Day
2: Stopover in Dubai
When we landed at Dubai we were offloaded at
the back of the airport and took a bus into the terminal.
Navigating Dubai Customs and Immigration
We were met at a booth at the side of the entrance corridor by
our stopover tour company who had all our details and gave us a
map of the terminal and instructions for what to do to get through
customs, etc. I was impressed with their procedure!
In the terminal hall it was shift change and in the ladies room
I saw two women dressed in black chiffon full length robes. They
were adjusting their head veils. The veils had sparkles and spangles
and subtle edging. The women had on full facial makeup. Outside
in the hall we tried to change travelers checks and were told "outside".
There was a parade of men walking across in front of the queques
for passport inspection. They were dressed in long white robes,
with headresess with black rope binders. They were carrying little
boxes with stamps in them. It seems we had arrived at shift change
and these men in white and the women in black were the immigration
officers.
After Immigration, we collected our baggage and went through scanners
with the computer in the bag. Then we tried to cash a traveler's
cheques only to be told "outside". You can't cash a traveler's
cheque at the airport, only at a bank or a Thomas Cook or one presumes
American Express office. So I cashed a AUD50 bill. The exchange
is pegged to the USD at 3.6 and we got 2.7 or something close to
that for the AUD's. Tip: Always bring a bit of cash in your home
currency, you never know what the local policies are for exchanging
money, they may not take credit or debit cards or even traveler's
cheques at the particular place you need the money, but if you have
a little cash, plus some of everything else, you can get by.
 The
Hotel Ibis
We found the transport to the hotel and got there in about 30 minutes.
The hotel Ibis is incorporated into the Dubai World Trade Centre
and is small but nice. We unpacked, took a nap, walked around the
Dubai World Trade centre convention hall, had a capucino (yes, a
capucino!) and then took the free Mall shuttle bus to the Mall of
the Emirates. The Mall of the Emirates is the one with the artificial
ski slope built on at the top.
Going to the Mall
We were getting pretty tired, but went to the mall anyway. I was
on a mission to try to get a bargain on some trendy European eyeglass
frames. We were glad we took the shuttle, because we got a free
tour of the hundreds of fantastic buildings of the new section of
Dubai. They are building everywhere and in fantasy shapes just like
in Shanghai and in the past in Singapore. The buildings are eye
candy, beautiful and colorful.
 The
mall is huge with hundreds of British and European stores. We found
an optical shop and I looked for frames for me and Ken and mother.
I found two frames, one Prada and one Police. Ken, wonder of wonders,
fell in love with a pair of sunglasses that could be changed to
clear lenses if he wanted to later. I couldn't find anything for
mother because the Dolce and Gabana ones I wanted for her (maybe)
Ken felt that she might not want D&G in a huge rhinestone logo
on the side. Similarly the Chanel were in black or pink and had
big logos and rhinestone roses on the side. Also, the frames were
only reasonable in price, not cheap. Although this was a pretty
ritzy mall, we might have found some cheaper frames elsewhere, but
we had no way to shop around because of our short timeframe and
no real village to stroll through, just a long strip of stores in
the bottom of tall buildings.
Anyway we are happy with the frames, not particularly cheap,
but classy.
After we rode back we retreated to the room and collapsed.
Next Day- Walk outside and explore - Friday Day of Prayers
We had a great buffet breakfast, no bacon, of course, but lots
of nice things. We grabbed enough stuff for lunch and went out walking
and taking pictures. We walked across an elaborate highway walkover
to the Fairmont Hotel and discovered a jewel to rival and surpass
the best we saw in Las
Vegas. We really like hotels and sort of collect them, or at
least pictures of them.
Lightshow
inside the Cascades resturant, under the soaring atrium at
the Fairmont Hotel, Dubai.
We took alot of pictures. On the way back we discovered that the
elevators in the highway walkover were restricted to Fairmont occupants.
There seems to be a part of the World Trade Centre on that side
of the 12 lane highway and the Fairmont is part of it!
Now we are in the room typing, burning DVD's of photos and watching
a bit of American TV on the CABLE TV. Oh yes, we got access to the
internet, about AUD27 for 24 hours. So we have checked mail..
Tomorrow we fly to Cairo. Probably won't do anything else.
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