Dubai

Dubai Sunday 4^th April 2010

After arriving from the airport and our tussle with immigration, we arrived back at the ship which was tied up next to Queen Elizabeth 11, recently purchased by some entrepreneurs and being refurbished. Some said it was going to be a floating hotel and restaurant. We were surprised to see that it was much smaller than the Victoria. Great photo op!

We were disappointed to see that the sky was not a nice blue but very hazy. It was almost impossible to see some of the very tall buildings. One explanation was that the wind had blown the sand in. Nevertheless, what a difference in the trash situation. Not a piece of rubbish anywhere. The buildings and town were white, clean and very decorative with good gardens. The roads were wide with central reservations nicely landscaped.

Back on board we found the laundry empty . (oh the joy). This room is usually packed and you have to be standing in line waiting for the washers to become vacant, or you miss out. There are only two washers and dryers and not on every floor. At least we had a stateroom close by. One morning Robert stood outside the laundry door at 7:15am waiting for it to open at 7:30am. Feeling lucky this day, we occupied both washers on everything we had used in India and things we had left behind before the trip. We were now set for at least a week. You make many friends in the laundry. If you are lucky they will sit and watch that no-one switches things. One day I went to check on how my things were drying to find someone had taken my washing out, wet, and placed them in a basket. On finding this I felt a bit miffed and decided two could play the game. I stopped the dryer, emptied the clothes into a basket, replaced mine in the dryer and sat and waited to make sure it didn’t happen again. Eventually the person came back and looked shocked that her washing was in a basket still wet. She gave a startled expression that she wanted the things for that evening. I replied that most people did, without admitting I had done the deed. However, I did offer to place her things back into the dryer after mine had dried. She thanked me..

Back to Dubai. We had an overnight stop here and had booked an evening cruise along the creek. However, being held up in the airport made out return back to the ship late and we had to cancel the cruise. We were tired after the long day so we skipped the restaurant dinner and ate from the Lido buffet. Robert went up to the top deck after dinner and photographed Dubai at night.

The following day we had a half day tour booked. The coach took us to the area where all the very high building are. They are very impressive. The first one was Burg Al Arab Hotel. It is shaped like a very large sail. It is close to a beautiful beach and there were quite a few visitors to the area taking advantage of it. We moved on to the Dubai Museum which is housed in the Al Fahidi Fort. The Museum looked quite small from the exterior but we found out that it actually went three floors underground. It was very well done. It had exhibits of boatbuilding and other old crafts in the area. It had reconstructed villages showing how people lived before development. Lots of clothes and artifacts.

From the museum we went to the fabric, spice and gold souks. We had to cross the creek for this. We could take the coach,which is a long way around, but it had been arranged that we should go by boat. Well I say by boat but these were more like floating planks. They were very sturdy and had to be. There were many on the creek and being used as water taxis. The empty boats would bump into each other vying for business. You sat sideways, along the middle and length of the boats, approx. 10-15 on each side, depending how friendly or brave you were feeling. We were soon across and alighting for the souks.

These were extensive and had wonderful things on show. The fabric was wonderful and the spices were very aromatic but both souks were wholesale. The gold souk was aglow in gold with many retail stores waiting to take your money. Each store window was filled with gold items. Some of these were very large, you would wonder who would buy or wear them. Robert wanted to buy me something as a keepsake. After visiting a number of stores and not particularly liking anything, we finally purchased a pendant to match some earrings I have. We had fun bargaining and got a price that I was interested in, after many “la, la, and mish mumpkins“. Although the sales men spoke very good English, they were very amused by the fact that Robert could speak some Arabic and wanted to know how he learned it. From then on we were all friends. One of the guys was a chemist, so he and Rob spent time chatting. Time was running out and we had to return to our guide and the ship.

We had one funny incident. We always have two guides on any tour. We have a local guide to explain the history etc., and a Cunard one, to make sure we all make it back to the ship. On our way to the souks, somehow, the local guide got away from us with half the group and the Cunard guide suddenly realized and made us stop and wait while she found him. Fortunately, she did and we followed along after he apologized for walking too fast. It was a little more than the fast walking that caused it. This area is crowded and very busy. People you have never seen before get mixed up in the group, in the narrow streets and passages, until you have no idea who you are following. You only realize you are following the wrong group when you cannot see the guide with the placard showing your coach number. All ended well.

Sail away was early so we were able to watch from the verandah. There were two other cruise ships docked. As we left, the captain sounded the ships whistle as a salute and goodbye. The Queen Elizabeth 2 replied with two blasts, to which we also answered with two blasts. This lasted for about five minutes. It seemed sad to be pulling away and leaving the QE2 tied up never to see the UK again and its port of registration erased. The other cruise ships acknowledged the salutes as we passed, so it was quite a symphony of ships whistles some being higher than others. It was good bye to Dubai and a day a sea to Salalah, Oman.