CFT Northern Lights - Sydney to Dubai

Friday 2 March

I think this was on of the longest days I've ever had! I arrived at the airport over an hour early to a warm welcome by Nancie and then to proceed through checkin and customs to await the arrival of my fellow travellers.

A long wait with a few snacks and drinks saw us board the A380 after 8 pm and eventually take off around 10 pm. Of course it was midnight before we were given dinner and I was so hungry I'd have eaten anything. The 14 hour flight was dotted with snippets of sleep, a snack somewhere over the Indian Ocean, breakfast near India then eventually landing in Dubai around 5 am their time.

Saturday 3 March

After fluffing around the airport we met the Brisbane group (including Barbara) and were taken to our hotel (the Marriott) arriving at about 7 am. Barbara and I had a shower then went down to second breakfast (or was it brunch?) and thoroughly enjoyed our buffet of fresh fruit, various Arabian delights and an incredible seed bread. It was lovely to have tiny tastes of many different foods. Back to our room then to snooze until it was time to leave for our tour of Dubai at 12:30 pm.

The tour took us in seeming circles around the same sets of buildings - hotels, offices, apartment blocks and palaces. At one palace we stopped for photos. It had amazing gardens, lawns and wide promenades just leading to the entry which was a replica of the Brandenburg Gate.

Photo courtesy CFT

On then to one of the older villages. This was amazing with traditional building styles of mud rendered coral rock. I loved the "air conditioning" towers used prior to electricity and the drainage channels for the flat roofs.

Our next experience was a water taxi to the gold and spice markets. Although we are unable to buy the spices it was interesting finding out a little about each of the bundles of colour and scent. 

Photo courtesy CFT

There were amazingly huge displays of saffron in many of the shops.

Barbara loved all the gold too although I am not keen on yellow gold. There were some other pieces of jewelery that were quite stunning.

We met up with the bus again and drove out in quite heavy traffic to the beach. It was amazing to see families of burqua clad women wandering along the sand. The weather is quite mild with a cool breeze but even so no-one was in the water.

Back to the tallest building in the world and the biggest shopping mall in the world. We had a brisk walk through the crowds to our restaurant overlooking the pool and half hourly water and light displays. Our dinner was a Lebanese feast with far too much food. It was a real pity to see the waste but then Dubai seems to be built on extravagance with power, money, resources, energy and everything else. I hope when we return through Dubai that we are able to see a bit beyond the glitz and glamour of the city into the desert on which it is built. We did have small glimpses on some of the building sites and in a cemetery we passed.

Eventually, exhausted we were walked back through the mall to the bus and drove to the hotel. After packing our bags ready for an early start in the morning we collapsed into our beds.