Last day of the holidays

already!!

Back to work tomorrow. It's been a really quick holiday but I've had a great week being in Dubai, sunbathing, swimming, walking and resting :) I'm ready to go back to work though and the countdown is now on until we go home...only 11 weeks! I hope it goes fast.

Today we spent the day walking around the beach area and the marina. It was a lovely sunny day but with a breeze so not too hot. The temperatures are creeping into the mid 30s here now. We went for a walk yesterday but there was a sandstorm so we stayed in the rest of the day. You can hardly see in front of you with all the dust and it seems to make it feel even hotter.

Dubai

Last weekend we spent a couple of nights in the 'City of Gold', Dubai.  The main reason being that we had to renew our Kuwait visitor visa for another three months and we thought we may as well see the place while we're over this side of the world. You hear so much about it these days and I was keen to see the 'famous' sights.

We set off on the morning of Good Friday and the journey went really smoothly as Kuwait airport was really quiet! Dubai airport was much busier but we got to the hotel at about 2pm, just in time for check-in. As we pulled up at the hotel I though we'd been brought to the wrong place and thought so even more when we walked in...it looked far too posh for what we'd paid!!  We were then put on the 'Exectutive Floor' which we realised as we got in the lift up to our room.  That was a good start...the room was lovely.  We spent that afternoon at the pool then went into downtown Dubai to see the Burj Khalifa after eating in the largest mall in the world.  The Burj Khalifa is the largest building in the world and it was amazing to see.  Quite surreal really.  We were able to go right to the bottom of it and looking up was bizarre, it just went on and on.  The building was on a man made lake surrounded by restaurants and hotels and there was a fountain show to music which was very impressive. Again the 'world's largest' musical fountain show. Do you notice a theme in Dubai??! lol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water up to 500 ft (152.4 m) into the air accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music.^[1] It was built at a cost of AED 800 million (USD 218 million).

We spent Saturday morning at the pool again then at Dubai Marina which is again very impressive with all the skyscrapers and gorgeous yachts. We went on a Dhow trip around the marina and ate there.  It was easy to spend a day just wandering around in the sun and people watching. There were loads of British people there for the Easter weekend.

We left on Sunday and I was disappointed we hadn't stayed longer.  There's so much to do in Dubai and it's a really nice place, really clean and everywhere is landscaped and well looked after. There's an excellent metro system too which made getting around the city really easy and cheap and compared to Kuwait it didn't seem like an expensive place at all which surprised us. It was a breath of fresh air compared to Kuwait. They know what to do with their money to make it a very visitable place. We were talking all weekend about what we'll do next time we go so we'd highly reccommend it :)

Burj Khalifa

Dubai Marina

Dhow trip

Dhow touring the marina

Approaching the marina

Private yacht and Burj Al Arab in the background - most luxurious hotel in the world.

relaxing in a traditional arabic cafe

Dubai Marina at night

Downtown Dubai

Atlantis Hotel 

Beach walks

One of the few things I'll miss about Kuwait is definitely the beach walks in the sun!

Friday sun

Yesterday I spent the day at the pool sunbathing and swimming again yay! It's a shame for Laurence on a Friday because everyone is off work, enjoying the sun and he has to work but on the upside he's off on Sundays so had the pool to himself!

The pool can get very busy and I'd prefer one of the quieter ones but the water doesn't look as nice in them. It's nice to be at the busy one for a while, and it's fun watching all the games and kids on the pool. Yesterday someone put a full size blow up canoe in the pool for them to play on so that provided some entertainment!

Before & After

Laurence has been eating healthily since we were in the Philippines and walking more since we moved here and we recently realised the extent of the results!  Laurence found a photo of himself at his leaving do for moving away and compared it to a pic of himself on his birthday.  He's wearing the same t-shirt which adds to the effect.  See the difference below...well done Laurence!!

St Patrick's Day

I am just getting round to writing about last weekend now!  On the Friday we were invited to a St Patrick's Day BBQ on the complex which was really good.  The guy who organised it is from Peterhead but he has a New York accent as he lived there most of his life.  When he first introduced himself as Scottish I was a bit dubious! lol.  It was nice to meet the neighbours and it's amazing the vast array of nationalities all working in Kuwait.  I think Laurence & I were the closest thing to Irish people there! We went along in the evening for some BBQ food - which was fab- and chat.  

The following day was a scorcher so we spent it sunbathing and swimming at the pool.  It was great, like being on holiday! There was a Filipino lady having a birthday lunch by the pool with her friends so we were invited to have more food with them and birthday cake yum! It's a nice, relaxed homely atmosphere as everyone is very hospitable.  

I am hoping the weather is as good this weekend so we can go back to the pool. It's been raining today though so hopefully it'll brighten (and heat) up.  Next weekend we're going to Dubai so looking forward to that!

Laurence with Brian, the host, from Peterhead/New York

Homeward bound

We have now booked our flight home! Woohoo! I finish work on the 20th June so we leave Kuwait late Friday night (21st) and arrive early Saturday morning on the 22nd. It's a good flight we got. We're flying KLM and it's quite a quick journey, with only a one and a half hour connection in Amsterdam. The downside is that it's a night flight which means I'll be awake for about 24 hours as I can't sleep on planes!

We're really looking forward to coming home although I do think it'll be weird after being away for what feels like forever!