We are in yet another plane at 34000ft above the Indian ocean. We have been in the air now
for five & a half hours with along way to go yet until we reach Brisbane.
To fill in on events in Dubai....The quickest way describe Dubai is to say we underestimated
the time to stay. We did not realise just how much there is to see & do there.
The flight out of Vienna was a nightmare. The aircraft we flew in was an A340 & if I never
fly in one again, it will be to soon. The seat was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever
sat in & my back was sore within 5 minutes & felt like it was broken by the time we arrived.
The crew was snooty & were more interested in playing with their mobile phones in the back
than doing their jobs.Luckily we had a tailwind & only took 5 & a half hours for the leg.
Emirates may have many new planes but they are nowhere near as good to travel with as Virgin.
(Fortunately we have a nice 777 for this long leg to Brisbane. Very comfy & a little roomier)
Back to Dubai...
We arrived at about 6am after a miserable flight & were very tired by the time we cleared
customs & got to the hotel it was about 8.30 & we had to wait till after 11 to get a room.
After a short rest we headed for the Metro train at around 12.
The Metro...is great spotlessly clean (no grafitti or scratched windows here)& very fast.
The trains are 3 or 4 carriages long and are have no driver as they are fully automated.
It seems a little strange looking out the front window at the track.The system is very easy
to work out & gets you there in cool air conditioned comfort, 2 or 3 times faster than a cab
or bus.An unlimited day pass costs abut $5.00 AU & includes buses & water taxis.
A word about air conditioning...In Europe A/C does not exist or is extremely poor, so that
you are nearly always hot & sweaty. In Dubai it is just the opposite, everywhere is refrigerated.
Everything has A/c, all shops, train stations, pedestrian walkways & every little bus stop
shelter & it is always turned down very cold. That is very fortunate as the lowest
overnight temperature was 38 degrees.The daytime temps were in the mid to low 40s.
We were told it is a very mild summer as it is usually in the low 50s in August.
On the first day we took the Metro to 'The Mall of the Emirates & stayed until about 8pm &
had dinner there.We did not see all of it, as I think that would take some time. We did
however see the indoor snow skiing, snow zorbing & bob sleding. The whole massive structure
is kept at -3 degrees.
The next day we did an all day bus tour of a lot of the interesting sites, part of which
was the gold souks. The Souks are an old part of the city where many small shops are set
up like markets.IT is very large & covers many city blocks,with many small crowded backstreets.
All the different types of store
are grouped side by side. Like there may be 50 or 60 leather goods shops then the same amount
of car parts shops or hand made dresses etc. You can buy anything in the Souks CHEAP !
There are many gold artisans here & it is estimated the are more than 10 tons of pure gold
in the Souks at any one time.We saw the largest solid gold ring in the world complete with
its Guiness book of records certificate.It was made from 63.3KG of 22 carrat gold. Needles
to say it is a little large to wear.We liked the souks so much that when the tour dropped us
back to our hotel, we jumped straight back on the Metro & went back to the Souks where we
had several hours of night shopping & a nice meal. I know what you are thinking,walking around
the back alleys of a foreign city at night might be a little unwise. That is not a problem
in Dubai. The city has a 0% crime rate because the muslim laws are so harsh. For instance it
may not be worth getting your hands chopped off, just to pick pocket a couple of bucks.
This morning Yvonne spent our last 100 odd Dirhams on a few small gifts at the airport & we
are now headed for home.About 20 minutes ago we passed over Male & its emerald coral reefs.
off the southwest coast of India.
As I type this I have just watched the most magnificent, irridescent
orange sunset over the Indian ocean towards the African continent.I am also constantly
glancing at our GPS course plot on the seat back screen. We are currently way out in the Indian
ocean between Africa & Indonesia About 1000 nautical miles from Broome WA, which will be our
next land crossing. From Broome we fly a nice great circle arc into Brisbane. We are both
looking forward to getting home, it seems like a lifetime since we left & many things have
happened during that time. This blog only touches some of the events.I have watched 2 movies
while Yvonne slept for 3 or 4 hours.She has now just finished watching Jack the Giant Slayer
& has started some other movie.From glances at her screen, Jack the Giant slayer, looked
pretty good so I might watch it shortly.
Yep it was a pretty good movie & I would reccomend it for a bit of escapism.(great CGA)
Well our course has altered well south & we crossed the WA coast, just north of Perth.
The lights of Perth were a great welcoming sight.
(the first glimpse of Australia is always exciting & much appreciated,whenever we have been out of the country)
I guess we came this far south to pick up the jet stream & pick up some time & save a
little fuel. The plane left nearly an hour late due to one of the runways in Dubai being
closed. but we have now made up that time & the GPS says it will have us at the terminal
gate in 1 hour & 16 minutes.We are currently northwest of Adelaide having passed over
Kalgoorlie & Coober Pedy in clear skies, with a lovely view of the well lit towns.
As we are travelling very fast almost due east, very shortly we will be having a very rapid
dawn & sunrise.
We just filled out our entry cards & we are tired & happy to be getting home in less than
1 hour, we are just crossing the Queensland border. This has been a pretty good long
haul leg in a comfortable plane. If you can't fly in an A380 then go in a 777.
I will be back with the final summary of the blog when we get home.
A small part of the indoor snow & skiing village. This is not the ski run, which is quite long.This is the zorb area.
for five & a half hours with along way to go yet until we reach Brisbane.
To fill in on events in Dubai....The quickest way describe Dubai is to say we underestimated
the time to stay. We did not realise just how much there is to see & do there.
The flight out of Vienna was a nightmare. The aircraft we flew in was an A340 & if I never
fly in one again, it will be to soon. The seat was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever
sat in & my back was sore within 5 minutes & felt like it was broken by the time we arrived.
The crew was snooty & were more interested in playing with their mobile phones in the back
than doing their jobs.Luckily we had a tailwind & only took 5 & a half hours for the leg.
Emirates may have many new planes but they are nowhere near as good to travel with as Virgin.
(Fortunately we have a nice 777 for this long leg to Brisbane. Very comfy & a little roomier)
Back to Dubai...
We arrived at about 6am after a miserable flight & were very tired by the time we cleared
customs & got to the hotel it was about 8.30 & we had to wait till after 11 to get a room.
After a short rest we headed for the Metro train at around 12.
The Metro...is great spotlessly clean (no grafitti or scratched windows here)& very fast.
The trains are 3 or 4 carriages long and are have no driver as they are fully automated.
It seems a little strange looking out the front window at the track.The system is very easy
to work out & gets you there in cool air conditioned comfort, 2 or 3 times faster than a cab
or bus.An unlimited day pass costs abut $5.00 AU & includes buses & water taxis.
A word about air conditioning...In Europe A/C does not exist or is extremely poor, so that
you are nearly always hot & sweaty. In Dubai it is just the opposite, everywhere is refrigerated.
Everything has A/c, all shops, train stations, pedestrian walkways & every little bus stop
shelter & it is always turned down very cold. That is very fortunate as the lowest
overnight temperature was 38 degrees.The daytime temps were in the mid to low 40s.
We were told it is a very mild summer as it is usually in the low 50s in August.
On the first day we took the Metro to 'The Mall of the Emirates & stayed until about 8pm &
had dinner there.We did not see all of it, as I think that would take some time. We did
however see the indoor snow skiing, snow zorbing & bob sleding. The whole massive structure
is kept at -3 degrees.
The next day we did an all day bus tour of a lot of the interesting sites, part of which
was the gold souks. The Souks are an old part of the city where many small shops are set
up like markets.IT is very large & covers many city blocks,with many small crowded backstreets.
All the different types of store
are grouped side by side. Like there may be 50 or 60 leather goods shops then the same amount
of car parts shops or hand made dresses etc. You can buy anything in the Souks CHEAP !
There are many gold artisans here & it is estimated the are more than 10 tons of pure gold
in the Souks at any one time.We saw the largest solid gold ring in the world complete with
its Guiness book of records certificate.It was made from 63.3KG of 22 carrat gold. Needles
to say it is a little large to wear.We liked the souks so much that when the tour dropped us
back to our hotel, we jumped straight back on the Metro & went back to the Souks where we
had several hours of night shopping & a nice meal. I know what you are thinking,walking around
the back alleys of a foreign city at night might be a little unwise. That is not a problem
in Dubai. The city has a 0% crime rate because the muslim laws are so harsh. For instance it
may not be worth getting your hands chopped off, just to pick pocket a couple of bucks.
This morning Yvonne spent our last 100 odd Dirhams on a few small gifts at the airport & we
are now headed for home.About 20 minutes ago we passed over Male & its emerald coral reefs.
off the southwest coast of India.
As I type this I have just watched the most magnificent, irridescent
orange sunset over the Indian ocean towards the African continent.I am also constantly
glancing at our GPS course plot on the seat back screen. We are currently way out in the Indian
ocean between Africa & Indonesia About 1000 nautical miles from Broome WA, which will be our
next land crossing. From Broome we fly a nice great circle arc into Brisbane. We are both
looking forward to getting home, it seems like a lifetime since we left & many things have
happened during that time. This blog only touches some of the events.I have watched 2 movies
while Yvonne slept for 3 or 4 hours.She has now just finished watching Jack the Giant Slayer
& has started some other movie.From glances at her screen, Jack the Giant slayer, looked
pretty good so I might watch it shortly.
Yep it was a pretty good movie & I would reccomend it for a bit of escapism.(great CGA)
Well our course has altered well south & we crossed the WA coast, just north of Perth.
The lights of Perth were a great welcoming sight.
(the first glimpse of Australia is always exciting & much appreciated,whenever we have been out of the country)
I guess we came this far south to pick up the jet stream & pick up some time & save a
little fuel. The plane left nearly an hour late due to one of the runways in Dubai being
closed. but we have now made up that time & the GPS says it will have us at the terminal
gate in 1 hour & 16 minutes.We are currently northwest of Adelaide having passed over
Kalgoorlie & Coober Pedy in clear skies, with a lovely view of the well lit towns.
As we are travelling very fast almost due east, very shortly we will be having a very rapid
dawn & sunrise.
We just filled out our entry cards & we are tired & happy to be getting home in less than
1 hour, we are just crossing the Queensland border. This has been a pretty good long
haul leg in a comfortable plane. If you can't fly in an A380 then go in a 777.
I will be back with the final summary of the blog when we get home.
The Burj Khalifa. Worlds tallest building by over 200 metres standing over 2770ft high, in real life it looks like something out of science fiction. I could not fit it in my camera so I borrowed this picture from google images
The man made palm islands. We drove up the centre stalk to the enormous Atlantis hotel. There is an underwater tunnel connecting the centre stalk to the outer ring. The Atlantis is the small dot straight above the centre stalk on the outer ring. (borrowed this photo too)
Inside the wonderful & cool Metro systemm.
Yvonne with the Burj Khalifa in the background.
A small part of the Atlantis on the palm.
The driverless Metro pulling into the station.Note the thick glass walls separating the train from the platform. The train doors & the glass doors line up & open for exactly 20 seconds, meaning that the station A/c is maintained. trains run exactly every 10 minutes for most of the day & every 4 minutes during peak hours.
Heading toward the 'Souks' one hot afternoon/
The gold Souks
Worlds largest solid gold ring, 63.3 kg of pure gold.
On the pristine white beaches near the Burj Al Arab.
A really nice development of suites on a freshwater, man made water way.
One of many shop fronts of handcrafted pure gold in the gold souks.
The old Dubai fort from the 1700s now has a modern airconditioned museum underground.
More hand crafted gold in the souks.
The gold is sold at the price per kg of gold on the day plus a separate labour cost for the manufacture. The work is extremely intricate.
A small part of the indoor snow & skiing village. This is not the ski run, which is quite long.This is the zorb area.
One of the many covered air conditioned walkways they usually contain travellators.
Inside part of the massive Mall Of The Emirates.
Haring along in the Driverless train. A passenger checks out the view.
