Today's Bridge Report:
17 knots = 31 kmph, 2724 nautical miles from Sydney. 70 nautical miles off Egypt, far north Red Sea, soon into Gulf of Suez.
Temperature today reached 50C
Booked a Princess Tour that took us up the tallest building in the world – Burj Khafir.
Guide is Mohamad. Said he is like a young Sheik Mohommad, and told us they don’t wear anything under their kandora (head wear for men is called qetra).
Dubai is amazing – although the financial crisis has hit badly. Mohammad told us that there is still enough oil in Abu Dhabi to support the whole area for another 40 years. Evidence of their wealth is everywhere – from the air conditioned bus stops to the amazing man made Island developments.
We visited the Burj Al Arab (the building shaped like a sail– voted world’s most luxurious) for a photo shoot and at the same time dabbled our toes in the Persian Sea at Jumeriah Beach. Sand was so hot and water was also too hot to swim in for long.
Then we drove onto Palm Jumeirah, one of the Palm Frond Islands for a photo shoot of Atlantis (a 7 star hotel). Rooms are all suites at least 750 metres (bigger than our block of land at Safety Beach) and they have an Aquarium that holds 65000 fish and
We visited the Mall of Emirates (a shopping centre with indoor ski dome with fresh snow all year round and five ski runs and amazingly a dining area with an open fire burning (pretend). .
Then we moved on to the Burj Dubai Downtown. We couldn’t park the bus close by so had a walk to the Shopping Centre and then onto the Burj Khafir, tallest building in the world (188 floors, 818 metres, 2680 feet).
We entered the high speed elevator- high tech sound and light show played on the walls as we sped to the Observation Deck on the 124th floor. There are 57 elevators which travel at 10 metres per second. Then as we reached our destination, the music reached a loud crescendo as the elevator doors sprung open to a totally glassed in Observation Deck with a breathtaking view of the city, desert and the ocean (and palm frond islands).
In both Oman and Dubai there was a haze which we were told was a sand haze . This made photos interesting especially first thing in the morning. [Camera lens immediately fogged up so we had to get into the habit of taking our camera outside for a few minutes before actually opening it to use]
But here at the Burj Khafir, they have telescopes for you to look through and you can select day, afternoon or night and see a clear view through the telescope without the haze.
We finished our tour at the Dubai Mall Downtown (a shopping mall too amazing to describe) and also visited the Souq (market). I bought a gorgeous little Aladdins Lamp that I am rubbing each day in hope the Genie might pop out.
In the afternoon we swam – it is very very hot. We wanted to phone the girls but there were no phone cards left dockside and none of the phones would take cash.
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