Dubai - First Impressions

Hands up if you knew that Dubai's weekend falls on a Thursday and Friday?  Keep those hands up if you knew that nothing is open on a Friday (as with an Australian country town on a Sunday)

We arrived in Dubai this morning at 5.25am (which, if we're still converting, was 11.30am Melbourne time), and there were hardly any people around.  We didn't quite understand it thinking that maybe it was just too early (and fair enough!)

It wasn't until we had been up to our room and unpacked a bit and decided to head out to look at some things that the concierge told us that nothing was open.  And I mean nothing... until 5.30pm.  Even the Metro didn't start running until 1pm.

We looked at each other and then looked our watches.  It was still only 7.45am. What the hell were we going to do with ourselves?  

The temp was about 28C-ish and the wind was blowing at about 30 knots, so we popped across the road to the Deira Creek and wandered up and down looking at the boats.

I wasn't too sure what to expect from the local Dubians, but so far they have been incredibly friendly (besides the immigration people, obviously) and some people on the street have been a bit starey, but I will put that down to the fact that they probably thought we were famous or something like that.

On our way back the call for caffeine hit and we thought there MUST be somewhere open for coffee.... 

But alas, it wasn't to be.  But on closer inspection of this establishment, perhaps that was a good thing as all things dairy were sitting (admittedly in a fridge) in the blazing sun.

One thing they do have which both amazed me and made me jealous (unsure why) is enclosed air conditioned bus stops!  We went inside to check the temps and it was glorious.  Clean, empty and cold.  A slight waste of electricity as there were no people and no buses, but still a cool idea (pun intended).

On the way back up to our room, I suggested that we check out the pool and maybe we could spend the morning having a dip and just chillaxing......

But the Radisson Blu had other ideas.  It's amazing how hotels can fail to mention that they are currently undergoing radical renovations on a good portion of their hotel.  It doesn't surprise seasoned travellers like me Jenny and meself though - this sort of thing happens to us all the time!

This is apparently how it's going to look when it's finished.

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