First Stop Dubai

And so the adventure began with a lovely business-class flight to Dubai, I only wish I hadn't discovered late on in the flight that that I had a massage setting on my seat...and when the lights went out there were little blue lights on the airplane ceiling in the shape of the constellations...

So - Dubai. What can I say?  My first impressions were a big, dusty building site....which I think pretty much sums it up.  It was hot, and dry, I was met by my lovely friend Mel who took me to the Jetty Bar http://royalmirage.oneandonlyresorts.com/cuisine/barsandclubs/jettylounge.aspx for mezze and cocktails on the beach, very civilised but very bizarre when you consider that it is illegal to drink in Dubai, unless you are in a bar or at home.  So that means you cannot travel from bar to home under the influence of alcohol, so woe betide getting in a taxi if you've had a few.  So we restricted ourselves to a couple of mojitos each and very nice they were too.

The next day saw us exploring Dubai - the Palm, Atlantis hotel - an ostentatious confection of a building - and the malls - shopping centres are shopping centres the world over but in Dubai they are massively extravagant with oversized fish tanks and the like, not my sort of thing at all and all rather grotesque.  Now this may have been slightly appealing if the shops had been offering bargains, but everything appeared to be overpriced, so I couldn't see a single reason to buy a thing. 

Mel lives in a lovely villa+pool on the edge of the city, when I say edge, Dubai just stops dead and then there is desert, roads just cease to be and instantly there is sand a scrub.  But since there is no shortage of space and it appears no shortage of money, Dubai is expanding at a rate of knots so Sports City, where Mel and Adam live, is currently on the edge of Dubai but in a few years time will no doubt be swallowed up in the relentless rush of development.  However they are very fortunate in that their garden backs in to the golf course, so they have a lovely open aspect, so my Dubai afternoon was spent chilling round the pool and meeting some of Mel's lovely friends, before it was off to the airport, India was calling....