At Large in Dubai

Well, we arrived safely in Dubai after being extremely well fed on the flight, and arrived in Dubai after 14 hours and very little sleep. The heat was a bit hard to take at over 30 degrees at 6.30 am.




Ski Dubai

 After recovering with a swim in a quite warm pool we explored the Mall of the Emirates. It's full of designer shops - all the ones I had heard of, and quite a few I hadn't. There were end of summer sales on, but I resisted. The mall is also the home to Ski Dubai, which is quite large and suited to all levels of ability.

Mall of the Emirates

We took a tour to the Burj Khalifa - the 124th floor of 220 floors - the world's tallest tower. Also did a city tour which covered many older places. I hadn't known that Dubai was a fishing village until the discovery of oil in the 1960s, and most of the development has occurred since the 1990s.



The view from the Burj Khalifa. Small building in the centre where Craig lived.

 I haven't decided whether I really like Dubai, but the vision and business sense of the current Sheikh is evident everywhere.

The other amazing sight is the frequent groups of wealthy muslim families - 1 husband in white trailing 3-4 wives in black abayas, often with a lot of their face covered, and a collection of children. David can't understand how any man could possibly wan't more than 1 wife at a time, especially when each has to be treated equally financially.



Three muslim wives shoppoing for their children at the Burj Khalifa



Dubai is certainly amazing, but I think I would have trouble in such a male dominated society