NetherlandsandNorway

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Dubai is an opulent city, with wealth on display everywhere.

Australia has the big banana, but Dubai has the Burj Khalifa......

and the

Palm Jumeirah (a man made island) - in fact this photo sums up Dubai - mega hotel on man made island with over the top mono rail access, all barely visible through the heat and haze

the Al Arab (a seven star hotel that dominates the skyline through that haze)

the biggest malls (the Dubai Mall has elaborate atrium's, an aquarium, a waterfall, a water fountain show and an ice rink (with what I reckon is about an 3100 inch plasma)

the biggest roads (the main drag has 16 lanes in some places)

and about 200 construction sites to build more big buildings, roads....

Plus the excellent metro train system, the air conditioned bus stops, the indoor ski dome, the Lamborghini dealerships, American gas guzzler cars and Riviera cruising yachts.

But who builds all this extravagance (the Indians) or fills my shopping bags at the supermarket (the Filipinos)? Remarkably it can cost up to 350 Dirham (AUD $140) for entry to the Burj Khalifa (124 floors in 1 minute), but only 1 Dirham for a 10 minute Abra boat ride across the Dubai Creek. We didn't actually meet any Emiratis, though we saw plenty in their flowing white robes (or black for the ladies with full Burka - Helen wondered why the woman wear black in this heat?), but this city reminded me a lot of India. A lot of very wealthy locals (India has 236,000 millionaires), but many more people that do the work for those millionaires (for a few dollars a day I suggest). Anyway all that development makes Dubai a spectacular city to visit.

Again we slept in (I think jetlag is kicking in) and then went for a swim to cool off before finally venturing out for a day of rubbernecking. We caught a taxi (too hot to walk) to the old old part of the city near Al Rigga on the Dubai Creek. Stumbled on the Indian markets where we got totally hustled and talked into buying a pashmina shawl for Helen. I discovered (afterwards of course) that tourists should ignore the cries of "pashmina", "please come and look in my shop, it's cool inside", the offer to shake hands (and never let go until they have dragged you into their shop), or "what do you think is a fair price?" Anyways we paid 150 Dirham (about $60 which is what Myer sell them for thankfully, but we haggled him down from 350), but it was worth it for the entertainment value (plus I don't think we would have ever left as he physically barred Helen from leaving his shop). It was then a 10 minute ride in a Abra to more Indian markets on the other side - this is the place to buy your souvenirs.


I wanted to see the Palm Jumeirah, so it was a (long) metro ride, then tram to .... where is it? Discovered that we then had to take a monorail (which cost us 25 Dirham, so more than the 24 hour metro ticket which cost 20 Dirham for unlimited train, tram or bus travel) .... before we eventually arrived. The hotel is suitably majestic, complete with mall (doesn't every hotel), waterslide park and private beach.

Then back to the Burj Khalifa, which despite the cost had to be done. Because I'm a cheapskate I only paid the cheapest 125 Dirham for the post sunset visit (in this country the sun sets at 1909 which weirdly seemed strange), but they let us up early anyway with no Ramadan queues (to discover that you need clouds for a good sunset photo).

We also discovered that the observation deck is only on the 124th floor - there are still another 36 floor higher plus a spire to achieve it's full height of 829.8m (that's almost a km!).

Looking down from 124 storeys up

Looking up from the 124th

The lift to the 124th

That left enough time to see Dubai Mall fountain show

And still have time to see the laser show at the Festival City mall and have our free drink at the Intercontinental.

Our flight was at 0205 (yes in the morning) so we caught the limo 5 hours early so we could relax in the Emirates lounge. The business lounge is like the best Qantas club in Australia, with food, drinks (yes alcohol), computers, TVs, showers and comfy lounges. But in true Dubai style that was way too povo for us, so we slummed it at the Emirates First Class lounge - silver service food, Moet, good scotch, shoe shine and massages. Somebody had to.

Weather - it's Dubai in June, so it's 41 deg and ... hazy
Brew of the Day - we made up for lost time in the Emirates First Class Lounge with a Chivas and dry, or two and a couple of Amstels, but we shall send a letter of complaint as they only serve the Moet Rose for breakfast (???), so Helen had to settle for a normal Moet (imagine the hardship)
Quote of the day - "are you a guest in the hotel sir?" asked the security guard who politely denied me access to the obviously private beach at the Palm Jumeirah hotel, plus "Ricky Ponting" when all the Indian Taxi drivers (aren't they all?) found out we were Australian
Travellers tip - a great place to visit, but I wouldn't personally make it a destination. Do see Dubai Marina (at night) and the Burj Khalifa (but at it's cheapest it costs $AUD50 for a ride in a lift and a hazy view) and the fountains at the Dubai Mall (but I thought the laser show at Festival City Mall was better and less crowded), but also consider the old part of the city (ride an Abra across the creek for 1 Dirham) and buy your souvenirs from the Indian Markets.

We didn't realise it was Ramadan in Dubai.

Ramadan Kareem

Which is OK because it meant that everywhere was relatively quiet (I don't expect that this city is ever quiet), especially in Festival City shopping Mall. The downside is that Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink during the day and they expect everyone else to do the same - no-one is supposed to eat or drink in public. You can buy food, but most cafes are closed and only the food courts are open in the malls, hidden behind screens with strict instructions that food and drink is only for Non-Muslims and children, so I was intrigued when some obviously Muslim people were serving that food and drink. Similarly our evening cruise was very "dry" - but unlimited orange juice and softies!

Anyway we decided to take it easy and lap up the 5 star hospitality, so slept in.

Intercontinental Residential Suites - very swank and 5 star

Considered the desert safari as recommended by the concierge but it was just too bloody hot - imagine sitting in a tent in the desert in the middle of the day with no breeze at 41 degrees! So we went to the Festival City Mall instead to buy eggs and bread for tomorrows breakfast - thought we may as well use the full kitchen in our "suite". Luckily they have a shuttle for VIPs who they think are going to spend thousands (we didn't) because 1.4km is a long way in such heat, but in a land of malls (I think there must be 20 mega malls) Dubai Festival City Mall is a baby - no aquarium, no ice rink and no waterfall, but it is HUGE (so maybe I missed the waterfall).

The bustling Festival City Mall - surely it gets busier than this outside of Ramadan?

But it is does have a lazer light fountain show! And every 5 star brand known to man - Tiffany, Coach, Ferrari (only $250 for a polo shirt), you name it. And there was a man to pack my groceries (all $20 worth) and another to take them back to our shuttle. Unfortunately the prices are similar to Australia (i.e expensive for the name brands) so I only bought an affordable polo for 100 dirham (about $40, but they had a deal where if you bought 5 items you got the lot for 249 dirham - about $100 - so bought some T shirts for the boys)

We paid too much for the evening cruise, but they picked us up and feed us a buffet dinner. And Dubai Marina is spectacular by night. Imagine the Gold Coast but but with bigger skyscrapers, more sky scrapers, more restaurants, more apartments and brighter neon. It seems that the architects try to outdo each other to come up with the most outrageous building designs - the Al Arab is stunning, the Palm Jumeirah majestic and the lesser know Cayan Tower warped - literally.

The twisted sister that is the Cayan Tower

And like asia, the gaudier the better - bling is king - so if your building can't compete on architectural style, make up for it with lots and lots of neon, because money is obviously no object. Thankfully this makes for a stunning night sky and pleasant evening cruise.

The good ship Lollipop

Brew of Choice - Orange juice - I got excited when the receptionist offered a free drink for me being an IHG Gold Member (just call me Austin), then he made it two. However there was a catch - this is the first IHG hotel that I've stayed in that doesn't serve alcohol - the Intercontinental residential suites was swank and 5 star, but no bar, no mini bar and no grog on the room service menu.
Weather - stinking bloody hot
Travellers tip - the concierge recommended the Dubai Marina cruise at night ahead of Dubai Creek and I think he was right. And remember that the malls and cafes (probably closed) will be quiet during Ramadan (which is good to avoid the crowds, but hot!)
Quote of the Day - "Please don't drink in public" - I was told off by the guy at the metro ticket office for drinking from my water bottle (after we had walked about 1km in 41 deg heat). Respect eh local culture and don't drink or eat in public during the day during Ramadan

Never realised that strangers could be so generous and loving. But this is family.

How many 50th Birthday Parties is she going to have?

Then back to Berit's house for another 50th birthday celebration for Helen (thanks for buying the cake Berit). Of course we had seafood (I spent 3 weeks nervous that the relatives were going to feed me Surströmming (luckily it's Swedish, wrong funny ö - YouTube it!)) including prawns and some small lobsters and Sebastian polished off about 7 Tim-tams (just like our 20 year olds). Delicious of course. Given it was our last night in Norway I tried to thank everyone for their kindness, generosity, food, accommodation, tourist guidance, good company, language lessons, chauffeuring, assistance and love generally - it was of course impossible to repay. But here is a synopsis of my attempt to say Tussen Takk.

Brew of Choice - Aass
Quote of the Day - "no I'm not quite finished"

"Let's walk in the shade".

Never thought I'd utter those words in Tromsø of all places, but I did walking down the main street. But it got to 24 deg today, dead set heatwave. Thankfully this was generally good as the sky was vivid blue and visibility at the top of the Fjellheisen was amazing.

What a view!

Sometimes not good though because Norwegians have this annoying habit of keeping internal spaces at 30 deg, including buses, so you step from chilly cool into sauna heat, sweat a bit, then re-robe to step back out into the nip. That's great when you step into the heated floor in the bathroom on a chilly morn, not so good when that heats the whole house to 30 deg - and they never turn off the floor heating because the hydro power is cheap (don't know the price but cheap in Norway means mildly, rather than horrendously, expensive). Don't think I'll ever acclimatise to that.

So today we decided to scale Mount Tromsdalstind back on the mainland, but soon decided the cable car to look from afar was much easier.

Mount Tromsdalstind

And the view was amazing, complete with a frolic in the (rapidly melting) snow. Will never tire or THAT view, although Tromsø is like the Queenstown of Norway. Popular, touristy, lots of pubs (so they tell us), pretty to look at, lots of adventure activities and lot of tourists (did I say that - there were 3 cruise ships in 3 separate berths today, and I suspect everyday). But we did bring the Aussie weather at least.

How can Australia and the north pole be in the same direction?

A slippery slippery dip - the snow must eventually melt in this heat

Visited the botanic gardens (which were a bit naff, but the flowers weren't out yet) and the polar museum which was OK (I liked reading about Amundsen, like the story of Scott but without the starvation, albeit mainly in Norwegian and decided to get dad a book on Nansen because his story of having to overwinter in the North pole for 9 months was interesting and similar to Mawson's exploit, but without the starvation.

The great Roald Amundsun - although apparently he wasn't that well liked, but they do have a couple of statues of him in Tromsø

Weather - to quote the cafe "It's so hot today some come in for a nice cold Ice Chocolate" - or words to that effect in NyNorsk
Brew of Choice - think I had a Frydenlund today