On holiday again. Alas unlike 2007, this is not a proper 10 week holiday but a 4 week taster of 2 or three countries. On the plus side, I’m going places I’ve never been as well as catching up on how things have changed in Dubai. Enough fake anticipation, I’m a week into the trip and sitting on the balcony of the Mayfair Hotel in Cairo, a so-called 1 star hotel but actually quite a lot better than that makes it sound. Let’s call it a 1-star bedrooms with 2 star service in a 3 star building. I like it anyway and it is certainly an oasis from the hustle and bustle of Cairo.
Anyway, Cairo comes later. First I had 3 days in Dubai. Don’t believe all the negative press you read about this place. It’s no ghost town. Every crane I saw was woreking. And it makes sense. In a world where you’re nervous about giving credit, giving it to those who do the banking for the oil producers is still a pretty safe bet. Anyway, I could go on about this for ages, but will save that for another post.
On arrival at 6am and a speedy trip through immigration, I found myself with 6 hours to kill before my room would be ready, so I set out on a bit of a walking tour to kill time. The older parts of townin Deira and Bur Bubai (without the ‘j’ it’s a promontary on the Western side of Dubai Creek, with the ‘j’ it’s the tallest building in the world, you’ll get used to it).
I didn’t get my camera out so there are no serious photos of this day but I’ll sort something out on my way back through or dig up some photos of my 2007 trip. This side of town hasn’t changed much except for the massive new Emirates only terminal 3 at Dubai Airport. Which is awesome except they have no facilities for taking passport photos. More on that later. I took two photos from the hotel roof that I’ve included.
Anyway, that’s my first blog entry for the trip. Loads more including my day out at the pyramids coming shortly.
