Kyrstyan in Dubai: July 2010

Saturday 31 July 2010

You never know until you try !

Limited photos on this one..but almost every holiday (might extend to more than holidays!) when Kyrsty has a good idea, Shailen rolls his eyes...politely agrees to the idea and then 3 hours later when I am willing to admit that it may have not worked out as expected Shailen says "I should never let you arrange things" which is always followed by my comment that "You never know until you try!"

Not to disappoint we went to the creek...(so far so good)..although there were points when I thought the boat was going to breakdown..

...pursuaded Shailen to walk around the open air gold souk in 45degree heat...got unbelieveably and uncomfortably hot and sweaty...thought I'll fix this...so hopped into a taxi..still enthuased I instructed him to take us to a hotel bar which I had read had great views.

To be honest if the hideous outside & location like the back of Kings Cross Station wasn't a big enough give away the "Come on eileen" blazing out of the lobby bar should have been...but no on I proceed on my mission to the top floor bar. Walk in to a dingy bar all black and mirrored and carefully positioned in every other seat are ladies of the night with about three old men staring... waiting no doubt for the Viagra to take affect...but you never know it could have been the most happening bar in Dubai!

The odour of the taxi driver on the way home that was so bad it felt like it was burning my nose rounded up another successful Kyrsty idea.

At the Top

124 floors up the worlds tallest building.

The photos do not give you a sense of how ridiculously tall this building is but at over 800m it is double the height of the empire state building and 3.5x higher than Canary Wharf

Brunch at Al Qasr

This is the best one I have been too...every possible food you can imagine and even had a pick-a-mix..meant for the kids but we're all big kids right?

Neos

The sky high bar on the 63rd floor with views of Burj downtown, the Burj Khalifa and fountain display.

Madinet Jumeirah

Eating out among the landmarks..

Made it out of the city...

..although not strictly out of Dubai. We did cross two other Emriates on the way to Hatta though, so in my mind that counts!

Sand Dune Bashing
If you ask anyone what to do in Dubai without doubt they say you must go on a desert safari and sand-dune bashing. Going to a camp in a desert in >40degree heat did not overally appeal but I did succumb to the sand dune bashing, which I must admit was good fun.

Hajar Mountains
After about an hour or so of nothing but sand dunes the landscape changes to mountains..

this area is apparently famed for three things (according to the tourist guide!)

(1) Fresh water rock pools that you can swim in.

...can you see them ?!

...finally found them together with the lovely graffiti and rubbish!

(2) Heritage Village
"Explore the tranquil oasis, the narrow alleyways and discover traditional life in the mud and barasti houses"

..I am not convinced this wasn't built 10years ago like some sort of disney attraction although without the rides..thankfully they had put in air conditioning into the mud houses..

(3) Hatta Fort Hotel
"A perfect secluded mountain retreat"
No pictures of this but think it was modelled on Kellerman's Mountain Resort from Dirty Dancing

Still not found my love for writing

It has been a while since my last update...so here are a few piccies of what I have been up to...all centred around a fantastic 10days with Shailen...come back!