We rose around 0600. The sky seemed quite light way before the actual sunrise time. After breakfast, we set off in our Land Cruiser to Camel Rock where the sand was redder and there was no vegetation.
We were taken back to our hotel around 0930 and were fortunate enough to be given a room around 1000 after a short wait. The night in the desert wasn’t that romantic and were ready for a shower.
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- Our campsite in the morning.
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- Getting ready to go.
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- At Camel Rock.
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- Red Sand.
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- Red Sand.
We took an early lunch around 1100 at Bur Juman shopping centre’s A&W before doing a little shop-up. We returned by shuttle to the hotel and changed to another shuttle to take us to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
It wasn’t luck but planning that enabled us to use the fancy pool at he Jumeirah Beach Hotel, while staying at its much cheaper sister-hotel. Staff come round to give free evian water-spray and fruit as lounged around the pool. Such a pity about some very rough people with awful tattoos and very foul language. It seems wrong that they are staying at such a nice hotel simply because they come from a country with a much more powerful currency.
We returned to our hotel mid-afternoon and readied ourselves for out meet-up with Kim’s friend and former colleague Donna. She picked us up in her Jeep Cherokee and took us to Le Meridien Hotel beyond Jumeirah Beach. We were joined by Kim’s current colleague Barbara who had flown to Singapore with us some three weeks ago, plus some others. We had dinner drinks there followed by dinner.
It was such a hot and humid evening. I couldn’t believe it when the wooden table and floors were “sweating” as well. It was probably condensation from the humidity.
The conversation for the evening was hijacked by Barbara and one of Donna’s recruiter friends, mostly with girl talk. I was also rather annoyed at how some of them in customer services and clerical role can pass judgement on the competence of professionals like doctors in their organisation simply because these professionals are from the subcontinent. They really do talk-up themselves and look down on higher-level staff from the subcontinent.
Overall, it was not an enjoyable evening and it was expensive.
Burj al-Arab Hotel.
Sweaty evening dining outdoor.