Arrived early morning and checked in straight away. Because the plane was delayed an hour and a half leaving Madrid we missed getting a breakfast. Anne was feeling a bit sick from her empty stomach and no sleep so we showered then she set the alarm for an hour nap. I felt okay. We both felt a lot better after we lunched.
Next was a tour of Dubai. I have never seen anything beyond the airport while Anne had a sister and brother -in -law who had lived here for a number of years so she had visited a few times. We opted for the private driver on the basis that a hop off hop on would take too long, it was Friday and the beginning of Ramadan, the Holy period of fasting for Muslims so we were not sure what was open. It was a good decision. We saw so much more and avoided the waiting for buses when places we visited turned out to be closed, such as the museum and half the gold souk.
The only trouble was I started to get really sleepy and nod off. Anne was prodding me and finally I got into the front seat with the cold air conditioning to keep me awake. Dubai was certainly a hive of building and I would like to be in the glass business here because that and marble was everywhere. It is a bit like Las Vegas, totally artificial but fascinating for the imagination that makes it a destination. The water was a beautiful green and warm. I walked across the beach to put my feet in. I wondered how it stays so clear when they are building artificial islands. What tides do they have I wonder to keep the water flowing?
After our tour we returned to the hotel for a quick rest and then we went to dinner with Anne’s friend Mick who had worked for her husband and had been in Dubai for a very long time. He took us to a Japanese restaurant in our hotel and we had a very talented Tepenyaki Chef cook for us. 
It was a night of laughter and memories for Anne and Mick who has recently lost his partner. It was not a late night because we had an early departure for Amman to catch. We needed to be up by four o’clock in order to meet the Australian contingent of the Jordan tour at Dubai airport.
fleetfootkath 