Off to Europe Again

8/3/14

Pushback was at 22:35 from Adelaide A6-EGI to Dubai, then at Dubai we board in the early morning and are pushed back at 08:10 local for runway 30R, touching down in Paris at 14:52 Dubai time.

Out of Dubai

Warm piratha, homous and chana masala is now Uschi’s favourite breakfast. There was also a very nice hard white cheese. The Chana Masala was a curried chick pea (I think), it was quite nice by itself.

The next leg of our trip to Turkey was to leave in the afternoon, so I took a walk around the local area near the hotel. There were lots of bicycles around the place.

By 14:30 we had left hot and dusty Dubai, after a particularly officious customs officer had taken some, but not all, of Uschi’s loose AA camera batteries. About four hours later we were in Istanbul, though it took a little while to get through the formalities there. Finally getting to a nice little hotel at just before 20:00. The hotel was in the old part of town and was called the Hotel Legend. There was a dining room and an open terrace on the roof, though it wasn’t in use when we were there, but it did offer good views of the city.

I woke about 05:00 the next morning and went on the roof of the hotel where I could take pictures of the rooftops of Istanbul in the dark.

 

Dubai

We got in at about 0530 and had pre-arranged pick up with "Arabian Adventures" to take us to the Ascott Bur Dubai. Once we got there we found no wheel chair access. Also the receptionist said they had no rooms big enough for the 3 of us, so they sent us to the Ascott Roya, an adjoining Hotel. After checking in we had breakfast and went back to our room to sleep till about 11. After waking we thought about where to go and decided the only thing we really hadn't seen was the Burj Kalifa. the hotel limo man took us there and on the way advised we should have booked online or through the hotel checkin desk; "Because there might be a long wait".

He was right, the tickets were booked out for 2 days ahead. we then went for a walk around the
bottom of the tower near the fountain. The driver, Wajid, told us to be there in the evening for the fountain show.

It was fairly warm (42C) so we decided outdoor things were no the go. the Limo driver took us to a souk (Madinat Jumeirah) near the Sails Hotel. We had stopped in the car park to look at it on the previous trip but this time we went inside and spent some time looking around. It was a small shopping precinct, made up to look like an old souk but not much patronised now by the looks. I suspect it was an earlier version before Dubai expanded rapidly and is now left somewhat stranded. The bigger malls such as Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall have probably taken away a lot of the custom here. We had some icecream and Uschi bought some little bowls. Some of the "antiques" included antique statues of TinTin. We left at about 15:00 to go back to the Burj Khalifa where we spent a lot more time in the Dubai Mall.

Traveling in a taxi back to Burg Kalifa, we seemed to travel west till reaching the Mall of the Emirates and the old Carrefour we visited on our last trip. We then headed east (?) on a six lane highway parallel to and north of the Metro track.

We had previously visited the mall in 2008 but it wasn't finished then. Now it appears complete. we happened to be in the book shop (which we visited in 2008) and I found that it had a cafe (Cafe Kino) which overlooked the fountain. we had been intending to go to a restaurant near teh fountain and have tea while the display was in progress, but the cafe had a balcony overlooking the fountain. We ordered curry chicken and rice for me and Christl and curry beef and rice for Uschi at about 18:30. Uschi's beef was actually a patty, maybe a hamburger. We watched the fountain display from there. After the display we kept looking around the bookshop and walking around the mall till around 22:00 then we retired to the hotel.

Off to Europe for a Birthday

We left Adelaide about 14:00 and got to Melbourne about 90 minutes later, where we waited for our flight out. There was an old couple and their son returning to Malta who we shared the wait with. They were going to Malta, Cyprus and Greece. The parents were in their 80s and were quite surprised when we said Christine was almost 100. Melbourne push back at 18:05 (777-300. A6-ECN. Seats 44 A, B and C).

Taxiing out, the night was dark already with the normal busyness of an airport. The airport buildings illuminated by the lights on the apron. We were expecting the trip to Singapore to be 7 hours and 13 minutes. Waiting for clearance took a long time before entering the runway at 18:23. Touchdown in Singapore was 01:36 Melbourne time (11:40 Singapore time).

After leaving Singapore I slept for about 3 hours then watched “Tower Heist” followed by a number of “Horrible History” episodes. About 100 miles out from Dubai I changed to local time from Singapore time (08:09 Singapore to 04:09 Dubai).

In Transit

The Dubai airport has some of the biggest lifts I have seen. Due to Uschis mum, we were parked in the "special handling" area. Many people were asleep in the airport. This is the first airport I have seen with chairs for transit passengers that are a bit like lazy boys. Quite possible to sleep comparatively comfortably in. We left Dubai at 10:08 local time. The flight took us over Iraq, just inside the Iran/Iraq border. We followed the Tigris and passed near to Baghdad.

Touch down in Vienna was 5 and 3/4 hours after take off. The trip to the hotel was under a dreary grey sky even though it was the middle of the day, a bit different to Dubai. After resting in the Hotel for a little while we headed out for an initial look (for me) at Vienna. Cold, dark and lots of Christkindlmarkts. No snow yet, which is a little disappointing. I got my first look at Stephansdom and we went to the Post Office where I bought a post card for Pam and Jack. While we travelled about Christine hadn't dressed properly for the cold.

I was experimenting with a beanie and scarf which made the cold much more acceptable. In the end I gave the scarf to Christine as she forgot her gloves and her hands were very cold. We went back to the pension at about 21:00 and Uschi was a little disappointed as it was somewhat early and we didn't see everything straight away, but we had been up and on the go for more than 18 hours.

Dubai Souks and Boat Trip

As today was Friday there was not much open in the morning. The ubiquitous malls being the only things.

We went to City Central, which was a moderate sized one. Then we went back to the hotel for a rest and everyone slept about 1-2 hours. At 1600 the old town souks were supposed to open so at 1530 we took a taxi to that area. Amazing number of people milling on the shore near the water taxis. The taxis would come in bunches of 4 to 6 sometimes. We walked up the old souk which was so packed there really was no room for the wheel chair. Uschi and I both purchased pashminars. I also bought the rest of the bits for my head dress. I had already got a head dress band from the Emirates mall.

After watching the water taxis for a while we caught the "water bus" a more modern vehicle which Christine didn't need such skill to embark on. We just jumped on but had no tickets! The attendant took our money and ran to get some tickets for us. The water bus took us far along the Dubai creek to disembark near the Dubai local government buildings. We walked along the riverside for a while looking at the dhows then caught a land taxi (!) for the gold souk. The taxi pulled up in the middle of the road to collect us. At the lights about one block on the driver of the car behind got out and had a rant session with our driver. While it wasn't best parking etiquette I didn't think it was that bad.

We walked around the gold souk and even had a go at buying a small bracelet, but when I showed somereal interest the price suddenly went from 100 Dirhams/gram to 120! I had already seen 97 as the dayprice and the seller started to spin a line about "old" gold or maybe something from India. I declinedhis offer.

The three of us then wandered around the souk and found the main covered way. After about 1/2 an hour we had to leave to get back to the hotel so the evening cruise could pick us up.

They said about 1930, but turned up around 1915 . We got in a people mover with about 7 others, all males and apparently from the subcontinent. The people mover bought us back almost to the Gold Souk in Diera and we got on board the boat.

About half past eight there was a great cloud of black smoke which enveloped the boat as they started the engine. All the lights flickered out then back on again. The boat sailed up river to the Floating Bridge and then out to the mouth of the river about a 14km round trip I think, which took a little over 2 hours.

Tour of Dubai and another (!) mall

In the back of the Landcruiser for the tour "Bur Dubai", we drove past the computer souk and the street of banks. Past the back of a number of foriegn embassies and then we stop by the creek. The tour dropped us off at the museum, which we had to rush through due to lack of time. This was a pity as the museum seemed pretty interesting and I would have spent a bit longer there if I could have.

There is another couple on the tour too. They are Charles and Celia from Newcastle (UK).

The driver points out a lot of 4 and 5 star hotels, as if that is the main attraction of Dubai (maybe it is!). Through the Al Shindahga tunnel past the gold souk and on our way to Diera.

We stop near the Sails hotel for a photo opportunity.

The tour also stopped at an upmarket sales centre with very interesting, and expensive, goods. None of us tourists want to buy anything. The tour ended with the driver dropping us off at the Dubai Mall. Apparently this is a bigger mall than the Emirates which we visited yesterday.

We had lunch there including a hugely slow (15+ minutes) Koobideh sandwich at Pars Express. Hardly express.

We spent about 2 hours in the aquarium and then we wandered into the middle of the mall. An area called "the gold souk". Uschi and I tried to capture pictures of the changing colours on the ceiling. We had a little drink at a cafe called "The Cafe" in the centre of the mall.

The drink was a "sparkling date drink" which was an 80/20 apple date drink.

Off for a tour

Reflections on a bus.


Us in the 4WD

Dubai Mall

Yesterday after the Dubai mall gold souk we went to look at the skating rink. Christine was enthralled by the ice. Then we went looking for lifts as I wanted to find the "Hamleys" shop. The information people kept sending us to far away lifts. By the time we found one we were on the other side of the mall. We tried to go up into the book shop from the "Fashion Atrium" via the lift, however when we got
to the bookshop we found there was still construction going on so the bookshop was blocked off and we couldn't get in that way!

The Fashion Atrium itself was not really in use as many of the shops were still under construction. We finally got to the bookshop, then after spending 45 minutes browsing in the shop we were disappointed as their phone lines were down and they wouldn't accept credit cards.

At the end of the night we headed out to the nearest indicated taxi rank only to find it wasn't in use and we had to go completely across the mall (again) to the only operating taxi rank. Luckily the queue wasn't very long. The attendants did send us to the front of the line eventually when we were only about 3 places away anyway. At the Mall of the Emirates the day before they waved us straight to the front due to Christine's wheelchair as soon as they saw us.

Although reputedly bigger than the Mall of the Emirates, poor service, lack of open shops and hidden lifts made the Dubai Mall less pleasant than the Mall of the Emirates.

Emirates Mall and Snow

After the stop by the Mosque this afternoon we caught a taxi for 35 Dirhams and came straight to the mall.

Now we are in the "Karam Beirut" Lebanese restaurant at the Mall of the Emirates. We have spent a pleasant enough hour or two wandering around the mall. All three of us bought gloves from the Ski Dubai shop, in preparation for cold weather in Europe.

Christine was very excited to see the artificial snow when we first entered the mall. The photo on the left shows a view of the snow from a down stairs restaurant, the Lebanese restaurant is on the first floor.

The Lebanese restaurant was picked as it has main windows facing onto the ski slope and had a much better view of the "snow". The restaurant was empty when we arrived but they were a bit reluctant to seat usdue to all the tables being booked for later. The Maitre'd seated us on the proviso that we would be less than one hour, ie be gone by 20:00. I ordered minced meat in pita called Arayess.

Uschi had eggplant kebab and Christine had chicken livers.

A Mix of Cultures

Sitting outside the Starbucks at Japengo Cafe on Al Jameira Road. Uschi has ordered some cold drinks for us. We are across the road from the Jumeira Grand Mosque with the call to prayer coming from the minarets.

This is the only mosque in Dubai that is open to non muslims.

We have just walked from our hotel, the Rydges. There is lots of building and road work which made wheel chair access very difficult. On the way we went through the Al Ghazel (Gazelle?) Shopping Mall and had a coffee for Uschi and her mum with a lemonade for me. We also shared a very nice Jaffa mousse.

The weather is fairly pleasant and cloudy. The sun is a little hot when it comes out, There was a very strong wind and rain squall around 12ish which we could see from the hotel.

We arrived this morning at 0730. The plane waws a little late landing at about 0610 but then we had to catch a bus and travel for ages to the terminal building. Emirates are using a new terminal building all their own. We all had a big breakfast when we got to the hotel and then all had showers and a few hours sleep.

Sitting here at the cafe Uschi and Christine have lemonades (I was the trend setter there) but I have gone for a Coke Zero this time. It has arabic lettering and advertising for the new James Bond film on it.

A strange mix of cultures.