Dubai

This town is hot, hot, hot! And I mean temperature-wise. We flew in at 3am and it was 33°C…and by mid-afternoon it had hit 44°C, which is hotter than the sauna at the gym. We spoke to a lady who had done a trip out into the desert, where it was 54°C. I can’t understand why anyone would choose to live here.

We grabbed a few hours sleep, then did a taxi tour around the city (genuine Pakistani imported driver, insisted on naming every hotel we passed and giving us its star rating.) Fantastic architecture – JB picked up a few new ideas for the Vic. campus (yeah right!). Managed to dodge security at some 6-star hotel, thanks to the driver’s cunning, and got to check out the stunning foyer. Two coffees and a muffin stung us $40 – no wonder the waiters were so happy we dropped in!

Boarded the Dawn Princess with no queues – wonderful. My bag went AWOL somewhere between the dock and the ship, but we were reunited several hours later. Had a wine in one of the bars, then hit the jet-lag wall… amazing what an 8 hour time difference does to the body. I nearly fell asleep over my ragout, and had to pass on dessert, dammit. JB was asleep by 8pm, and I followed shortly after. Apparently we have to watch out for pirates for the next couple of days… or did I just dream that?



Quote of the day: “They have sound cannons on this ship which permanently deafen any pirates that get too close.”