Articles from this Category
15 October 2004
Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beirut We woke at the Kuala Lumpur airport’s Airside Transit Hotel at 0545 and walked down to the departure gate at 0630 for the 0720 departure to Beirut on Malaysia Airlines, via Dubai on the same aircraft. With about 20 passengers arriving late from Melbourne, we departed a little late. […]
13 October 2004
Due to my body being on Auckland time, I woke at 0330, then 0430 and 0630. But I lazed till 0730. Kim’s mum, Fiona rang while we were having breakfast. Last night, their taxi driver had a little trouble finding their hotel. Then their aircon malfunctioned which necessitated a shift to a different room. Kim […]
26 May 2003
We have a night flight back to Auckland tonight, which meant we had plenty of time to kill. After a trip to the supermarket where we bought some fruits, we visited my aunt and uncle. They were both well and in good spirits in their old age. Back in the city, we collected our printed […]
25 May 2003
Mum took us for a Nyonya lunch at a restaurant called Ivin’s. Nyonya (or Peranakan) food is hard to find in New Zealand and parts of Malaysia, so I really appreciated the choice of restaurant. We had otak-otak, beef rendang, chicken curry, ayam tempera and bubor chacha. The tempera was a dry version, different from […]
24 May 2003
We woke at 0500 and were in the courtesy shuttle at 0600 for the short ride to Dubai airport. Check-in was swift and we used up our remaining dirhams before boarding the Emirates B777-300. We departed about 30 mins late due to having to offload the bags for people who were turned away at the […]
23 May 2003
Today we have a daytrip, with a pick-up at 0830, to Buraimi Oasis and Al Ain via Hatta and Hajar Mountains. Our driver James, from Karnataka drove us through sandy dunes on the side of the motorway before entering more rugged territory. At Hatta Fort, it was a brief stop as it was closed being […]
22 May 2003
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 […]
21 May 2003
The real Dubai After a simple of breakfast of items from the supermarket we took the hotel shuttle to Deira for the Gold Souk. The traffic was a shocker, just like yesterday evening. It was already hot when we wandered around, despite in largely sheltered alleys. The gold necklaces and adornments of various types were […]
20 May 2003
We ate a simple breakfast of cereal, mango juice and some cake in our room. Our hotel is in the same group as the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and we used their free shuttle to get there. The water in the sea by the hotel was just stunning. It was a gorgeous turquoise to look at […]
18 May 2003
Above: Abbasi Hotel courtyard. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons. Shaking Minarets Kim didn’t sleep well due to the traffic noise. We changed room after breakfast to a quieter one. Kim also had a cold, so wasn’t particularly happy. We took a taxi to Chehel Sotoun, a pavilion with forty columns set within a park, but it […]