A short stopover in Dubai

Here we are, finally in Dubai.  And very happy too.   A few nights in a luxury hotel was just what we needed to break up the long flight from Amsterdam to Adelaide.  We are staying at the Sheraton Hotel, which is on the banks of Dubai Creek, and we have a fantastic view of the water and the main city behind it.  

Dubai Creek appears to be a stretch of water that cuts through a piece of land and goes out to sea again.   It was once the old port, and yesterday we saw plenty of old transport boats being loaded up with goods, so is still used by local boats and the large luxury boats that are moored here.   

There are negatives to this wonderful stay over, of course.   And surprisingly it is not the expense, as the cost of staying here is similar to staying in Singapore.   The rate of exchange we are getting for our £ is 4.5 AED (Arab Emirate Dirham). 

We are here at the wrong time of the year as it is extremely hot, with temperatures in the high 30s to mid 40s.    We knew this of course.    

But we did not realise that the quality of air would be so poor.   Yes Dubai has terrible air pollution, made worse probably by the high temperatures.   When I looked at the weather app it said the temperature was 37 degrees, but felt like 47 degrees (probably due to all the hard surfaces around) and the air quality was very poor.   It advised people not to exercise outside and those with respiratory problems to stay inside.

Travelling around Dubai is a problem, well at least it is from our hotel.   It is too hot to walk anywhere, and it would appear walking is not something one does in Dubai at any time of the year.  The taxi drivers get uptight if you only want to travel a short distance.   This happened yesterday when we took taxis to the Souks (local markets) and back again.   The Souks were about half an hours walk away.   Both taxi drivers complained quite aggressively, and the second one was not happy with the tip we gave him.   And we were not mean with our tip either.

The traffic problems in central Dubai are horrendous, and no doubt contributes to the air pollution.  The Emiratis, and some of the Expats, love their large vehicles and insist on driving everywhere in them.   Cars and petrol are naturally very cheap in this part of the world.   We spent a fair bit of time yesterday in traffic queues.  

Now that I have written about the negative aspects of being in Dubai, I will focus on the positive side.

It is certainly a lovely stopover, and it was easy to get to our hotel by taxi at 2 a.m.   The plane was two hours late getting to Dubai, due to the high number of travellers and planes leaving Schiphol.   School holidays for a third of the Netherlands started the weekend we were leaving the country.  That was not good planning.

Another positive aspect to being in Dubai in the middle of summer, is the lower number of tourists here.   There were only five people collecting bags from the carousel, and we were on a very full A380 plane.   The hotel is relatively empty, and this makes for a blissful stayover.   As long as one stays in the hotel.   The staff, mostly Indian, Chinese and Indonesian workers,  in the hotel are very friendly and helpful.

The view of the inside of the hotel, which is very airy and spacious.

The night view from our bedroom window. 

We have one of those new fancy rooms, which has a large window between the bedroom and the bathroom.   Luckily it also has shutters too. I warned Walter as he was putting his toilet bag away so he was happy to pose for a photograph.

A view of our room, second from the right, on the lowest level. 

 The swimming pool which I am going to use this afternoon.   Looking forward to that.   Walter is going to spend some time in the sauna and steam room.   He is looking forward to that.

Our daytime view of the river, looking towards the city centre.   Note the buildings surrounded by haze.

One of the local ports is only a short distance from the hotel.   It is possible to see the type of local boats by zooming in on the photograph.  Fascinating boats.

The banking building next to the hotel is Emirates NBD.  I think you worked there, Aaron, nearly twenty years ago, and stayed at the Sheraton too.  Quite a coincidence.

Our first outing yesterday was to the Souks, and there was quite a cluster: markets selling touristy stuff, plus markets for household goods and spices, and of course the gold market.

The passage ways had insulated roofs, fans and in some cases were air conditioned, which made visiting the markets very pleasant.   The lack of tourists helped too.   The stall holders in the main touristy goods part were a bit of a pain, as they were constantly trying to get us to buy their goods, which meant that I could not really have a good look at items. 

Lots of goods for sale.   Walter bought a cashmere scarf for himself, and who knows whether he got a good bargain or not. Probably not, but it will keep him warm when we return to Adelaide.   The stall owner told him it was made of camel wool! 

A view, via a narrow side street, of a mosque and a corner shop.   It was certainly a fascinating area.

I loved the display of spices, and would have loved to buy some, but I doubt if I could take them back into Australia.   However, if we still lived in the UK I most certainly would have taken some back.   But then we were able to buy the same spices from a stall in the south of France.

The gold market.   We sat on a bench here and watched people walk past us.   It was fascinating.

Everything glittered!

In the afternoon we caught the free bus, provided by the hotel, to Dubai Mall.

I tried to take as many photographs as I could, but not always so easy from a moving vehicle.

So many architectural building designs.   It was amazing.   And many, many more buildings being built.   A real growth city.

Dubai Mall, the largest shopping centre I have ever visited, and indeed, I believe it to be the largest shopping centre in the world, by total area, but not by shopping space, as some of the area is taken up with an aquarium, skating rink, cinemas and restaurants.   Dubai is currently building an even bigger shopping shopping centre, close to Dubai Creek.

The inside of the Mall, as you enter it, but of course it goes on forever.   We managed to look at most of the lower ground floor, and the second floor.   We ate biryani for lunch in the food court on the lower floor.   Delicious and reasonably priced too.

The aquarium was huge, and some of it was visible from the Mall.   Enough to entice people to buy tickets and go inside.  An amazing sight.

We went outside onto the square, an amazingly large space, with a huge expanse of water.  Sadly the fountain was not working. 

I managed to get some good photographs of the surrounding buildings.

The Burj Khalifa, 828 metres high, the tallest building in the world.   Walter would have loved to go up, but was not prepared to pay the equivalent of about £100 in order to do so.   Too high for me.   I had to put my camera close to the ground in order to take the photograph.  It took a few attempts to get the tower straight!  Walter just found a site where he could have got a ticket for Australia $113 for two people.   However still not for me!   It certainly pays to book in advance though.

A view back towards part of the shopping centre.

The Olympic sized skating rink.   I think the surface of the rink is made of a composite materials rather than ice.

Mini golf with a difference.

There were two of these large waterfalls in the shopping centre.

Star Wars returns to Dubai Mall.

After another lunch of biryani, much more expensive in the hotel than the lunch yesterday, and spicy, I am now ready for a sleep, then a swim in the pool.   Walter ordered chicken curry, which was also delicious.

After lunch we went into the hotel shop, and I bought a pashmina shawl, plus two bowls.  All items i seen in the Souk.   We bargained a price but who knows whether it was a reasonable price or not.   The problems of being a tourist! 

Tonight we travel back to the airport in time to catch our 2 am flight!

Looking forward to seeing everyone back in Adelaide.   Hope Piper remembers us.