Khalidia Hotel Apartments Dubai

Hi everyone

On Friday, we visited the amazing Burj al Arab hotel for lunch. The only way you can get in is if you are a guest (it costs $1000's a night) or if you make a booking for lunch or dinner.

This hotel is the only 7-star hotel in the world, and unless we win lotto I don't think that I'll ever be able to stay a night ...

... two amazing hotels - the Burj al Arab (see next blog entry for our visit there) and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
Today, it's raining - which is pretty odd for the desert - and if it keeps raining our evening desert safari might get cancelled- which would be a real shame as my mum is really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow we're off to Switzerland, where it's -2 degrees and snowing in Zurich, which will be a big shock to us all.

luv Amy

... pool or beach for long.

Our half-day city tour was led by a Pakistani driver-cum-tour guide. Dubai, as with much of the UAE, depends on its foreign labour, comprising about 80% of the population. The other 20% is made up of native Arabs, who are so inherently wealthy they do not have to work; if they do work, it's usually holding government positions. They were a rare breed to spot ...

... checked out but are waiting to go to the airport for their flights. In the lounge, you get to have free flow of coffee, tea (although the refill is not that frequent) and wat**, lock**s to store your day packs which was immensely useful and also show**s with all the shampoo, condition** and soap. Th**e are also TV and magazine if you are keen. Because my flight is at 0245 the v**y next day, this place was a great holding area.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates chansensei

... pills already)....and I indicated my loathing. Still, after taking them as recommended every two hours...here we are in Dubai Airport at 9.10 am in the morning, and I'm writing in the laptop, feeling pretty good I must say. (we arrived at 5.10am) So strike up another one for Deb... what would I do without her. There are strangely dressed people everywhere, Arab emirati, and others, and we would dearly love to have a look around Dubai. But we are waiting for our ...

... s in the UAE is dry. (and there's a LOT of them!) Did anybody even flinch when I mentioned TGI Fridays in Dubai?? Yes, TGI Friday's has made it all the way here. In fact, you can't escape the influence of American culture here. Within a 15 minute walk along the beachfront road, we passed 3 Starbucks (and discovered a 4th the next morning!), Chilis, Subway, Pizza Hut, Fuddruckers, Trader ...

... driv** had no idea wh**e he was going, but we got th**e in the end with the help of my trusty hand drawn maps =P. It was pretty cheap too, $12 SGD, which is like 4 pounds 50 - bargain. It is REALLY hot h**e and its still only night! Im staying at the Betel Box hostel, 7 quid a night, pretty expensive relatively for SE Asia - but cheap relative to Singapore. The staff are great, they sold me a phone card with 350 minutes to the UK ...

... States, but would have to most closely resemble the Mall of America. There is an arcade and bowling alley upstairs, and most famously, it has an indoor ski slope. I know when I think desert, and I think Middle East, I always think "skiing destination". We had Aunt Anne pretzels at the food court, though honestly they were not as good as they are at home. A little burnt. The next morning Tim, Kristen (from Bond University in Australia), and I took a taxi to ...

... into another, tiny florets of leaves into a third. Everybody is ...

... who unleashed a counterattack, grabbing him and tying him up with a rope used for baggage...." The Khaleej Times is apparently doing something right because although I will not turn to this paper to receive information about important current happenings of the world, I will purchase it to laugh my **** off. A guaranteed laugh before I flip to the comics. Now that is what I call quality journalism.