United Arab Emirates

We're staying in Al Nahda with our host Hamish. At the minute there's three of us in the living room. Allan and I, and another surfer "Anjo" from Germany.

All our belongings together...cannot believe we'll be living out of a back pack for almost a year.

 The view from Hamish's apartment in Al Nahda.

  We set off to find Hamish's apartment, missed the last train and thought we'd walk. We were certainly lost and Dubai is a big place too. It's virtually impossible to walk anywhere.

 Allan with our new friend "Anjo".

 This is a rubbish photograph of a brilliantly crafted marzipan finger. The place where we went for a group meal had a Halloween theme, and the waiters were in fancy dress and the cakes were all gruesome. We paid just under 40 pound for an all you can eat and drink brunch, which was amazing! We drank cocktails and at the end I asked them for a whole bottle of red wine and they gave it to me...not used to this lifestyle haha.

The band at Le Meridien Village Brunch.

 My Marzipan eye.

 Allan ate 7 plates of food in total, he's such a big eater! Little piggy haha.

Dubai is so dry and hot and dusty, this is pretty much what a lot of it looks like. Allan did say that it is a rubbish photograph to take, but it's a true depiction of what a lot of it looks like and I'm all about that.

 Allan and I on the ridiculously long walkway, that takes you from Dubai Mall Metro Station to Dubai Mall. Literally takes about 15 minutes...never good when rushing for the last train.

 Dubai Mall is the biggest Mall in the world. When we first arrived there we became a little hypnotised by all of the lights and shops and shimmering surfaces. We didn't go in the shops though, we're backpacking! There were a lot of Emirates in their tradition clothing (Black Burka) but carrying Louis Vuitton or Prada bags, which came as a bit of a shock to me. However, this is the norm here. The Emirates are very, very rich! and in some ways can do whatever they wish.

The Dubai Mall fountain.

The Aquarium wall. This is where we met up with Lynn.

The Burj Khalifa, just before the fountain show. This is the biggest tower in the world, breaking all kinds of Guinness world records. Looks lovely at night time, a bit like a giant magical wizards wand.

 The Fountains at the Burj Khalifa. They are synchronised with the music, which on this occasion was Arabian. It was fantastic to hear all of the different instruments playing, and full volume. I wanted to do a little dancing impression of a belly dancer...but I may have been fined! Dancing in public is seen as provocative here.

 We met up with Lynn, (who I used to work) and her friend Saheed. She's not long moved to the Emirates, so it was really interesting to hear her stories and views about her new home. I love hearing inside information, it's much better than the rose tinted view you often get when being a tourist in a foreign place.

 The Burj Khalifa...again haha. Still looks HUGE!

 Allan and the Burj Khalifa. I had to get down on the ground to take this picture, or I wouldn't have been  able to fit the whole building in the photograph.

 Me, Allan and Larry the Lama going to our Desert Safari. The guy turned up an hour late, by then we were not too pleased at all, and were quite close to not bothering at all. When we got in the car there was another couple from Sydney, Australia. We chatted to them for a while about places to visit there, and soon we had forgotten how annoyed we were.

 The Australian couple...didn't catch their names. The lady screamed the whole time, at parts that weren't even scary.

Other Toyota Land Cruisers in our Desert Safari Fleet. Dune bashing is so much fun!  

 Poor Mr Camel has a very boring life! Walking about in circles and sitting down.

Allan Dune boarding. It wasn't very effective at first, until we found a steep dark patch of dune.

What goes down must come up...with great difficulty.

At the top of the Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world.

View of the dancing fountains from the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. Dubai looks so dusty and dry, which makes the fountains look extra cool and refreshing.

Allan looking through the hi-tech binoculars

 The suns's just about to set...we chose a really dusky day to go up top, but the view is still great. It looks as though someone has sprinkled ash on everything.

The fountains: moments after sunset.

The fountains have just started...

The city looks so alive at night time.

Day 1: Red route of the Big Bus Dubai Tour.

Allan and I, just hopped on the Big Bus Dubai. Day one of our 48 hour bus ticket. Some serios sightseeing is about to commence.

Alla, checking where the bus goes on the map (which has no scale).

We've just arrived at Dubai Creek for our Dhow boat cruise. Dhow boats are used by locals as cargo boats carrying goods from Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Emirates. Some of them are really old and crumbling, but I kind of like that about them, it gives them character.

Can you see our reflection in the building? We're the brown blob floating on the water. The mirrored glass panels do nothing for the details on our ship.

 One of the crumbling dhow boats passing through the creek.

Us on our Dhow boat cruise.