques in Dubai - the day is punctuated by the call to prayer, starting at 4.30am each morning.

Typical suburban street

Juxtoposition of old (forfront) and new - I thought this symbolised Dubai - old and new on top of each other.

Dubai Museum - this part of town is ancient (over 5000 years old - it started as a tiny settlement and grew from there)

Graham in the Dubai museum

A view across the creek - the architecture was interesting - seems to have many beautiful buildings, but not designed with reference to each other or the rest of the landscape - just to be 'over the top' - kept reminding us of Las Vegas.

A traditional dhow on the Dubai Creek.