Dubai then home and in recovery



Burg Dubai - world's tallest building



We made it to Dubai at last and discovered a city that is a monument to excess though now the main construction of "world's biggest" things has stopped and this Emirate is deeply in debt.  The world's biggest phallus - er- building (the burg Dubai) is an impressive sight. It towers 1000ft higher than the next tallest building in the world and is over 1/2 a mile high.  In the standard of Dubai's expensive everything it will only cost you $150 to take an elevator to the top and look out over...sand.  The Burg al Arab (the iconic sail shaped hotel) is made of all suites and costs around $150 000 a night to stay (you DO get your own staff though) and if you just want to look? Well, that will be $25 just to go through the front door, please. A hotel built entirely under the waters of the Persian Gulf is being constructed and there are openings on the man-made palm shaped islands if you have a spare $20 million or so - apparently SOME people have not been able to finance their mortgages so if you are looking for some exclusive property... Dubai is famous for its Gold Souk - a marketplace glittering with the stuff. They say there is around 28TONS of gold on offer here - much of it brilliant yellow 22k stuff - valuable and impressive but gaudy looking because it is so yellow.  For us, the biggest impression of Dubai was the smog - it was awful and nearly shut down my breathing completely. I suppose if you live in a place where petrol costs a mere 35 cents a gallon, you burn a lot of it. Anyway, it was disgusting. Apparently the shopping is, as all things Dubai, impressive, excessive and expensive. We didn't indulge. Nor did we go skiing at the mall (an indoor ski slope that costs 35000barrels of oil a DAY to operate) or participate in camel racing (with robot jockeys (REALLY!)).  For us simple folk this city was just a bit too much on all fronts!

gold souk

We made it home last Thursday after a marathon of time zones, airports and different airlines. On Monday the 28th we got up at 5:30am and left the ship at 6:15 to head for the airport in Dubai.

Not your everyday airport sign!

We then boarded a 15 hour flight to Seattle where we had the good fortune to be stuck in a pair of centre seats the whole way. I had a guy beside me who curled up in his seat to sleep with his knees in my lap. Not even remotely fun!  Anyway - we made it to Seattle and local time there was 12:30pm. We had a fairly short (1 1/2 hour) layover and then flew in a prop plane to Calgary.  That flight was uneventful and we now faced one more layover and just one more flight to get us to Regina. Unfortunately this was a 6 hour layover and then the plane was delayed getting in so there was some more hanging around. We finally boarded the flight and then had to sit there waiting for 3 people who were late boarding. FINALLY they showed up and we all got ready for the 1 hour hop to Saskatchewan. Then the pilot came out of the cockpit and informed us that our flight had just been cancelled due to bad weather in Regina.  Poor Dale just about burst into tears and I felt pretty much the same. We got OFF the plane, went to collect our luggage and then stood in a line to reschedule flights and get hotels and vouchers for meals from the good people of Westjet. By the time we fell into beds at the Delta Airport we calculated that Monday had lasted 52 hours!

Next day we couldn't get a flight before 5pm which necessitated yet another night in a hotel in Regina because by the time we arrived it was too late to go pick up Rupert from the kennel. Thankfully, friends (bless their souls!!!) picked us up at the airport, took us for supper and deposited us at the hotel. They then picked us up the next morning, we headed to Kronau for Rupert and then went HOME arriving at 12:30pm.

Oh - did I mention the temperature that morning in Regina was -36? Of course this is an improvement over last year when we returned from the Amazon - that day it was -38!

Anyway - we are home and glad to be here. Rupe is stuck to me like a burr and will not allow us to go anywhere without him. He also missed his toys greatly and has been squeaking and quacking everything in sight all week.  I have got the laundry done and have been trying to get back in the groove of cooking. We both seem to be gaining about an hour a night back of the 14 hours we lost so in a few days we may actually be sleeping through the night again.

I have added a bunch of photos to most posts so you can check back through if you are interested. Anyone wanting to see the whole shot - just give us a call and come on over - we will be happy to show them off to you.

Cheers until the next adventure

Dale and Marsha