3 days in Dubai...

Well my Dubai trip is now over and we've just arrived in Sri Lanka. Its been a weird trip but... interesting! A word of warning though for all travellers to Dubai, when you don't want a taxi, you will get hassled every 5 minutes by taxi drivers and when you do want a taxi (like us trying to get to the airport after the bus was a no show), they are virtually impossible to find leaving us running around for ages with our backpacks on panicking about not getting to the airport on time! Anyway...

Basically, Dubai seems to be a city very much for the 'richer pockets' although you can definately get some bargains too. There's a creek which splits up the two sides of Dubai and its almost as if as soon as you've crossed that creek, you're in a completely different city. We stayed in Deira in a fairly cheap hotel right snap bang in the middle of all the souks (markets) and locals and perhaps, a more 'true' version of Dubai. From our street we could see the upper class hotels and majority of tourists who might venture to this side once on a day trip before going back to the comfort of their 5 star hotels...

... and speaking of hotels, we thought we better check out the Burj Al Arab which is supposed to be the only 7 star hotel in the world. A half hour bus journey later, this hotel looms over the road and we get out to take a look and get the token photo everyone wants. Well, no one tells you you can't actually get near to the hotel unless you have an invite or want to split with 70 pounds for a cocktail!!! Instead, you get directed to the public beach down the road (not many of these exist) where the majority of lighter budget tourists are also taking photos! We had to laugh at the poor tourists sucked into going on the bus tour and getting their cameras out in the split second the bus roars past the Burj Al Arab, it seemed to be the only part of the road with no traffic so their photographs may not have turned out quite like they imagined!!!

I think Dubai is well worth a peek... But, if you, like us, are travelling on a budget, don't expect to see any of the amazing hotels and beaches you probably think of, as James says, 'its just a rich kids playground.'

That said, we've really enjoyed some of the activities that locals have in their everyday lives like wandering through the various markets and crazy streets which spring to life at night! I have to say, the highlight of our trip here is going back and forth the Dubai creek on the cheapest and simplest form of transport in this city - the dhows. These are simply made indestructible wooden boats/barges which could also be described as the bumper cars of the creek! For 1 AED (approx 15 pence) you can cross to 'the other side' on a rather comfy wooden bench and take in the lovely breeze and some of the most amazing architecture Dubai has to offer.

Well today we're off exploring Colombo city and the local beach which should definately be an eye opener. The taxi from the airport showed us some sights we're definately not used to in England! Hopefully I'll be on again soon but I must say, finding an internet that works AND allows the 'cookies' needed for this blog - it's not that easy!!!
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