Currently sitting on (and sticking to) a leather sofa in the staff digs for one of the many fancy hotels in Dubai, suffering from a minor case of jetlag. While everywhere inside is air-conditioned, you can still sense the constant, oppressive heat from outside - it was 35 degrees when I landed at 11:30 last night, and it's only become warmer. Dubai is summer is not for the faint-hearted!
Since the last post I've had 14ish hours of flying in relative comfort, thanks to a points-based upgrade to Premium Economy on Qantas. I was upstairs in the A380, which was nice because it's a little bit more private, quiet and the space is quite well thought-out. The only major problem was that the food refrigeration system failed just before we were meant to leave, and because there were so many connecting flights from Dubai, they couldn't delay the flight to fix it. The hosties had put a lot of the perishable meals on ice, but of course that only lasts for so long, and after the first hot meal service (beef ragout with polenta and beans for me, alternative was barra in green thai curry) all that was safe to eat was fresh fruit and pretzels. Not the best thing for a long flight! Fortunately mum had given me some vanilla crostoli as a 'just in case' snack, so at least I didn't starve. I'm actually eating some more of them now as a pre-breakfast breakfast, as it looks like my host Danielle won't be up and moving any time soon!
First impressions from the back of a taxi from the airport last night is that Dubai is clean and new and sparkly, and that the only way to get around is to drive or get an inexpensive taxi. I saw lots and lots of expensive cars - European and American, not as many Japanese - and lots and lots of new apartment buildings and hotels. They've also tried to bring some greenery into what is clearly a very dry city, which is nice, and everything has a slightly exotic feel to it, although that might just be because I've never stayed anywhere in the Middle East before. Danielle's staff accommodation is in a building that, oddly enough, reminds me a little bit of the Burton and Garran res buildings, except that there's a series of whole apartment to each floor, rather than lots of dorms. That said, they've managed to squeeze four girls into a two-bed apartment, so it does have a slight dorm feel! The hotel provides accommodation for all of its staff, either in apartments like this, mixed up with other privately-owned apartments, or in a hotel-staff-exclusive compound. The hotel provides pretty much everything - rent, bills, furniture, even visas for the staff - so it makes it easy to have staff from all around the world.
One very handy thing about having a host/friend who works in the tourism industry is that she knows the right people to get discounts and recommendations for touristy things! Danielle, my host and Canadian buddy, has the next couple of days off so that we can be proper tourists - we're going to the beach this morning, on a desert safari this evening (camel riding, dune bashing, traditional dinner, sunset over the desert etc), and then tomorrow we're going to go on a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the souks and main section of the city, spend the afternoon in a mall (one of the many) and then if we can fluke a booking, we're going to go up the Burj Khalifa for sunset on Saturday. Then I pack up my bags and head to the airport for a 2am flight to London!
I'll stick up pictures as soon as I can, and if I have time, I'll do another update, but until then, I'll do my best to avoid sunburn and heatstroke, and will try to enjoy Dubai as much as I can!
More later,
xx
