United Arab Emirates

Well my stay in Dubai has been interesting, the plane ride from Cairo my
eyes started to really bother me, very sensitive to light, and quite itchy,
I thought it was because it was nearing time to switch my contact lenses,
but it turns out it was Pink Eye! Not overly enjoyable, but luckily the next
morning I was able to find a good Indian Pharmacist who sold me some drops
for $3 that cleared it up in about 24 hours, so that was good. My first
full day in Dubai though was pretty limited since my eyes were ultra
sensitive to sunlight, even with my sunglasses on, so I kept to the shade
and checked out some of the many shops here, truly a shopping paradise.

Also the first night here I met up with Sharon from the Egyptian trip, she
was flying back home from here the same night, so she showed me around a
little bit and we had a little dinner. It was rather interesting seeing a
table with a Sheik and what I assume were his 3 wives all having dinner
together. The wives would turn there heads away from everyone when they
removed there veils to put in food. Apparently the Sheik can demand how much
head gear his women will wear, if she has a very attractive face or the
sheik is very strict she will have to cover it all up.

Apparently the weather here is nice and cool, many people have told me that
I have come at a perfect time, there definition of cool. Highs in the low
30's and lows in the mid 20's. Like a very hot summer day back home!

I took to the beach for a little bit, and enjoyed the warm water, very
salty, but pretty clean. I also checked out the Mall Of Emirates, a pretty
massive mall that has it's own indoor ski hill! Pretty crazy sight, it is
kept at -5celcius and has an actual ski lift, and toboggan hill. Rather
amusing watching Arabs and Indians play around in snow, I would assume for
lots of them it would be there first time with snow. The mall is where I
have actually seen some women, there are so very few walking the streets
here, I didn't really notice at first but I don't think this would be the
best place to be single!

On the note of Indians, there are lots of them here, most of them are
workers here in the countless building projects going on, I thought Calgary
was in a boom, this place is just nuts with massive buildings being built
everywhere! Also a huge Philippino community here, one bonus of this though
is English is spoken pretty much everywhere, so easy to get around. It's not
really that expensive here to stay or eat, provided you stay away from the
expensive part of town, that is where it gets a little nuts, and where the
truly rich are. There is a big airshow here, and some Saudi Arabian guy just
bought himself one of those new Airbus A380's, they must also be enjoying
the $100 a barrel oil prices!

I have decided to skip India on this leg of the trip, I do really want to
see India, just not right now, I am not ready do embark on another tour,
those are great but they are a pretty hectic schedule, cramming so much in
during the two or three weeks they are for. I am not used to it with my take
things slow approach to travel. And with just over a month until Christmas,
I didn't have much time left before making it home. So after a few stressing
hours at a very noisy internet café, I have made my next choice. Bangkok, it
will give me a taste of Asia before I go home, and was very cheap to get
there from here, and I also found out that Lani & Drawsen are there as well
so I can hopefully meet up with them for a bit, it will be nice to see
familiar faces from home, as I think perhaps I may finally have a slight
case of homesickness, I have been away 7 months, however looking at the
weather forecast back home dulls that pain somewhat!

Posted by Jason Willock