Al Rayan Hotel, Ajman

Usually, one would go to bed early after having packed his luggage considering that one has planned a 24 hour trip to Africa the next day.

Well, I started my African experience in a slightly different way – I went out until 3 in the morning, just having 3-4 beers and surprisingly woke up the next morning with one of the worst hangovers of my entire life and my luggage still unpacked.

I managed ...

... It wasn't actually unbearable, if you really wanted to you could walk around for a few hours. The repercussions of said actions however were rather undesirable; a shirt that smelled like a cat had urinated and then died in it, eyes that screamed with blurring sweat every time you blinked and socks that you could be sure would be outlawed by the Geneva convention as biological weapons of mass destruction should you decide to take ...

... afskud en op 'n heerlike vlug klim na Dubai. Om 12:00 die nag kom ons op die lughawe aan en eet almal eers 'n heerlike gratis ete in hulle restaurant voordat almal die winkels invaar. Om 04:00 is ons almal op die vliegtuig reg vir ons laaste vlug na die RSA

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... air conditioning? But as we drove towards the Burj Al-Arab, the world's only self-appointed seven star hotel, I started seeing them: "guest" workers from South Asia, toiling in the midday heat on Dubai's hundreds of massive construction projects. When I worked in Kathmandu a couple of summers ago I became good friends with a colleague named Asbin. He had already done one stint working construction in Dubai, and was gearing up for a another in Saudi Arabia. He had a two year ...

... time yet. Richard wanted to take me to Labenese Flower which he had enjoyed and wanted to share with me. One look at the menu and I was home, even though I am Egyptian I have always felt home in Lebanon and the smell and Food brought it all back in an instant. Needless to say the dinner was absolutely delicious and it was the perfect ending to the day reminiscent was soul awakening and stirring for me I felt emotions I haven't felt since I have arrived in the US.

... refreshing and it's been a nice and relaxing few days. And so the time has come - my trip is all but over. I have to get up early in the morning to head to the airport. From there, it's a 7 hour hop back to good old Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The day which I have been dreading is finally upon me. I've been looking forward to this trip for so long....as just as good things come to those who wait....all good things must also come to an end.

... I could make local calls for less then the $1.50 I was going to be paying, but I was told that I had to have a copy of my passport. So that failed, but I picked up a power converter since they use wall outlets similar to those you would find in England (I knew I should've held onto that thing). I wondered the mall for sometime and saw Ski Dubai, an AMAZING sight. I can't even describe it, and my dead camera would not allow me to show it in picture. I must've spent an hour ...

... and Al Bustan shopping centres which had mostly fabrics and eastern clothes. There were no interesting food shops so we had Maccas for dinner. Walking a couple of blocks homes we passed a cool clothes shop full of clothes made in India. I bought two tops and a necklace for 145d ($52). Organised the hostel staff to take us to the airport tomorrow morning.

... plenty of Arabs in white robes and red checked cloths on their heads and women in black with their faces covered.







We arrived in Dubai at 9.30pm local time (12.30am Thai time). Dubai has a massive beautiful airport but it took us an hour to ...