Thursday 17th April

Today dawned a Hot! One. We left the ship at 8.30am and the temperature was already in the low thirties, promising to hit the high thirties by midday, which it did.

We were destined to sail up the narrow waterway between the Corniche and a manmade island in an old fashioned Arab dhow. It was probably the best way to see the cityscape as many of the buildings were too high to appreciate from immediately beneath them. We boarded our dhow and took a seat in a gazebo on the bow whilst an old fashioned siren sounded to signal our departure. We were served fresh fruit smoothies and tiny sandwiches as we sailed along the waterfront, all very civilised. The Corniche is effectively a long park stretching for 7km along the waterfront and it is impressive, dotted with fountains and palm trees. The first fountains we passed were harps, the strings were water. But the buildings as a backdrop were equally impressive. There were so many shapes it is hard to know where to begin. There were competing for who could have the most original top, square tops were out, too boring, pointy, curved, scalloped, domed, wedged, you name it they had it. The same with the finishes on the buildings, this year metallic finishes are in, copper, emerald green, ice blue, steel blue, gold, aquamarine, all reflecting the sun like massive jewels set out for sale. Then there were the shapes, some were close to conventional but not many. One building was designed to look like a folded newspaper (pink of course), it was the Investment Authorities building. There was one with what looked like a big hamburger on top; the meat? black windows concealing a rotating restaurant, another looked like a huge pile of beer mats that someone had pushed in the middle, one was a set of stairs going nowhere and two were like giant sausages with the top sliced off at an angle. Another was leaning like the foundations were giving way, many had huge balls as part of the structure (Stoppp It!). My favourite was one that looked like someone had used a huge ice cream scoop to take a piece out of it and there was a ball that looked like it was rolling down the scooped out bit. It was an architect’s paradise, no building was older that thirty years old, we were told that as soon as a building reached twenty-five, plans are drawn up to pull it down.

We then went down to seafront that looked out over the small bay. On the other side was the sultan’s palace in pristine white marble with white domes picked out in gold glistening in the sun like it had just been pulled out of its box. A short distance away was the Emirates Palace Hotel in red marble with similar domes picked out in gold. This hotel is used for government and sultan guests. The red marble is to remind the sultan of the desert sand, but the sand on the beach in front of the hotel was pure white. Apparently the desert sand clashed as it was not an exact match for the red marble, so they decided on a sand that contrasted, it was shipped in especially, from the Maldives. Just shows what can be done when money is no object.

Finally we were dropped at yet another massive mall, this time sitting under huge Arab tents, the entire structure air conditioned. Miles of shops with polished marble walkways on three levels where one can easily get lost huge computer controlled water features in the crossover junctions and yes Carol found a Marks and Spencer (photo evidence supplied) her excuse? I just wanted to see if the same frocks would be in the UK when we get back and see what the prices are here, hmm, withdrawal symptoms more like, good job there’s no Tesco.

We drove back along the Corniche we had sailed past and close up it looked even better, everywhere was pristine and it was easy to think that everywhere was wonderful. I asked the guide about working conditions here and she said that the people with lower paid jobs had to live in workers hostels and were not allowed to buy or rent in town, health care was excellent (but health insurance was compulsory and the level of excellence depended on the level of cover), so perhaps not quite the utopia portrayed on the front cover. When we arrived back there was a local hawk handler who insisted that Carol sat down whilst he handed her a beautiful hawk to hold, nervous at first, she really took to it and was a little reluctant to hand it back. We finally staggered back on board and sipped our drinks on the balcony as we sailed for Dubai, (another disadvantage, booze is frowned upon) and we stayed there until darkness was well and truly descended.