Dubai - city of excess

So folks I'm alive and well in Dubai on the next stage of the Spratt adventure.

Just three days here in this boiling city constructed from desert sands and so much to see and do - or is there.

I arrived (three hours late) last night and made my way by taxi to Queen's Hotel in the Deira (old town) district. Busy. Lively. Noisy. Bright Lights. Cheap shops. Bit dirty. Bit squallid. It reminded me slightly of parts of Bangkok. I liked it.

My taxi driver was rather aghast that I was staying in this place - where traffic clogs the streets and few taxis venture.

But he found the Queen's hotel for me on Al Sabkha street, which is near the gold souk and spice souk.

It is fine. There are lifts (a bonus when staying on the 4th and top floor), very cold air-conditioning, hot water, a clean bathroom with toiletries, a TV with movie channels, a fridge and a lock on the door.

The bed is hard as fricking nails, a poor replacement for my wonderful bed at home (I really DO love my bed) which made it hard to sleep last night, despite my tiredness from the 3.45am wake-up call in the morning. That and the planes which passed overhead several times as I was drifting off...

This morning I was awoken by the call to prayer from the nearby mosque - a haunting sound - but soon drifted off again. Breakfast was fine and then I proceeded to find out about the desert safari tours at the front desk.

A nice chap came to talk to me about them and suggested a city tour - something I had considered before. I decided to book one for 10.30am and went to get changed. I then ummed and aahed - i do like just to wander ang get a feel for a place, discover little shops and alleyways and preferably not get mugged. A city tour was a luxury surely...

Then reception rang to see if I was ready and so I felt my choice had been made. Luckily it was a good one. Dubai is really rather huge and there is not a very good transport system. You think London is bad... no underground, the a/c buses don't run this side of the creek but taxis are fairly cheap and common.

My tour was a private affair - just me and my guide Shafii in his white Toyota Corolla. We drove past the Gold Souk, along the creekside to the Deira Shopping Mall - the oldest in the city - and full of gems such as Debenhams, New Look, H&M and Top Shop. And all really rather cheap...

Still, this was sightseeing, not shopping and it felt rather odd to be wandering around the mall with this chap - but I can always go back :)

Then we crossed the creek to Bur Dubai. Here, we stopped and I visited the musuem - all about the development of the city from the nomad tribes as well as information about their water, natural resources (oil, pearls, gold), about oases (plural of Oasis), and old weaponry and boats etc.

Then it was down to the waterside and to a public beach - which, like so many things here, is under development. It is crazy hot here - must be about 40C and too hot to do much outside. We then went to a beach you could pretty much drive your car onto which is next to Burj Al Arab - that really famous 7* hotel on the waters edge. The water is picture perfect aquamarine colour - and just off the shore, they are creating another beach to which boats will ferry across sunworshippers.

We drove past Wild Wadi waterpark and to a nearby mall - done in a traditional sort-of a style with an attached 5* hotel complete with waterways and little boats cruising its guests along past palm trees and numerous restaurants.

Then it was to the famous Mall of the Emirates - a huge building with a glass dome - rather like Paddington station I thought - and with its piece de resitance - the real ski slope with chair lifts,an ice slide, frozen sculptures and climbing wall. Really, really odd.

After a drive through the business district (where they are building the world's tallest tower), we headed back to the my hotel.

It left me feeling that Dubai is a sprawling mass of villas, skyscrapers, beaches and old, dirty, bustling part with no real centre or connection. From the mind-blowingly deccadent (Burj Al Arab with its underwater restaurant and tennis court cum helipad and the ski centre) to the area I'm in which - although I haven't explored much - seems rather Asian in its higgedly piggedly ghettoness to the ancient Arabic constructions which still exist.

There are mass projects here - to build the three palm-shaped sets of islands (visible from the moon) and the world map islands (fake private islands for the rich, famous and money-minded business people), the world's tallest skyscraper (Burj Dubai tower), the business bay - which hopes to rival Tokyo and New York for business, a resort-style city with marinas, golf course, houses etc, Dubailand - intended to be the largest theme park on the planet, the largest shopping mall in the world, a marina 11km long, an overground/underground metro... the list goes on.

It is very interesting but also really odd and really fake. I do rather like the organic way 'normal' places are built. Or is this just the modern way to do it?

The only downside to today was the very pleasant Shafii who decided I was wonderful (naturally), funny and beautiful and that, despite my claims to have a boyfriend and his fiancee in Pakistan, really tried his very hardest to be my friend. Mostly, he was funny, knowledgable and professional but occasionally he was a little sleazy and made me feel uncomfortable - not by any agression or physicality, but just asking if I liked him, by kissing my hand and saying how nice I am.

Not sure what the rest of my stay holds but I came to the internet with the intention of getting the phone number of a friend of a friend who I hope to meet up with at some point soon.

Anyway, this was supposed to be a short message...