We arrived at Dubai airport at around 9.00pm Tuesday the 14th of July local time (or 1.00am Hong Kong time) and we had a relatively speedy trip through Immigration and Passport control, and onto our coach and the hotel, The Arabian Courtyard Hotel (complete with Mexican restaurant and English pub.) After a lengthy check in we crashed into our rooms ready for the next few days. The Grand Mosque was about 250 metres away from the hotel so we all were woken by the call to prayer at about 4 am. After a big day at the Dubai mall, we headed to the hotel to refresh before dinner. That night we enjoyed a Middle Eastern Buffet together at Al Muna restaurant in the beautiful Madinat district. After dinner those brave enough to venture into the heat and humidity seized the opportunity to take photos of the world famous Burj Al Arab hotel while others shopped through the tradition souk stalls.
After our full day of visits on the Thursday at Festival City and Harvey Nichols, we all headed back to the Dubai Mall and had dinner at 'The Meat Co.' Dubai Mall has the largest water fountain in the world, with performances every half hour after dark and from our restaurant we had a great view of the show. The fountain was so impressive that we had to leave dinner several times to watch the next show. In the background was the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. After dinner some of us headed to the Burj Al Arab, Dubai's 7 star resort, for champagne and canapés. This was a truly amazing experience to gain entry into this resort and only after a lot of persistence from one of our fellow travellers. As if that was not enough, some of the group then headed to Atlantis, Dubai's newest resort. Atlantis was also very impressive, with a huge glass statue in the entry and a massive aquarium. Wow…what an unforgettable evening!
Friday the 17th of July was our free day and after two days of malls, meetings, sights and shopping we had the morning free to explore the more cultural aspects of Dubai. One of the cultural aspects that we quickly discovered is that Dubai on a Friday morning is about as lively as Perth suburbs on a Sunday. As Friday is part of the Dubai weekend, it was only the big malls that were open. So most people chose to rest, recover, or head back to the malls and ski (on the indoor slopes at Mall of the Emirates) or shop. Some people also saw the cultural sites like the Dubai Museum that was across the road from the hotel. At 3.30 we gathered together for our grand adventure, the desert and dune safari, followed by a fireside picnic out in the desert. This is a perfect activity for summer time given the comfy air-conditioned 4-wheel drives we were in. How wrong (and disappointed) we would be! Over an hour into our grand adventure and about 30 minutes from where we would enter the desert dunes area, a massive sandstorm sprung up reducing visibility to about 10 metres. The temperature also dropped quickly from about 38⁰ to 24⁰ C in the space of half an hour. Rain soon followed that became increasingly heavy; keeping in mind that it only rains about 3 times a year in Dubai, and almost never in summer. The rain was quickly followed by thunder and lightning. A quick roadside conference was called and with advice from our drivers we reluctantly pulled the pin on the safari and campfire dinner. Once back in the hotel, another group discussion was had and we all headed off to the revolving restaurant at the Hyatt hotel. Spectacular night-time views of Dubai accompanied yet another buffet dinner. Then back to the hotel for some and off for cocktails at the Atlantis hotel for others.
On Saturday the 18th of July we were up early for our coach pick up to head to the airport. We experienced our first deadline stress with one participant not receiving their wake up call. Some frantic packing, a quick cab ride to the airport and it was all good. One big happy, albeit stressed, family again. We also experienced our first change of airline. After Cathay, British Airways was a bit of a shock. But we all got to London in one piece and landed at Heathrow airport at about 2.30pm London time. Then into another coach and off to our hotel opposite London's Hyde Park.
Group dinner at Al-Muna buffet restaurant
The group at the Madinat - it's so hot the camera lens fogs up when you step outside!
