Had a nice farewell at the airport... thanks everyone who came throught - appreciated it.

Arrived in Dubai all safe and sound. The flight went well, very impressed with the in-flight entertainment. Had about 500 radio stations / CDs / TV shows / movies to choose from. Also had a video feed from a camera in front of the plane (which was awesome to watch during take off and landing) as well as underneath the plane. Anyway, the flight went well... got maybe an hour and bit sleep just before breakfast.

Landed a bit earlier than expected, around 05:00 in about mid 20 degrees temperature. Met the guy I was meant to and he explained the process of obtaining my visa and baggage claim and passport control etc and all went well. Got dropped off at the hotel and managed to check in early. Staying at the Golden Sands - was very impressed with the hotel considering I selected the more 'budget' hotel.

After sorting myself out and dropping my bags, I decided to head out for a walk around the area. Not knowing where I was or anything about the area, decided to stay relatively local and went to the local little mall and bumped into a McDonalds and had an ice-cream :) Other than that, just browsed around, keeping close to the hotel. I had a tour organised for later so thought that should clear up my sense of direction.

And by had a tour organised later, I mean I had booked a tour but it didnt happen. There was some misunderstanding with my hotel number, Im in Golden Sands 3 and they thought Golden Sands 10 - tried calling them but they dont take just 1 person on a tour so will be refunded for that. So instead of their "Dubai City Tour" I decided to make my own. I asked a few locals and people at the hotels and got a list of things to do. It was now just after 14:00 and most shops operate between 09:00-13:00 and then 17:00-23:00 due to the extreme heat. Went back home for a 2 hour powernap, having hardly slept in the previous 2 days.

I started off heading to the Meena Bizaar, which is basically a massive bizarre (think Bruma made into a massive city), with hundreds and hundreds of shops, offering crazy discounts, everyone bargaining with you, trying to get you to buy their stuff, more discounts, and "just for you" specials etc etc. Crazy. But awesome to walk the streets. Thousands of people everywhere. And cars and taxis all over the place. Loved walking around there. This was about 18:00 or so. From there went to the Dubai Museum, which is the Old Dubai Fort also converted into the museam. Very interesting, showing the history of the city and how Dubai came into being the city it is today, from its beginnings as a little fishing village.

After the museum, took (another) walk down to the Abras (boat station). At the station I caught a water taxi across the creek to the other side which is where all the souks are. The Dubai creek is a natural inlet from the Gulf which runs for about 10km inland, and bisects Dubai in two halves - Bur Dubai (where most hotels are) and Deira (where a lot of trading posts and souks are). I had crossed the creek to Deira. There are various souks which are like specialised markets (Spice, Electronic, Toys, Clothing, Gold, etc). I walked around the spice souk as well as the gold souk. Its fasinating how cheap and how much there is to buy here. I didnt buy anything, just took photos (will post them soon) and enjoyed being there.

Close to about 22:00 decided to head home, first having to cross the creek (crossings are very common with the locals and each crossing is half a dirham, about R1. They estimate some 17000 crossings per day). I had managed to get around purely by asking locals and whoever managed to speak English (by speak I mean talk and understand it). Now trying to get back was gonna be fun. I had tried many ways just to get to the Meena Bizarre, never mind the rest of my "tour". Trying to use landmarks, I heading in the general direction and noticed the KFC I had seen orginally. I had a good laugh there - they have a "all you can eat KFC for 22Dhs". Im trying to picture the KFC in Eastgate on a Saturday afternoon with all you can eat for R44 - just imagine the Streetwise II orders that would be asked for... brilliant.

Anyway, after more directionless walking around I came across a pavement cafe which sold schwarmas which was one of the things on my to-do list. So I sat there a while and had two schwarmas and some apple juice. Then off on my way. Trying to make head or tail of street maps and guessing, after an hour of missioning, I eventually found the Silver Sands hotel and they could point me in the direction of the Golden Sands which was great. Got home about 23:00 and completely collapsed onto the bed, after walking non-stop for hours and hours and taking all of this city in. Called reception, asking them to wake me at 06:00 the next morning for part 2 of my "Dubai City Tour". Looking back, Im actually rather pleased it landed up as it did, cos I got to see what the tour covered as well as extras and got to know my way, sort of, around the streets.

Well, until tomorrow when I get to post the next part of my Dubai adventure.