The Big Bus Tour

What a fantastic day!

I got up rather later than I had anticipated, having got home about 1.30am last night. I had breakfast at about 9.45am, sitting near the most spolit child I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. I left soon after he started screaming "I want cake" (which his parents then got him). Thankfully that was the worst of the day.

I got to Souk Madinat a bit past 11am and wondered around there before catching the Big Bus Tour just before midday. The Big Bus Tour is a double decker London bus that travels around a couple of routes round Dubai and you can get on and off as you like on the various stops. I took the beach tour first as, being a Friday, many things in the city tour would be closed. It was slightly odd as it was just travelling down the main beach road with the beachside hotels being pointed out on the right and the hotels being constructed on the left. The beach looked fantastic though and I'm really looking forward to spending a day there.

On the bus I sat next to an Australian woman, Tina, who was spending a couple of nights in Dubai on the way to Syria on a goodwill mission. She managed to get on it as the Australian ambassador is a friend of a friend...... her friend is an anthropologist who spent a year living with the Bedoin. Anyway I got chatting to her so we ddi the tour together, getting off at the same places and having lunch together. We spent longer over lunch then we had envisaged so we ended up missing the Dubai Museum as we wanted to get onto the last walking tour though the Souks.

We walked through Dubai old souk via the Blue Mosque - Shi'ite is I remember correctly. Iranian anyway.

Took the abra across the creek to the spice souk where I bought a big bag of Frankincense and Myrrh. I hardly bartered at all but but got them for less than half price.........probably still overpaid though. It will keep the incense bowl that Chris and Anna got us from Dubai stocked up for a good while.

Bought nothing at the Gold Souk but I guess Sat's uncle and aunt bought my wedding jewellery in one of the Indian shops here.

Instead of catching the bus to the last stops Tina and I wanted to go back to stop 6 which was missed out on the walking tour. This was Sheikh Saaed Al Maktoum's house (founder of Modern Dubai). Two other blokes, James an Australian on the way back home having worked for Amec on an oil rig for a year and a half and Max a German on holiday from Bristol University, wanted to do the same so the four of us hooked up together. It was interesting in as much as it is quite a modest house for a ruler. I had seen a coupleof modern palaces earlier in the tour and they are of course huge. The house though I suppose would still seem quite magnificent compared to the barasti houses, made of palm fronds and palm tree trunks that many others lived in.

The four of us the looked round the Heritage Village (a mock olden time village for tourists) and then settled down for a Lebanese Mezze, Arabic coffee and shisha.......