Two Weeks in Egypt - October 2012

Day 1: Dubai and the United Arab Emirates

Introduction

We flew on an Emirates Airbus A380 from Auckland via Sydney to Dubai. The large plane was full despite the 13 hour flight into Dubai. It was a pleasant flight, a good level of service from the cabin staff and surprisingly good meals, but in my view still not quite up to the standard of the Air new Zealand long-haul services. We arrived in Dubai in the early morning and after clearing immigration and customs we were met by the travel company and transferred by bus to our hotel.

A bus tour of Dubai was planned for the morning and we suspected that this was to enable the hotel to prepare our rooms - but we were wrong and after a quick shower and change we were off on the bus trip. This was a good introduction to Dubai and for many of us our first experience of the Middle-East. Despite the apparent chaos and throngs of people it was described as "Egypt-Lite" - and so it was!

We travelled by bus around Dubai, passing all the tall buildings that attempted to beat each other to the sky - as well as those on more modest faux London and New York style. We crossed the river, walked through the Old Souk and the Gold Souk, then collapsed from the heat in the hotel. These photos offer a sample of Dubai sights and scenes.

First glimpse of the Emirates A380 aircraft	Clear view of the two rows of windows - its a big plane	Those engines are larger than they look
Now we are in Dubai, crossing The Creek by bus,	and by boat	You can swim here, if you follow the rules....
But all this gold would weigh you down a bit.	For a desert, they are keen on fountains - because they can.....	But it is the rush to out-build each other that is the worrying part.
The Telecom building. Clever to build the Satcom antenna as an architectural feature.	Where will all the tenants come from?	Tall and thin....
And they are still building them.
More water at the entrance to the Mall	A more traditional style beside the artificial lake.	Complete with horse....
You can glimpse this building from everywhere	It is the tallest in the place	is the tallest in the world at 829.8m - The Burj Khalifa
Entering the mall, what is this advertising?	Or this?	More water features,
covering two walls	The Tower at night	with reflections in the lake,
part of the mall,	outdoor table seating	and the lake, ready for action.....
And the water fountain show begins,	carefully synchronised to the music...
In this case to Michael Jackson.

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Last updated: 02/07/2017