We landed in Dubai at about 2am and were shocked and slightly horrified to discover that it was still 37 degrees Celsius. We walked across the tarmac to a little bus which then took us to the terminal.
We had to collect my friends visa for the stopover, our travel agent hadn't been particularly helpful with this so we weren't 100% sure where to go or what to do, but it was an Emirates stop-over package so we figured that we would work it out somehow. Things are very complicated when you are travelling with a South African... As an Australian citizen I never realised how lucky I was to just be able to get on a plane, and have my tourist visa stamped in my passport on arrival, pretty much in any country in the world. It's not like that for South African's.
My friend had to have the visa for our 3 days stop-over in Dubai issued before we even left South Korea - and these visa's are not cheap!
So we went to the emirates desk where they directed us to another window to pay to have the visa printed, then we had to go somewhere else to pick up the visa and get it stamped, then we had to wait in a long queue so that my friend could have an "eye-scan" for who knows what... about 45 minutes later we were waiting in passport control. My friends went first in case there were any complications and it took the guy a good 5 minutes with the paperwork then I handed over my passport...he looked at it, looked at me, and stamped it. So incredibly lucky to have an Australian passport - I take back many of the horrible things I have said about the Australian Government on the basis of this alone!
We were advised to go to the Arabian Adventures counter once we had collected our baggage and they would arrange the transport to our hotel. Soon after we were in a little mini-bus, loving the air-conditioning, and by around 3:30am we were tucked in bed and asleep within moments. Even though it was a late night and we were wrecked from the flight we still woke up early wanting to make the most of the short amount of time we had in Dubai. What we didn't realise was that we had arrived during Ramadan... and so very little was open. The other thing we didn't become aware of till much later was that during Ramadan, because everyone is fasting, you are not allowed to eat or drink in public. Oops! My Grandma worked in Saudi for many years and many of my friends are Muslim... I just didn't put two and two together, and (naive traveler again) it never occurred to me that you would actually be prevented from buying food because the majority of people were fasting. This also meant you weren't allowed to drink in public - even water - which when it was 45 degrees Celsius outside was hard to take.
When we eventually worked it out we hit the super-market and stocked up on food for our hotel room!
We spent the day making the most of the "big bus tour", hopping on and off to look at things, although given most things were closed and it was so hot that we spent most of our time "on". We wandered around the massive and luxurious shopping malls, caught a ferry across the river, wandered a little bit through the markets and then went back to the hotel to relax and have a break before we went on the desert safari I had booked that morning. I had visited Dubai with my Grandma in 2003 and we had been on a similar adventure and I was keen to show my friend how incredible the experience had been.
It is an Arabian Adventures tour called "The Desert Sun-downer". To begin with you are collected from your hotel and taken out to the edge of an Arabian desert conservation area, where the wildlife is protected, not far from the royal palace and zoo. This is the first time you get to jump out and have a wander around on the sand. They have to let the tires down on the 4wd's so that they can drive easily on the sand. Then it's back into the vehicles for some real sand dune 4-wheel driving. You definitely get a rush from zooming up one side of a sand dune when you have no idea whats on the other side, or how steep it is, and twice we had to stop to help tow out a vehicle that had gotten stuck in the sand. You stop once for a drink and another wander around, and then again to watch the sun setting over the desert, and then finally you arrive at the bedouin style camp set up seemingly in the middle of no-where.
At the camp you are encouraged to wander around and look at the various things they have set up, have your hand painted with henna (a kind of temporary tattoo), ride on camels, hold onto a falcon, and eat and drink as much as you like... after 8pm of course! It was beautifully set up and the food was wonderful; a selection of all the different things that would have traditionally been cooked by the desert people. Given the heat of the night it was easy to understand why the desert camps were set up in this fashion, with carpets spread across the hot sand, and cushions everywhere for lying back on after a feast. The one thing that boggles the mind a little at first is the way these giant Persian carpets are spread across the sand, these carpets are worth a fortune, and they are just lying on the sand!
We arrived back at the hotel quite late at night and fell asleep within minutes of turning the lights off...planning to get up nice and early again the next morning!
We were up bright and early again and getting ourselves organised to go and visit the Wild Wadi Water Park that we had seen advertised and had heard was fantastic. To be on the safe side we checked with our hotel about what time the park opened during Ramadan. The hotel let us down a bit in this regard... they told us the park opened at 10am when it didn't in fact open till mid-day. We arrived shortly after 11am and found out that we had to wait, which is not great news when its already over 40 degrees Celsius, and you are miles from anything. At any other time of year we could have gone to the meridian hotel next door and sat in the bar with a cold drink...but as it was Ramadan we couldn't even do that...we checked. In the end we walked for 15 minutes in the stifling heat to the public beach where we stripped off our clothing (public beach...and we had our swimsuits on underneath) and ran for the water.
To our dismay the water was hot! Literally like swimming in bath water. The only benefit to being in the water was that you didn't continue to sweat but it didn't cool us down at all. There was no escape! It was lovely being out in the sea... and from our spot we did have a fairly fabulous view of the Burj al Arab...
By the time we had walked back to our clothes we had dried already and we stopped at the bus stop on the way back to the water park because the bus stop was air conditioned! When we got back we waited about 5 minutes at the entry and then we were into the park stuffing our things into a locker and heading for the first pool of water we could find. The water was cold! I have never been so happy to be in cool water before! We spent most of the day at the water park, going on various water slides, and lolling about in the wave pool. It was a heavenly way to spend the day in the heat.
We decided, based on the time, that we would go to the Emirates Mall before we went back to the hotel and pick up some food items that we wanted to take back to Korea. It just so happened that we were there when the fasting ended for the day so we were able to arrange a nice dinner in the food court - soooooo much food! Once we had the things we needed we went for a wander in old Dubai to see if we could find a Shisha pipe. We had decided that we wanted to take one home since we both enjoy playing with the flavoured tobacco and the Shisha pipes you can get in the Middle East are so beautiful. We found one we loved, I am sure that we paid more than a local would have, but we got everything we needed and I had fun bargaining!
On tired feet we wandered back to a main"ish road and hailed a taxi. We went back to the hotel, snacked, re-packed and got ready to leave. We had the hotel room until we were collected at 12:30pm (after midnight) for a flight that left at around 3am. The Airport looked practically deserted when we arrived and we went straight up to a counter to check in. The guy behind the counter was so friendly, and I asked if we could check on our seats as well, to see where we were sitting. The man looked at all our documents and made and received a quick phone call, none of which worried us because we weren't in a hurry, and then cleared his throat to get our attention.
"I have good news," he began, getting our attention instantly. "You have been upgraded to business class."
We must have been grinning from ear to ear as we effusively thanked him and told him he was our new best friend. With our business class boarding passes in hand we strolled through airport security and did our last minute duty free shopping... we didn't stop smiling for even a minute. The smile only grew bigger when we learned that we were travelling on a new A380 in business class...which meant that we had our own walkway because the business class seats are all on the top level of the plane. We were greeted at the door of the plane and shown to our seats which were the most luxurious plane seats I have ever seen in my life. Emirates definitely knows luxury! The seats stretched out to completely flat, and after the meals the staff came around to offer us a mattress to put on top for a little added comfort, but when in sitting position they could also be used as a massage chair... that's right a 9 and a half hour flight on a massage chair! There was a little built in table area to one side of the seat with some drinks stocked in just in case you suddenly decided you needed some Perrier mid-take-off.
Once we were seated the crew came around to deliver a drink, and a fancy menu, letting us know that they would be back to take our order before take-off. The menu itself was impressive... I never believed I would be able to order a medium-rare steak on a plane! They took the orders and then after take off they arrived with our trays... no more "chicken or beef?" They lay a white table cloth over the massive extendable tray table and even the trays were beautifully set up. Silver cutlery, white serviettes, and delicious looking food... entree and then main course.. with extra hot oven baked rolls if you would like them.
Shortly after the trays had been cleared my friend and I both stretched out and went to sleep. We were woken by the crew about ten minutes before breakfast was served so that we could freshen up before the meal... meaning that we had slept for almost 5 hours! It was the best flight I have ever been on... the difficulty now will be that we know what we are missing out on! My friend and I both discussed the fact that it would be hard to go back to travelling economy class after that little experience!
It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip! I can't wait for my next holiday!!
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