leaving Dubai

Dubai Day 3

Something woke me a little after 5 and I stayed in bed and listened to a book. Ed had said we were going to have rain around 2 am. Well it came a little after 5 and a lot of it. It was in puddles on the dock. When I went into the terminal there were buckets under leaks (this terminal isn’t that old. Tsk tsk). We had room service and caught the

8:30 am hop on hop off bus

We bought our ticket later in the day yesterday so this was still part of our 24 hour package. It took a little less than an hour to get to the dubai mall which surrounds the foot of the Burj Khalifi that incredibly tall building.

It was good sprinkles getting to the bus but at the mall, we were under coverings the whole way. By this time we know how to walk the several blocks distance to find the beginning of the escalators to upper floors.

We went a different direction this time and ran into the aquarium. I’m sure it is larger than the one in Long Beach and we walked around it and enjoyed the two story tall windows and tanks of every imaginable kind of fish. A group of school children were being taken around and discussing the fish.

Souk

There is a section called the Souk. We are talking gorgeous! There is a dinosaur skeleton in the central atrium which was found in Wyoming and is the only fully intact dinosaur skeleton every found. Of course it would be here! We asked the kind man in the cheesecake factory if we could use the restroom and it is just like you’d find in US except there is that small hose to the side of the commode. No I didn’t try to sort it out. Wasn’t ready to emerge with water all over me.

Ice rink

Then we wandered around to find the ice rink and since Ed just mastered posting panorama pics on FB he had a ball. We were reveling in the superfast FREE WiFi to download our apps and such as we wandered around.

Stores

Any store you can find in any of our malls is here. Rich and middle income. Well no payless shoes or dollar stores but you get the jist. The floors are all highly polished marble, not good when your feet are wet.

Dress

The Muslim ladies of course dress very modestly. But I guess I was surprised and very chagrined at the young women wearing very short, very tight shorts. Really girls? Really? How in your face must you be? Tacky Tacky. No wonder we get such a reputation as these were English speaking “girls”.

You see all manner of clothing in a mass of people.

Ice rink

So then we went in search of the indoor skating rink and went to the floor above it for a better view and another panorama from Ed’s phone.

Along the way we wandered through the section with all the shops for kids. Boy any kind of dress for a kid is here and gorgeous. Toys too. You name it.

Food court

We went here and found a Burger King where we both got a Coke lite. It was 10:45 am and we turned into pumpkins if we didn’t get the return shuttle at 11 am. So I didn’t ask Ed, I just started heading back and, smart man, he followed. We just made the shuttle back to the ship.

More shopping

Ed got off at the larger cruise terminal (where the German ship was) because there is a larger mall there and he wanted some sucking candies. He also had not seen the models so I told him about them. As I expected, he also bought dates and other stuff in addition to doing more window shopping.

I came directly back and tried the WiFi in the terminal (no help: it has been on the fritz the whole time we’ve been here) and gawked at some baubles and came back through the gamit of magnetometers, and other security checks.

Lunch

Ed wasn’t back and I left him a note. We didn’t have much time as we had a safety drill (mandatory for everyone!) pretty quickly. Pretty soon Francis and Randy came too and we caught up on today’s event. We had found them buying tickets to go up the Burj Khalifi. Randy was skeptical because it was raining but Francis was determined. So they did and the view downward was a good one and worth the effort in their opinion.

We have so much fun together that we will go to Petra together as Frances says she wants to laugh.

Safety drill

So seven short and one long whistle and you go to your stateroom, get your lifejacket and your cruise card (however did you get into your stateroom without it?) and go to your muster station. There are only two on this ship: A (that’s us) and B (the other half). The larger ships have all the higher letters so Simon says if you’re letter is not A or B you’re on the wrong ship! He has a very dry sense of humor and says things no one else could get by with.

So you listen to the bridge with instructions about fires and such, then the lifejacket routine and stepping off the ship. But don’t abandon ship just because the whistles are blasted (I can just see it now: some of htes folks can’t find their staterooms much less….). Then you have to demonstrate you know how to put the jacket on and find the whistle (the light will come on automatically when you hit the water: ha)

Sail away

The German ship (huge) which has been in port as long as we have is leaving just ahead of us lending credence to the idea that the slot for the Suez Canal is a part of the decision about time in port.

The Old Queen Mary (? Elizabeth?) is here. It is supposedly being refurbished but it is in horrible shape such an ignominy for such a lovely vessel.

The rain had stopped but the overcast is thick. The weather is cold for these folks and so all morning we saw folks bundled up as if on a ski slope. And speaking of the ski slope: that is at the mall of the Emerites and we didn’t get there but some of the staff did go skiing.

Trivia

Not even close. We were 5 and we don’t have to hang our heads in shame…yet

Dinner

We laughed so hard! There’s a lady at the adjacent table who watches us closely and looks like she so wants to be a part of our fun. Her husband is pretty somber. Everyone recounted their experiences while in Dubai as we had gone our separate ways. Two went to Abu dhabi and the woman said the guide on the bus had 20 freshly washed abaya for the women to wear in the tour of the mosque, which they said was gorgeous. Most mosques here don’t allow non Muslims in so that was a treat.

We all discussed the Dubai Mall and what we saw there and how remarkable it is. Ramona and Craig were the only ones of us who had gone to the Mall of the Emerites where the ski slope is. Randy thought we were lying when we told him about the sky diving place.

How sad for them…

We heard the 4 w drive desert safari had to be cancelled last night so those folks missed out on a wonderful experience. There was a very bad sandstorm. One lady said she didn’t even know they had sandstorms here. I found that amusing.

Tonight’s show

Remember Mickey Finn? He has had (maybe still does have) a restaurant in LA. Used to be on TV. Well anyway he and his wife Kelly O’Reilly who is the first woman to be inducted into the banjo players hall of fame, were the show. It was fun and they played a range of music and had a few laughs along the way.

New Cruise Director

A woman named Sammi. She is very different than our previous one was. He was the old MC type. Certainly nothing wrong with what he did but this lady is far more genuine. Others have been on ships with her before and had much good to say about her.

We have several sea days now until we go to Aquaba, Jordon where we join most of the ship to go to Petra. Peter and Francis, our table servers are also going so we were threatening to make sure they were on our bus. I am so happy for these people when they are able to get off the ship and have fun as they work so very hard.