Al Ain and Dubai

Up late. But hey, I was on holiday.  Looked out of the window to this view.  I  felt like I had been transported to another world. A bit surreal for me but beautiful.

totally empty golf course and I think that's a housing estate below.

 

My camera decided to go onto a weird setting here.  So sorry about the blue haze. 

Breakfast in the hotel was a rather crap chocolate eclair.  We were going to wait for more Indian delights at the take away near to the bus station. So down we went saying goodbye  to Jebeel Hafeet, the mountain.

We went straight to Sheikh Zayed's palace. A beautifully designed, almost modern artish place. Again I loved it and we enjoyed mooching around taking more photos.

I fit in quite well on Zayed's sofa.  This was a big tent outside in the courtyard of the palace.

Palace gardens

\one of the kids' beds. Looked so cosy

Zayed and his wife slept here. A cute unassuming bed. I liked it and it's definitely not what you would expect a leader to sleep on.  I particularly liked the fragments of mirrors on the front and back wooden bed panels. Kinky or narcissistic... probably both!

We then wandered through a market back to the Indian store.  

Omani guys wear different hats.  Reminded me of Zanzibar, which used to be a colony of Oman.

What the hell is this?  Will have to ask my students.

Lot of limes and a moustached woman in the background.

Then it was a 2 hour journey again on a small bus up to Dubai. We had seen the main tourist highlights of Al Ain (apart from the zoo.)   The air conditioning on the bus was just too strong and I thought my feet were going to freeze.  It took me a while to move my ankles properly once we got off.

Anyway, we walked up to the metro.  the Dubai metro is one huge sky train with about 4 long lines.  Each station looks like a massive bicycle helmet suspended by walk ways over the airborne transport. We were heading for Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall.

 My first view of the tallest building in the world from the bus.(Sky train is visible in the front.)

metro was clean, easy to use, well signposted and packed full of people. 

It was Thursday though (the equivalent of our busy end of week Friday.)

We then had to walk for ages along travellators to the mall.  Honestly on  about ten different travellators.   It was like walking between terminals at  Heathrow but with windows and sun. This was the view out over Dubai.  These builders are the unseen creators of the beating heart of this wealthy city.  It was strange seeing them work through the glass. A dream was being built right in front of my eyes.

Love these!

The soulless travellators took us to the Dubai Mall, the biggest in the world.  But as Michael says not the swishest.  That accolade goes to the Mall of the Emirates in another part of the city. We went to see the sharks in the aquarium and then outside to see the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. 

From above.  There is also a resident crocodile now but you have to pay to see him/her.

I like Oasis.  I got a good pair of jeans there in the sale in Oxford. I decided not to go in this one.

Down on the level. Up close with the fishes.

You can go scuba diving after you've been shopping if you want. (Bottom of the picture.)

Maybe next time.

We then went outside to see the tower.  It was a lovely atmosphere outside around the Burj Khalifa.  Lots of  local families, people who had finished work and tourists.  I liked the vibe and we watched the 6pm light show with  Arabic music and then the 6.30pm light show in English (the music was a bit like the Weakest Link and we both expected Anne Robinson to suddenly appear.  Oh no!!) and then for good luck the light show again with Arabic tunes at 7pm.

 the buildings below are also sky scrapers!

getting darker.

Me getting over excited by the joy of the music and the water show. 

We then went off for dinner nearby in a packed wonderful looking restaurant.  the menu was too vast though and I think they had everything possible from every country on the planet.  This was obviously not a good idea because I chose something from Malaysia and I was highly disappointed. Oh well, you can't be lucky all the time (but I was jealous of Michael's Chinese duck pizza...honestly!) 

We then had to travellate back to the sky train, standing all the way on the metro with all the commuters, and then queue for ages for a bus back to Abu Dhabi. (Thank god, walking and standing don't bother me much!)  It was Thursday so everyone was going home for their weekend.  (Friday and Saturday in the majority of Arabic Countries.)  Michael said he was lucky, because he was with me he could stand with me in the female  queue. This queue was considerably shorter than the male queue but we still had to wait for the third bus before we could get a seat. Women and families from the ladies queue were only allowed on 10 at a time and then the guys piled in. I've never had segregated boarding of any vehicle before.  I wasn't really a fan. I don't think it made it any quicker for us.In fact I think Michael would have got on quicker if he had been alone or with another guy.

It was rather a crazy journey home.  The driver picked up a friend from the side of the motorway and they  were both shouting at each other but no one complained.  The other guy also had a go at driving, just for a laugh.  Michael even said that the driver even started filling in his work hours sheet whilst driving. Pretty awful really and I hope Michael does complain to the office.  We surreptitiously took a photo of him and wrote down the number plate of the bus so that he can lodge a complaint. 

So yes, after a taxi back we were both pretty damn exhausted but we still managed to stay up and for a few more hours chatting and drinking tea.  (Yes, tea not wine or beer!)  before collapsing.