Headed Home!

It is currently 6am in dubai and I am an hour ahead of schedule- don't have to leave for airport for another hour, so thought I would blog a bit. Trying it from my phone this time because its ridiculous to pay for all day internet for an hour. :)

Yesterday was pretty cool- we left abu dhabi after lunch. When we came, it was pitch black, but now we could see- though not much except sand between the two cities. All the palm trees are very dusty, so they look brown, not green. (It rained early one morning this week and they said that was the first time in six months.)

We had a couple of items on our agenda - the palm island, the gold/textile souk, and of course the burj. The palm was interesting, but not overly wowing. We did get to take some good shots, and it was interesting that all of the roads are named Frond A, Frond B... But other than that, nothing special and still under construction like everything else here.

We checked into the hotel and took a cab to the gold souk (mall)- the jewlery was pretty, but our trusty blackberries told us the price per gram was exactly the same as that on the nyse- and despite our best efforts, no luck negotiating. We then went to the textile souk, which is across the river and accessible by boat- it was dusk and I have to say this was my favorite part of the trip. The boats are very rickety, but solid, and you get a great view of the city and the other boats in Dubai Creek. I heard that it was the monarchy's decision to dredge this and make it accessible many years ago that spurred the dubai economy into what it is today. The ride was only 1 dirham (33 cents) each way- so by far the best deal in dubai! The textile souk was awesome. Highly recommended.

It proved difficult getting a taxi back to the hotel, so we hired a boat to take us all the way back since our hotel is along the creek. Very cool!

Then we rushed to change for dinner and went to the Burj- WOW! Undescribable and definetly 7 star- far superiour to any hotel imaginable. Dinner was very good- I had chicken, jonathan venison. But we agreed the best was the side of roasted potatoes we ordered- perfectly crisp on the outside, perfectly cooked inside. Service was not great, surprisingly, just slow, but a great experience. We took some pics (including ones of the cars, brett), and then came back to the hotel.

All in all, I'd have to say that Dubai did not live up to its hype- most vehicles on the road are Toyotas and Nissans- I can count the exotics we saw on one hand- but its probably just over-expectations on my part. Like Scotland, I think I prefer the more authentic Abu Dhabi to Dubai.

I will post pics later!