Day 3. Last full day in the UAE

It rained. From midnight until just before I left the hotel at 10.15. I didn't even know that was a thing here at this time of year. I thought the rain might ruin my day but no! It meant that when I went to Atlantis Aquaventure (water park) it wasn't busy at all and I never had to wait for rides. I spent 3 hours in a state of child like glee. There's a lazy river/ rapids system where you're just constantly circling the park and at certain points you can divert off to smaller streams that takes you to the slides. Whilst there I swam in the Persian Golf. It was so salty, I floated ridiculously well. I went on a ride called the leap of faith. It's a 27m drop into a tube that's in a shark tank. Best thing ever. 

In the evening I checked out the mall of the emerites. It is insanely big. It's not just the size of the mall over all, the shops are just bigger. I wanted to go into the ski slope but it was closed for some maintenance. I still got to see a fair portion of it though and feel the cold vaguely. I finished off my last night in Dubai by going to a club and drinking more than enough gin by my standards and then falling into bed. 

Day Two

Day two here in Dubai started with a city tour. I learnt a lot about Dubai and it's history. The Dubai museum has a very interesting layout. I got to see the Burj Khalifa from the outside and took photos near The Sail seven star hotel. Also went onto the palm. Which is a man made island in the shape of a palm (der). This was extremely exciting for me as this was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Dubai. We also went to the older part of the city and I went into the spice souk and the gold souk. The jewellery was amazing. Even I was tempted by some of the stuff. 

In the evening I went on a dune safari. It was THRILLING. The actual dune driving part was like any good roller coaster, complete with sand spray. When we got near the camp I got to ride a camel. It was super noisey. I didn't realise how big they were. Once inside the camp everything was set up so well. Drinks (non-alcoholic) were included. Whilst waiting for dinner I got to hold and pet a falcon. It was the most confused, majestic creature. I spent the whole experience waiting for it to claw my face off. 

The food was traditional Arabic food. I tried almost everything (ew lamb). After dinner there was a male dancer who spun around the stage for a solid 10 minutes. His outfit lit up at one point and he looked like a carnival ride. Then the belly dancer. She was so talented. 

Over all the experience is something I'd recommend to everyone. 

Fourteen hours later

The flight didn't seem that long. I slept more than I thought I would and was very awake before landing (thanks to having spilt an entire cup of cold water on my lap, good job Keir). Customs in Abu Dhabi was a non event and I waited for my connecting bus for an hour. I saw one of my favourite buildings, the Aldar HQ, from afar on the bus ride to Dubai. Dubai is very interesting. There's such huge buildings with basically nothing in between. My hotel let me check in on arrival so I got to shower the smell of plane off 5 hours earlier than expected. Not a lot planned for the rest of today as I was told I won't be able to go up the Burj Khalifa as there's a 20 day waiting period currently. Quite annoyed about that as my travel agent assured me when he was unable to book in advance that it would be fine to go on the day. Oh well, looking forward to all the activities planned for tomorrow and a good nights sleep. 

Moving day!

Today is all about packing (or rather avoiding packing) 

Tonight I set out to Abu dhabi where I'll be busing to Dubai to stay for 3 nights. 

See you on the other side.