Dubai Explored

It was an earlier start this morning meaning that I had been to the gym, showered and breakfasted lavishly by 830 in time for pickup for our "Traditional Dubai CityTour". And what a disappointment this turned out to be. When one thinks of traditional one thinks of history and old buildings and souks ( ok I know that Dubai is not an old city however I did not expect to be driven around for 2 and half hours and shown all the new and fancy hotels while the guide talked drivel).
We were taken to a mosque.. but could only take photos despite it being open to all from 10am daily to promote discourse and discussion about Islam (would not that have been a great opportunity for cultural exchange?). We had brief stop at some palace with little explanation and were encouraged to take more photos before moving on to the museum which was interesting. It is housed in an old fort built in the 1700's and had some great dioramas. Unfortunately we were hustled out to quickly and without a decent tour so it couldn't be fully appreciated.
Our next spot was the cloth, clothing and carpet souks, however as we had wasted so much time driving in circles and looking at fancy hotels there wasn't time to visit and we were hustled onto a water taxi for a quick ride across "The Creek" (that's actually what they call it) to the Spice Souk (no time to visit) and on to the gold souk (be back in 25 minutes to get the bus back to the hotel).
I was seriously NOT impressed, and in fact was not the only one, so asked the Guide how I could get back too he hotel on my own. He was less than helpful but when I pressed conceded that the Metro was nearby and then gave me directions which later proved to be totally inaccurate and would have had me walking in the wrong direction had I followed them.
I headed off and had a couple of pleasant hours wandering the souks, buying a few gifts and a scarf for modesty. At about 2pm I hit the hunger wall and asked a man trying to sell me saffron (sorry, I'm Australian, I'd never get it past customs) for a suggestion as to where to eat and was directed to his friend's restaurant. It was an interesting cultural experience.. it turned out to be a sort of Indian restaurant/cafeteria full of capped and bearded Arabic men. Also, I was the only female. The only vegetarian things I recognized on the mostly Arabic menu was Palak and Roti. I ordered both and also received a bottle of water and a large salad. The Roti was fresh from the oven and the Palak (spiced spinach with potatoes) was fantastic. I was amazed by the 7 dirham bill and rounded it up to 10 Dirham (about 3.20 AUD). I tried to do some more shopping but only the tourist souvenir places were open until about 4pm. I decided to head back to the hotel and with no thanks to the tour guide located the Metro and was soon on my way.
Back at the hotel a surprising short time later I did a quick change and joined Kirstin by the pool for a lovely swim on the mezzanine deck... just magic.
At 5pm we were in the lobby for our shuttle to the Dubai Mall .. this is an INSANE shopping centre below the world's highest building (which we declined to climb as it is crazy expensive) we did see the beautiful Dubai fountain, the 3 level aquarium, the ice rink, and a small proportion of what appeared to be about 7 million shops. We bought a few things and had some tea before finally locating the 930 shuttle bus back to the hotel where it was time to pack and do our online check in for our early departure tomorrow... the holiday is at an end bar the final flightRead more