Day 1 in Dubai :)

So I arrived in Dubai @ 5am today then had to wait in the airport for mum to arrive @ 730. Was a pretty boring wait, just sat there and watched all the different kinds of people walk past and checked out their clothes...from people who had traditional full covered dress to other tourists with shorts and singlets on. The plane ride was 14.5hrs long but you get to watch as many movies and shows as you want and you can select, play and pause as you please. Same with music, they had thousands of things to choose from.

I didn’t get much sleep. I was in the middle of a four seated row so I couldn’t lean either side to rest plus I had to ask this little boy to move every time I wanted to go to the loo or get up...was pretty annoying, and when he was sleeping I couldn’t get out...or didn’t want to cause I would wake him.

When I arrived I had to take a 10min bus ride to the main part of the airport to collect luggage...that’s how big the airport is. Once I got into the baggage area I saw the airport workers and thought their uniform was cool. They had full white dress covering with white head scarves and black crowns on their heads.



Later I asked mum about their uniforms and she didn’t know what I was talking about until we saw one of the ‘airport workers’ at the hotel lobby. I said “Look mum, there, an airport worker.” Mum was like “Um, that’s their traditional dress.” Haha!! That cracked me up. All that time I thought it was a uniform but it’s their normal clothes.

They are pretty relaxed here. I put my carry-on luggage through the scanner but they didn’t do anything with my big suitcase, they just let me through. I was waiting for someone to pull me up but no, was all good.

We are staying at the Novotel @ the Convention Centre. It’s nice...a normal hotel. Food is really good. On the drive to the hotel I was fascinated by all the different tall and decorated buildings. It’s so cool!

We checked in, dumped our stuff then went to the Dubai Mall.

OMG! That place is humongous...4 levels of shopping over 55 hectares!! It has heaps of fashion and food places, it has half a level dedicated to children’s wear and toys!?

It has an aquarium.

It has this huge lolly shop (which you’re not supposed to take photos but I’m a tourist and couldn’t help myself cause it looked so cool)

And it has this massive gold souk (market). It was amazing!

The gold souk was so big mum n I got lost in it and had to ask security how to get back to the other shops!

After we had a quick look we bought tickets to the Big Bus City Tour of Dubai. It is a double decka that goes all over the city. There are 2 routes, a city one and a beach one. We did the city tour today and will do the beach one tomorrow.

First stop...Wafi. This is another big mall. This mall has heaps of shopping, food, arts, etc.

Next...Dubai Creek. We did a boat cruise along this creek. At first we were getting annoyed cause the guy said we would be leaving in 10 mins but we didn’t until like 40 and it is sooooo hot and mega humid, too hot to sit in the one place for 40 mins without aircon. Anyway we thought about leaving but decided we would handle the heat and enjoy the cruise...and we did. It was really good. We cruised along on a dowel and saw the little creek taxis, the merchant traders and some different buildings.

Then...some things we didn’t stop for including a museum, an old souk, a heritage village and a bunch of souks.

Then...Deira City Centre. This is another big mall.

Then...Burjuman. This is a smaller mall. It’s a rich one with all the big name brand shops in it. Was pretty cool, we looked at a few shops but we were so buggered by this time we decided to go home. I was so tired I could hardly get a word out without it feeling like a major effort.

So that was Tuesday :) What an awesome day!!