Saturday March 23^rd

Dubai

It was raining when we woke up!

Apparently it only rains 10 times a year in Dubai, and of course it rained for us. We have not lost our rain making powers.

We spent the morning just enjoying being on QE2 and exploring the parts of her that are open to the public. We also did the Heritage Tour, which is very well done, and explains the history of the ship, and goes to all of the spaces that are accessible at the moment.

Dubai Duty Free now runs all the shops on the ship. I was hoping to purchase some souvenirs, but apart from stuffed camels and glass models of the Burg Kalifa there wasn’t much to be seen if you were not interested in high-end perfumes and jewellery.

Talking about high end, the Grand Lounge was being used for an event. It was Mohamed’s Paddington themed 2^nd birthday party. Wow, talk about an extravagant party – we peeped through the curtains to get a look at the preparations. The set up had every kind of fun kid friendly thing imaginable, including a small model of a London double decker bus. All very fancy.

The Queens Room was also being set up for a very elegant looking function. It was good to see those 2 spaces being put to a good use.

We had lunch at the Golden Lion Pub. Yes, they had fish and chips and Strongbow cider so all was well. They describe it as the oldest pub in Dubai, which probably isn’t difficult, as there don’t seem to be many pubs here at all.

When we were in Dubai in 2010 and we stopped by to see the ship, she was in a sad and sorry state, and seemed very out of place. Today she really has regained some of her old glory, and in fact looks like she is thriving in Dubai. OK, I would still love to see her as an ocean going vessel, but she really has found a new life as a hotel and event center. Her current owners have done a splendid job maintaining her past, but also making her a very comfortable hotel with wonderful friendly staff. I am loving our stay here.

By the afternoon the rain had stopped and had been replaced by a sand storm. So of course we headed out into the desert for our desert safari tour.

I can honestly say this was one of the best tours we have ever done, and I loved every minute of it. When we got into Gert, our guide’s, car we were given a satchel with water bottles in it, a nice touch. On the way to the desert, Gert stopped off to show us the camel hospital (they only treat camels there) and the camel racetrack. He explained to us that because of abuse to jockeys in the past, there are now no more human jockeys, but they have robot jockeys instead. At first I though he was joking, but there they were. Little yellow contraptions on the camels back which the owner’s control. It really is just too bizarre!

Once we reached the desert we filled our water bottles and were given head coverings to protect us from the blowing sand. Brian had a traditional red and white one, but I got to choose from a multitude of colorful scarves, and ended up with a turquoise one. Gert expertly tied them around our heads, and after we posed for photos with some classic Land Rovers, off we headed to our camel.

Climbing onto a camel is actually easier than I imagined, but you end up riding very high above the ground. Not a great activity if you are scared of heights! Off we set across the desert on our camels for the most amazing ride. Despite the sand in my face, I had the best time, and was quite sad to see that we had arrived at our destination and I had to get off the camel. I can’t say that I would want to ride through the desert for weeks on end on a camel, but a whole day trip on one might be fun.

Getting off the camel was another matter, and quite scary too, but we survived and were then treated to a falconry display. After this we rode in a classic Land Rover to a compound where we watched some Bedouin gun twirling and drumming while we waited for dinner to be prepared. There was a lady doing henna tattoos (I avoided that) and a demonstration of local bread making. Our meal was excellent, and it was a wonderful feeling to be out in the desert. It would have been perfect if we could have seen stars, but I suppose you can’t have stars and a sand storm.

We got back to the QE2 at about 10:00. I had originally planned to go to one of the bars for a nightcap, but opted for a shower and bed instead. It had been quite an exhausting day!