Samaya Hotel Deira Dubai

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 ...

... and have a go.

We went from one extreme to the other today, spent a few hours at the water park in 37 degree heat then drove to the indoor ski slope with -2 degree weather, it was great.
Not long until we board the plane back to sunny Ballarat, think our tans will well and truely be faded by the time its hot enough to wear shorts & t-shirts at home.

We have had a fantastic 3 months away and are looking forward to seeing you all soon.
oxoxoxo

... and caught a cab to yet another mall called Mercato, which is where Charlies was at the cost of 15 dirhams. This was probably the east impressive mall we had been to, but the architecture was pretty cool, it looked quite like the Venetian in Vegas.

After lunch at the Mercato we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the public beach. We walked a bit, and then took the bus the rest of the way. The public transportation ...

... with most of the little stalls being cheap tat or plastic toys or household stuff etc. The gold souk was what you would expect - so we went for a look at the amazing displays but did not go in as we were not there to buy ( i am more of a silver girl and the exchange rate would have made everything expensive!) We then went to see the heritage house and the old school. It was great since we were the only people looking around. Much of the information in ...

... The next building's security officer said "yes, this is her building but I do not have a signed form for your stay". He tried to ring Ebony but her phone was off. He then tried to ring the 2 other flatmates and all phones were off. He was very, very apologetic but said he could not let us in without the right signed form. It is now 11.30pm and we are starting to think that we should find a hotel and sort it in the morning but asked if we could use ...

... area with toboggan slide, bobsled, snowball playplace, ice sculptures, and more. Oh yeah and the whole complex was attached to one of Dubai's nicest malls. We had a chance to also hang out in their ski lodge in the middle of the ski run. It was really cool as Rachel and I had hot chocolate in the complex while it was scorching hot outside. Rachel wanted marshmallows, whipped cream and M&M's on hers so I had to get the manly hot chocolate with.......pink ...

... food again (after 4 months of just about nothing but that). Of course we went to a Japanese restaurant that was excellent. This took care of my sushi withdrawals. I do find it, however, somewhat strange that I am in this absolutely stunning mall with anything one can imagine and as I pass the movie theater, I think about how they still edit their movies to eliminate any scenes that include sex, drugs, homosexuality, and anything that comes close to ...

... support <-- Hezbollah being a shiite organization that helps out the community like a mini-Red Cross, but they are also fighting Israel and the Lebanese gov**nment). We are lead to believe that people in this region fall directly in line with their h**itage, Sunnis support only Sunnis, Shiite support all Shiite and ev**yone hates Israel. But as she put it, she hates Hezbollah they are the reason for the instability in h** country and they are the ...

... Mumbai docked here to load and unload cargo. They aren't that big and don’t look seaworthy for such long journeys. We first walked through the Spice Souq which smelled great with big sacks filled with spices, nuts and dried fruit. Next we walked through the Gold Souq, lots of little jewellery shops. We wandered down little side streets and ...

... If you look at the hotel from the sky, it spells the name 'Dubai' in Arabic, how cool is that. Look out for it if you fly into Dubai during the day. I got a bit roasted here, after a while you get used to the heat, but you can't get used to the sun burning a hole in the back of your skull! I decided to get an umbrella, I have seen people in south India use them and a lot of people here use them, it's a good idea if you ask me. I got a taxi back to the flat for ...