Dubai

At long last I have a moment to do a post to this blog.

Although we are now in Florence, I will start with our first port of call - Dubai. We decided to break our Emirates flight to Rome with a 2 day stop-over in Dubai. Unfortunately the internet access at our our hotel in Dubai didn't allow me to open up the blog site. And when we got to Rome there was so much to see and do that posting to the blog was very low on our priorities. More on Roma later. So much for the excuses......

Dubai was well worth visiting - although 2 or 3 days was probably enough to get a feel for this amazing city on the move. It is very much a city built on desert sands using desalinated water to provide for the people and to create an oasis of greenery. Travel out of the city and all you find are parched lands and sand dunes.

Only 20 per cent of the population can call themselves truly locals - the rest are expats from around the world who are seeking their fortunes in this city of myriad economic opportunities. Apparently there are some 20,000 Australians residing in Dubai.

Blink and a new building seems to appear as if by magic. Some are truly feats of architectural and engineering brilliance, others are just over the top displays of extravagance. At this stage of the city's development there is an obvious contrast between private affluence and public squalor. I assume that, as the population grows, there will now be pressure to invest in public spaces and the community infrastructure that appears to be so lacking.

Some reminders of the city's early days as a trading village on the "creek" have been retained. Valiant efforts are being made to preserve what remains of the old buildings, including the fort which is now a museum, and to interpret these for visitors. The souks are well worth visiting - we went to the silk and other fabrics market. This was interesting, but we did not get to see the gold souk which is apparently a must see for visitors.

The weather was warm, but not too hot. Our hotel, serviced apartments really, was comfortable but lacking in charm. Strongly recommend a stay in Dubai if you can afford 5+ star luxury!

The highlight of our stay was a visit to the Jumeirah Mosque - the largest in Dubai. We attended a cultural awareness session at the Mosque which was conducted by a Muslim women with an English accent. Not sure of her background, but she was very well informed and able to field some interesting questions, which included questions about the place of women in Muslim societies. Her approach was light hearted. I asked her why there were so many clocks on the walls and she said it was because the mosque was sponsored by Longines! She paused for a moment and then with a cheeky smile said "only joking".

We also did the popular tourist "desert safari" experience which took us in a convoy of 4 wheel drive vehicles across the sand dunes to a "Disney-ish" Bedouin Camp - complete with camel rides, henna painting, shisha smoking, belly dancing and a sumptuous banquet under the stars. Lots of fun, but not a Bedouin in sight. The attraction was run by what I assume were a bunch of enterprising Indians! By the way, Julie still has the tattoo on her hand - although it is now starting to fade. I also developed quite a taste for the apple flavoured shisha!

Well that was Dubai. Now it's on to Roma.......