I'm a little Chippie - hot and fried...

We arrived in Dubai Airport at 1am Dubai time, but 4.30 am Singapore time - making it 20 hours without sleep!!  Guess who was hot, sticky, grumpy and exhausted? Yep, both of us!!!   And it was hot, hot, hot, even at that hour.

But what an Airport!  We thought Singapore was huge,but this one was enormous!  When we got off the plane, we walked for 20 minutes, then used 3 travellators and 2 escalators.  Finally we got to the end, and were hearded onto one of 3 large lifts holding 100 people that took us to a train!  Yep, a train! It takes off like a bullet, Bob reckons at least 5 kms. When it finally stopped, we had only arrived at Baggage Collection!! 

The airport is very opulent and beautiful!  No expense spared, that's for sure! Lots of huge marble pillars, granite tiles, acres of glass and mirrored and colourful mosaics. We were not too tired to admire it and be impressed - but way too tired, and with no spare hands, to take photos of it. Just Amazing!

Here's a glimpse of The Needle for you - 

without the scorching heat!!

We braved the extreme heat again (38 deg plus) and did a tour of Dubai. We went to Burj Khalifah, the tallest building in the world, known to tourists as "The Needle". The walk to it is through the shopping mall - about twice the entire length of our Chadstone Shopping Centre and four stories high - all famous brand name boutiques. 

It is such a wealthy country, with amazing innovative architecture Australia could learn from. 

On the way, they have great interactive displays of the history of the building. Very interesting.

The observation deck is on the 124th floor!! 

And for those of you interested in those things - the lift took 53 seconds to get there from the ground floor.  It as an amazingly smooth ride, with none of that stomach sinking or rising feeling. If it wasn't for your ears popping continuously, you would have thought you were just standing in a cupboard!  

The 360 deg view was amazing, considering that the other buildings around it looked so large on the ground. From the ground floor to the observation deck are hotel rooms, shops, and private apartments. From level 124 to 160 are offices, and 161 to 200 is vacant prime Real Estate!!

These are the "burbs," original old houses and
new apartment blocks. Unfortunately, it was
too hazy to see the Dubai CBD in the distance.

Burj al Arab

Some of you may have heard me say that a visit to the lobby of Burj al Arab (pictured above) - the hotel shaped like a sail, was high on my Dubai to-do list.  Sadly, this was not to be. Apparently this 7 star Hotel is not for the hoi polloi. We were told the security guards would not let us near the building, let alone the foyer, unless we had a reservation for either accommodation, a meal, or a drink at the bar. The cheapest way was the drink option, at only $A188 a pop. There was also the small matter of the required dress codes that our travellers wardrobe could not provide, so we agreed to give it a miss this time.

Pop Quiz ...  On the way we saw lots of these. 

We reckon they would be great back home. 

What do you think they are? Any ideas?

Other than that, we have enjoyed accosting locals and tourists at every opportunity. There is an important Indian religious event here at our hotel today, and lots of Indian people - dressed in their finery - have arrived for a special lunch. So Bob and I sat in the foyer to watch the arrivals..and got chatting...

The outfits the women wore we're just stunning...

Well, that's just about it for our visit to Dubai - it was a great experience and we're very glad we came. 

Tomorrow we leave for much cooler climes. We're off to Munich, Germany for the Oktoberfest!!!

Till next time...

I'm a little Dumpling....hot and steamed !!!

We arrived in Singapore at 2 am and it was still 31 degrees, and felt like 99% humidity!  That's when the sweating started - and it hasn't stopped since.

Our hotel is approx 100 metres from the Formula 1 racing track, which for petrol heads like us is awesome. We get to watch it on TV and through the window with real sound. With air con. For Free!

There will be a concert after the race.  The locals told us it would go to 6 am, but thankfully it finished at midnight. We can see the stage from our room and heard the "doof doof" and the performances. Among the entertainers on stage were Rhianna and Sir Tom Jones. We also heard that Dynamo, the Magician Impossible, was surprising people with his amazing talent.  We have been watching him on TV - he is unbelievable! We'd love to see him in action.

The first people we met here at the hotel when we went down to breakfast, was a Kiwi couple.

It turns out that they have a farm in the place Bob grew up in NZ, and they attended the same school and were in the same class in Putaruru, a town that was about the same size as Yarram. 

Such a small world!

The highlight was going to the historic Raffles Hotel. The building is very large and well preserved, and is celebrating 125 years this year. It was not hard to imagine life in colonial days, when the British ruled Singapore and gentlemen used this exclusive Hotel to strengthen their social and business connections. The courtyard now has a full bar, but back then they had lounge chairs out there and attendants to bring them whatever they wished.

This is also where Somerset Maugham wrote some of his literary masterpieces. The "Singapore Sling" , the famous gin based cocktail reputedly inspired his creative thoughts, so of course Bob and I had to have one in his honour.

In keeping with tradition, Bob and I drank and shelled peanuts - which are then discarded on the floor as Somerset Maugham and his contemporaries were said to have done.  There are bowls of peanuts everywhere in the long bar, and big sacks of them at the door.  You can't see it in the picture because of the patterned tiles, but the floor in the long bar is completely littered with peanut shells. 

Bob wasn't sure about all this litter, and was keeping a watchful eye out... (pictured below).

...but I was quite happy to get into the spirit of it!!

We've got another few days here - time to enjoy seeing some more interesting stuff.

Till next time...

Welcome to our travel blog...

I have been humbled by all the interest and good wishes that Bob and I have received from so many of you for our trip. Thank you everyone!

Tracey has suggested that I try to write a blog so that those of you who would like to know what we are up to, can see for yourselves.  I am very new to this blogging caper, but have had expert (and very patient) tuition, and will give it a red hot go...if I have time...if I remember how...if...!

So no promises on quality or frequency, but definite promises of clumsy update attempts.

It is now only 2 sleeps before we are on our way overseas, and we are busy getting stuff ready.

This is Bob, busy getting ready.

And this is me getting ready...

Wrestling with the problem of how to get all that stuff - plus the stuff you can't see, into those tiny suitcases?

I think I'll borrow a famous line from Scarlett O'Hara...."I'll think about that tomorrow"

Till next time...