There was a faint chartreuse aura in the
corner of the room emanating from the Light Emitting Diodes (L.E.D.)
on a digital clock radio which read 1:35am. I wanted to turn over
and go back to sleep but my bladder had a different plan.
I finally gave in to that dastardly organ. I scanned the
room for a door. How confusing; there were two. One was
reflected in a wall of mirrored wardroom doors, but the
other was closer, near the foot of the bed. Which should
I try first? As I pondered this dilemma it suddenly dawned
on me; this was my bedroom. We had left Dubai, I was home.
Jet lag had left my brain in a fog.
Burj Khalifa
This time we had stayed in the glitzy
downtown region, near the Dubai Mall. Unfortunately the
daytime temperatures were in excess of 38° C and
all the paths to the mall meandered in a random wavy fashion
to extend every destination by a factor of 4. It is not
as if people like to stroll across acres of paving and
Astro turf at their leisure in that heat, we only encountered
three other people. We regretted not following the lead
of a pair of Asian ladies and bring umbrellas to afford
a modicum of shade. Eventually we made it into the air-conditioned comfort
of the mall, a little worse for wear.
The Aquarium
What a temple to the excesses
of the petro-dollar. It contains an aquarium and underwater
zoo, complete with many species of sharks and a full size
ice skating rink.
Skating Rink
Then there was the Burj Khalifa;
at 828 metres, the world's tallest building. After forking
out an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege, we
rode the ear-popping elevator to The View from the Top
which afforded amazing, although heat hazed, panoramas
of Dubai and the Dubai fountain below.
the View from the Top
After descending from the
heavens, we stopped for an ice cream in the food court,
and were in time for the 1pm dancing fountain show in
the large lake that separated our hotel from the mall.
From 1pm to 11pm every half hour a different musical themed
fountain show exploded from the lake.
The next day, after consuming as many items as possible
at the inclusive buffet breakfast, we hailed a taxi for
a trip to the The View at the Palm, and rode the elevator
to the observatory on the 52nd floor overlooking the Palm
Jumeirah; another tribute to the ego of the, self-proclaimed,
benevolent Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
Palm Jumeirah
Once optically sated, we returned to the
hotel and spent the afternoon washing and packing for
our return journey to Oz. Every half hour I could hear
the explosion from the dancing fountain which I could
only see the tops of over the villas that blocked most
of my view. Determined to get a better view, as the sun
set, I ambled down to level two and out towards the offending
villas.
Dubai Fountain
They all appeared to be unoccupied. One
had an open gate, but no terrace with a view to the lake,
another had a terrace, but a locked gate and wall too
high for a 66 year old granny to pole vault over. The next
had a locked gate but a wall only knee high; an open invitation
in my books. I scurried across, as gracefully as possible,
and was awarded an uninterrupted view of the Fountain.
I stayed for two shows before bed beckoned. We had
a car booked early the next morning to shuttle us back
to the airport for our flight home.
All that was left was a 14 hour flight,
in cattle class, aboard a fully booked A380-300. I sat
between hubby on my left and a mountain of a man on my
right. The service was great and the food excellent. Eating
it with my elbows wedged into my ribs was something else
entirely. I contemplated asking them to put all four courses
in a blender and just giving me a straw. But I'm nothing
if not tenacious and, the meals were consumed, though
not all of it made it into my mouth. Clean up in aisle
47!
By 6am we were back in the best country of all, Australia.
The Uber ride home was quick at that time of day, and
as we opened the front door we sighed, home, sweet home.
