Dubai plus

 

June 15

Was very slack and didn't post a blog after Dubai. I got lost and had to come back to the ship. We started by going to a large shopping mall. We were told to go to a Mall just for the cultural experience – the clash of cultures – the Muslim with modern malls.The first mall we went to could be anywhere in Australia. Got to buy shampoo and toothpaste – exciting. We were then going to ride on an abra, a small boat that plies across the Dubai Creek and to go to the undercover souk. Taxi driver didn't understand 'undercover souk' so we tried abra. He said, Ah, Abra Station or Metro Station. Well, with two railwaymen with me and a new metro system to explore – what do you think the answer was. The Metro has only recently opened. I bought the tickets from a man in traditional arab dress, and he seemed quite amused, maybe because the men sent me to buy the tickets. We rode the Metro – very modern, chrome, marble and clean, out to the Mall of the Emirates. Was a good sightseeing trip with a good overview of a lot of Dubai. Saw the tallest building, which, obviously, we could see from the ship, and the fancy 6 star hotel. Dubai is highrise heaven, all shiny chrome and mirror windows, with multi lane highways filled with traffic. Here and there there is a tree or two. We got to the Mall of the Emirates, and to cut a long story short, John and Allan lost me. We were to meet at a specific place but they dispute which specific space. After waiting over an hour, I used my return Metro ticket (in the ladies carriage no less) then came back to the ship in a taxi, thinking they would be very worried about me. They were off sightseeing. John said he knew I would go back to the ship so they just carried on down to the creek and the abras. Dubai was not my best stopover. We berthed behind the QE2 and it was good to see it again. I heard a report that it was 50 degrees on deck yesterday when we were in Dubai. Apparently we made Fox News, reporting that we were the last cruise ship into Dubai until summer is over.

Today we had pirate drill. The ship is pirate ready. All the fire hoses are deployed as well as the ear piercing sound repellers. There are huge signs on the sides of the ship saying keep at least 50 metres away which, I suppose they have to do legally. Pirates could say, they were just throwing their grenade launcher thingys to have a better look. Captain McBain, who left in Dubai, intimated that there were other measures in place. Other than that, plain sailing. We had a get together for CruiseCritic people for the ones who boarded in Dubai. It's my birthday today. I ticked the appropriate box with Princess in the hope I'd get a bottle of wine but..3 baloons saying happy birthday as well as a card from Captain McBain, who left yesterday. Certainly nice of him to think of me while he was flying home to Canada. I think it's State of Origin tomorrow (or soon anyway). It will be in the middle of the day here. Won't be very pleasant on deck watching it on the big screen. Will need copious quantities of ice to keep cool. They're showing soccer, New Zealand vs Slovakia on the big screen at the moment. Not a lot of people up there. I suppose they are all watching in their cabins in airconditioned comfort. Apparently it cost big bucks for them to screen the few matches that they will show.

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