I promptly packed my gear, got dressed closed the door to my room at Palace Hotel (which is ok by backpacker middle east standards, but nothing spectacular) and rushed out the door. On the street it took me a whole 5 mins to flag a cab.

He already had someone in the cab so I didn’t ask about fare (I should have though!) and as we drive he asked me where I want to go. I said Jett bus station because this is where a bus apparently leaves at 6:30 am for Petra. He tells me the bus doesn’t go to Petra and that I need to go to another station. I said my lonely planet guide says this is correct and I am vary about cab drivers such as this, they try and befriend you saying they are doing you a favor, but in reality he’s trying to take you somewhere he can get a cut or commission.

Arriving at JETT bus station in Amman the cab driver insists that this is not the right place to go. He says, “ok, you go inside ask about Petra bus if he says no bus is running come back out and I’ll take you to the right place”. I get out and am about to grab my bag he says “it’s ok I’ll wait here for you, leave your bag”. This is where I was supposed to grab the bag hand him some cash and tell him thanks but no thanks. I didn’t do this though and took his word.

I managed to get a ticket no problems, so quickly I rushed back out hoping he was still there with my bag and hadn’t driven off. Luckily he was, I opened the door and told him I got my ticket. He looked a little disappointed, I looked at the meter which is in fills! (this is confusing if your new to Jordan) and not dinar’s. He said you don’t know how to read this meter, it read something like 1825 which is 1 dinar and 825 fills.  I took out some notes and coins in my hands and gave him 1 dinar and he took another dinar in coins plus gave himslf a small tip of a few cents, I realised later he gave himself a tip, but it was petty cash and I didn’t mind. He then proceeded to tell me good bye in an angrish fashion, perhaps because he hadn’t been able to exploit me like he had hoped?

At the station I bumped into 2 Danish fellows I saw the night before at the Palace Hotel. 1 told me he was studying Arabic and his friend was traveling with him for a bit. We chatted on the bus which took about 3-4 hours.

When we got to Petra we headed for our respective hostels, the Dane’s and I shared a cab and parted our ways. I checked in my gear at Valentine Inn – a great place to stay by the way. The Polish woman at the desk is a bit of fun and the view from the tent and buffet dinner are awesome considering the price.

So I’m walking down to Petra and a Jordanian shop owner invites me to join him on the porch as I walk past his shop. His friend and him are chatting and he offers me some tea. Under normal circumstances I would say no, but he seemed sincere, without going into too much detail I wish I kept walking now. He turned out to be pretty weird when I saw him the following day (I left something at his shop by accident).

Jordanian’s especially Bedouin people are very kind and genuine from my experience. Unfortunately I had 1 or 2 weird people also (as you do traveling anywhere on your own I guess) and this shop keeper happened to be 1 of them.

Entry fee to Petra is 35 dinar or close to 35 euro which is pretty expensive, but it was a 2 day pass.  Anyway when I finally arrived at Petra I was offered a horse to ride, but I refused and said I wanted to walk, how far could it be right? I was persued by a Jordanian on a horse who wanted to swap bracelets, I had a couple of cheap ones I bought in Thailand on my arm that took his fancy, so I swapped him for 1 of his bracelets that said “Adopt a wild one!” and was wildly fluroscent in colour.

He seemed pretty chuffed with is new acquisition and we chatted as we walked towards Petra (he was on his hight horse ;0)). Departing ways at the main entry to Petra I continued on my own by foot. You walk through what they call a siq which is basically a cavern with his cliff formations on each side. Its filled with noisy tourists taking photos and horses come up and down carting tourists who cannot walk anymore or wish not to.

Then all of a sudden you get a glimpse of the Treasury of Petra. I recall stopping for a second to verify it. Nobody was with me at the time so I was kinda taken a back and had nobody to reflect to and say, “hey, isn’t this something”. I asked a fellow tourist to snap a photo of me and he obliged. I would repeat the same request several times over the next couple of weeks since I was doing so much solo travel, nobody ever says no.

I pressed on moving out toward the Treasury, you reach an open clearing and there it is, it really is amazing. Much more amazing than I expected. I think its the intricate detail and the fact that its so tall. To think it was built before Christ, yet with all our technology today it still amazes people when they see it. I took several shots in the area and explored several small caves and cut outs in the rocks around it before pressing on.

There’s so much to see in Petra you really need 2 days to do it. Actually that was what I did, I spent the next couple of hours on my own before heading to the Monastry the 2nd great site in Petra. On my way up the hill I bumped into the Danes once again and we continued to chat where we left off last. On our way we encountered several Bedouins selling various objects, much the same at each store with the same sales pitch. If you bought 1 item from everyone you would not be able to carry it all and you would be broke too.

Finally reaching the Monastry its hard to know what’s more impressive the Treasury or the Monastry. Both are superb looking and very tall. Although 1 appears slightly bigger than the other. Snapping a few shots we head for the hills behind to get a better view.

A single tent is perched at the top of the hill and contains a couple of friendly Bedouins who welcome us and offer us tea. The view from up here was worth the extra effort and leg work. Its simply amazing and I can’t help but think I could be in work right now behind a desk or I could be here. I assume you know where I’d rather be! We stayed for a couple of hours before heading back the the Treasury.

We arrived back in time for sunset at the Treasury which is pretty amazing and I grabbed some additional shots. We all walked back toward the hostel’s we were staying at and grabbed a bite to each at a local restaurant. Here’s a word of warning about Jordan the cuisine is not that great. In the whole 7 days I was there I got pretty tired of the food very quickly. Petra does not have many great places to each either, so the Valentine Hostel is not a bad place to stay with breakfast and dinner provided for a small additional fee.

In the evening I met a German guy and an American girl at the Valentine Inn. I didn’t say up for too long though as I was pretty tired from the early start and long day of walking around Petra in the October time heat.

I had read before hand that taxi drivers can sometimes try and take advantage of tourists on pricing, which is pretty much the same for all countries and not specific to Jordan. Given that I arrived 3:00am local time I think I made the right decision. After going through customs, obtaining a visa for which I didn’t need additional spare passport photos afterall and only cost 10JD I was tired and didn’t want to have to work out how to use public transport and or buses to find my way to the city center.

The staff at the hotel “palace hotel” in downtown Amman have been quite helpful and very friendly, the hotel was recommended in Lonely planet, although the rooms are a bit run down and the shower / bathroom is a bit ordinary. I guess this is budget travel though, so I’m not expecting a Hilton Hotel.

Given it was October and quite warm, I decided I didn’t need to sleep under the covers and bottled water is a good idea to prevent feeling too hydrated through the night. I woke up the noisy sound of Amman traffic and bright sun light. Ahh quite a change from cloudy Dublin.

Breakfast was ok, but nothing flash and I met a nice guy who has been livng in Damascus for the past year. He gave me some advice on what to see in Amman. After breakfast I headed to the Roman Theatre not far from the Hostel. It was warm but not over bearing like I thought it would be, I guess last time I was in the middle-east I was in Dubai at the peak of summer or the tail end of peak season and it was pretty unbearable.

After checking out the Roman Theatre and asking some American’s to take 1 or 2 pictures of me, I climbed quite a few stairs to get to top of the theatre for a good view of the whole thing. I must say its quite impressive given how old it is and well preserved. There are a couple of rooms either side of the theatre that has display of tradtional clothing and jewellery etc. Worth a quick 5 mins look through, but nothing spectacular.

Next I climbed some more stairs in the heat, yay! I went and saw the Citadel which was quite pretty looking, but I wasn’t sure of its current purpose. I saw a cool looking little lizard, but couldn’t get a photograph in time before it scurried off.

I also took a good look at the Temple of Hercules, which was interesting to look at and quite old 160 AD its been dated. I also took a look at the archelogical museum near the citadel which had some of the dead sea scrolls on display. Certainly interesting but I couldn’t read a word.

The flight is early morning and even though I’m excited to travel it’s hard waking up. We do get out of bed and walk down toward the air coach bus stop. We are a little late so we have to get the next bus but we are still early for our flight. Turns out a cab driver sees us and tells us he will take us to the airport for the same cost as the bus. Sounds good to me, so we jump in the car and it turns out he’s the same cabbie who picked us up when we arrived in Dublin, although he doesn’t remember us. Fair enough he probably has hundreds of customers a week.

We board our flight to Croatia and try to get some extra sleep, although to be honest it’s a bit hard. We did score the exit seats which give the extra leg room so we were happy about that. We fly over the swiss alps and get a fantastic view of the snowy mountains, we have to go there at some stage I think.

Arriving in Pula the weather is nice and sunny and a warm 20 degrees. My 150 Euro converts to 1260 Kuna. Seems like a good conversion but Croatian prices vary and some things can actually be quite expensive especially in tourist areas. Arriving in the city we see an old Roman Amphitheatre. We check it out later.

First we organise accommodation. All the hostels were booked online so we opted for a private apartment for all 3 of us. Maria and I both packed our hand luggage full which we soon learn to be a mistake. Dean was smart and only took a few items of clothing and our bags are heavy. We have quite a long walk, maybe 30 mins to our accommodation and the bags kill my shoulders and I help Maria with hers. Next time we’ll be a bit smarter we both agree while Dean has a laugh.

When we finally find the place (our map was vaguely detailed) we are greeted by a lady who lives underneath the apartment on the 1st level of the building. The apartment is on the 2nd level and has a great view of the boats and marine nearby. We dump our bags and look for something to eat.

Pula is very nice and some parts are quite old but it’s contrasted by the housing commission style flats just outside the city. Still the people are very nice to tourists for the most part (some will try rip you off on pricing if your not careful). We grab something to eat and head back to the apartment for some shut eye. I’m tired and so are the others but we only sleep a couple of hours before waking up for dinner.

We go to a local restaurant near the apartment and the food is quite nice. We sink a few beers and enjoy the balcony view of the area. Maria tells me it’s very similar to Greece, Dean sees a Casino in the distance and there’s plenty around Croatia. We joke about going, well I do, Dean seems a bit serious about the idea.

The next day we do a bit of town sightseeing, we look around the city centre and try to find out if we can get on a sailing boat down the coast. Our tour agent says that it’s off season so you will need to travel 2 hours to the next town and try there. We decide to do that the next day and finish off the afternoon drinking beer in the sun. Beer is cheap here so it’s really easy to sink alot of pots and not spend alot. Food is expensive on the other hand and that’s where most of our money ends up going.

The next day we head to the bus stop in the city, buy tickets and I loose my ATM card I think the machine eats it when I don’t take it out. Anyway not much harm done I call the bank cancel the card which is pretty useless without the pin but it’s a good lesson. It’s that easy to loose my credit card I think and decide to keep myself more alert. Getting on the bus is fun since we didn’t understand the Croatian language on the ticket. We do get on the right bus though and head out of Pula.

It doesn’t take long to get out of town. Maybe 10 mins and we are into the country side. The country side is very pretty and I really enjoy some of the views along the way. I tried to take some shots from the bus as we drive along the cliff sides from Pula to Rijeka but the reflections from the glass and the moving bus make it challenging to really capture how beautiful it is.

It’s a few hours of windy roads around Croatian coast line. We get to a town on the way called Opatija (O Par Chee Ah). It’s really pretty and has some really nice buildings and shops and we think to ourselves maybe we should stay here but we haven’t seen Rijeka yet and that’s where we are heading. We arrive late afternoon in Rijeka it’s a busy town but seems a bit more happening than Pula. Pula has lots of old people and not much of a night life. Rijeka has lots of young people and is a busy city. It’s a bit industrial and not nearly as pretty as Opatija. We head into a tourism info office and ask about a hostel for the night. The lady there tells us that there are no beds left only hotels. We ask about Opatija which is 20 mins back from where we came.

She tells us it’s probably a better idea and it’s got alot more tourists there and more hotels. We decide to take a bus back to Opatija and book a nice 3 star hotel for the 3 of us. The view of the beach is awesome and it has a nicer vibe to it than the main city. Again not much of a night life and it is off season so we are limited with what we can do.

We try to find out about our sailing adventure down the coast as we want to get to Split which is halfway down the Croatian coast but again it’s off season and no sailing boats just ferry’s. Given the time we have left we decide we can’t make it to split and stay in Opatija. A sailing cruise would have been awesome but it just wasn’t going to happen it seemed.

We book in a Game Fishing cruise for the next morning and wake up early and get onto a small boat with our skipper. We try trawling first with a long line out but don’t have much luck. So we try sitting in an area that seems to be where the fish are according the the skipper’s radar thingy (fish finder). We get a few bites but nothing serious. It’s typical fishing never catch anything lol but at least the view from the boat it good and its still sunny . 3 hours later we come back empty handed but we still had a nice time on the water.

Our last day is made up of trying to get back to Pula for our return flight. Again nice views but we are now tired of Croatia and decide we are happy to be heading back. We stay the night and Pula and get up early for our return flight. Overall it was really nice, but next time I think we’ll go peak season.

After the crazy adventures and extreme heat of Dubai, I was hoping to relax a little in Dublin. The good news was it was colder but not too cold according to the pilot as he told me we were flying over Wales. I’d like to stop in Wales at some stage, mainly because one of my favorite bands is from there (Lost Prophets). Dean managed to sleep over 4 seats because the plane was pretty empty and I slept over 3 so we didn’t get so jet lagged this time and the time adjustment was slightly less than Melbourne – Dubai was.

It was again 5am in the morning and as we arrived in Dublin I instantly noticed no tall buildings. I remember arriving in Dubai and seeing huge buildings everywhere but Dublin wasn’t like that at all. I later find out that to preserve the way the city looks there are height regulations (fair enough I say). Anyway arriving at the airport was fun for me. I just waved my European passport (thanks Dad for being Irish) and I was on my way. Unfortunately for Maria and Dean they had a few interrogating questions but nothing too drastic. We meet up again at the baggage terminal and I call Clare (my sister for those who don’t know) who has been in Dubbo (Aussie Way of Saying Dublin) for a year now. She sounds different on the phone, not an Irish accent but more of a tinge.

It is 5am in the morning so she’s not overly excited but happy we are here. She tells us to get a shuttle bus to Trinity College (Bram Stroker who wrote Dracula went there and Oscar Wilde another famous writer). We get off the bus and catch a cab to Clare’s place which is not too far away. When we first see Clare she’s very happy to see us and gives Dean, Maria and I a big hug.

Clare has to get ready for work so we leave our bags at her place and start venturing around the city. We get on a double decker tour bus of the city that gives us some history and information on everything. You definately get the impression there’s alot of history here and it’s cool to see the city where my dad and my aunt grew up.

We arrive at the Guinness Store House and I’ve been dying to try Guinness in Dublin or at least Ireland because apparently it’s the best here. We climb up the warehouse stairs floor by floor and it’s a pretty large building for sure. I’d recommend anyone who visits to come take a look and the Guinness does taste good here. I didn’t take my Camera with me unfortunately but my cousin had his Camera phone to take a shot of us drinking Guinness at the top, where there is a view of the city. The weather is overcast so it’s not that lovely outside but Dean seems impressed, he can’t wait to have a few drinks on the town.

After touring around the city, Clare finishes work and we go to a pub called the Bleeding Horse although some clever clown took down a few letters so it read “Bleedin Hor”. It’s my first “real” Irish pub and it’s pretty old too built in 16 something, sorry don’t know the date. I meet some of Clare’s friends from work and Clare is accused of being soft now that I’m in town.

2 Weeks After and I’m Still Here in Dublin

Well two weeks have gone by and alot has happened. Some of the most memorable parts have been hiring a car and driving to Limerick, then on to Cork followed by Kilkenny and back to Dublin. We stopped in Cork for lunch and it was sunny for a change. Cork was really really nice and if you come to Ireland you should visit Cork. I’d say it’s nicer than Dublin in many ways and it’s right next to the ocean. There’s also less “Athletes” or Knackers as Clare calls them here. Basically an Athlete is someone who wears a full Adidas tracksuit and hangs out with their mates in the city causing nothing but trouble (in most cases). They also have their own language it’s not English and it’s not Irish, I really don’t understand them to be honest. I guess there like Bogan’s only Irish / English.

Kilkenny was awesome also, it was really pretty and very old. The Kilkenny castle looked amazing but it was night time so we couldn’t go see it. Since I’ll be living in Dubbo it’s not too far away so I should be able to get there again for a proper sightseeing tour. We drove out to a town 8 miles from Kilkenny where there is a Hostel in a Castle. After much drama trying to find the place we finally did and stayed the night there, which was a unique experience but by no means luxury accommodation. It definitely has the cool factor, if you are into that kind of thing.

Other Drama’s in Dublin

Finding a place to live was a bit of a task to say the least. Mainly because rental property is in such high demand that you have to check online at daft.ie every morning and call all the new listings and view them during the day. If you leave it till later chances are the place is taken. We didn’t have a good experience when we first started looking for a place to live. We saw some absolute shit holes and I started thinking maybe this wasn’t such a great idea living and working here afterall. However perseverance paid off and we finally found a nice place around the suburb or Rathmines. It’s a cool little area with bars and cafe’s, a couple of school’s nearby and shopping district. It’s also very close to the city centre, about 5 – 10 mins walk and the place is in an old Georgian style building with the big red doors. I’ll upload a picture shortly. Rent is definitely expensive and the sooner I pick up work again the better. It costs Maria and I $950 Euro per month for a small apartment.

At least we are no longer in Hostel’s and unsure of where we are going to stay for the night. We also bought some essentials like TV! and stuff to cook with (how exciting I know) but I guess it’s my first place out of home. I’ve been to an interview or two for a job and still looking to see what’s out there. We have decided to head to Croatia before Dean heads back to Australia, I’ll be sure to take plenty of pics.

Hey everyone, First impressions of Dubai were mixed to say the least. First of all we got to Dubai airport got stamped on the way out but no mention of a vistors visa like the travel agent said we would need. We doubled checked with a few people but apparently because we are Australian’s so there is no problem. So out of the airport and the heat hits you straight away. It’s 5am and it’s muggy and dusty, everyone wears white and we definately look like tourists. We are directed to a cab or airport transfer vehicle, the guy speaks broken english but is good enough to understand us. I’ve never been in a country where people drive on the left hand side of the vehicle so that’s the first strange thing. Our driver then asks if we are visiting for long and asks where we are from. All of a sudden it smells a bit funny and the driver picks up his aerosole can and sprays air freshner in a rapid fire motion. He was quite cool and collected about it as if it was business as usual. Quite amusing but obviously I’m trying not to laugh and I don’t think Maria knew what had happened till I explained later.

Dubai is strange, lots of contrast some buildings are spectacular, while the older buildings look tattered and ugly. On the way I notice a riced up 350z, it’s purple with a black bonnet and I think to myself there are tragic cars here just like home. We arrived at the hotel which was really nice, but very tired from jet lag. Had to burn a few hours before we could check in but at least our bags were at the hotel. So we walked around and the heat was pretty intense when wearing jeans and a singlet. We walk around the back of our hotel where there is some guys unloading bags from a few boats, the hotel is right next to a dock. We get lots of stares and I feel very foreign to say the least. I still can’t believe how hot and muggy it is and the sun isn’t even out.

I kept thinking Dubai didn’t look like this in the brochure’s but I’m enjoying the change of atmosphere. Finally check in and grab some breakfast, we look for a phone card to call home and try to get the litle things organised. The first day really is quite uneventful, we are informed by hotel reception that it is ramaden season which means they are basically fasting and are allowed breakfast very early around 5am. No food or water until 6:20pm each night. No music or live entertainment – later we find out no belly dancing either. No sex and a few other things which I can’t recall exactly now. As a tourist we can still do those things, but it would be much appreciated if we didn’t each or drink in front of the locals. Also local restaurants are closed which means we are limited to one place to eat and drink in the hotel. Frankly I have no idea how they do it in the heat and I think it’s part of the reason everyone drives crazy but hey who am I to judge?

We decide to go shopping and get a cab, the cab is much cheaper than the airport transfer, infact it’s a bargain like $3 AU. We get to a shopping centre which is pretty empty and really not that exciting. We end up heading back and sleeping early that night due to being tired from the flight.

Dubai Day 2

Determined to do more than just look around shopping centre’s, which we can do back home. We decide to make a day of it and do all the tourist things we can do possible. First we get on a water taxi called an abra, it’s a pretty dodgy boat, a bit oily and dirty from use and no seats but it has shade and it chugs along. We go all the way up the Dubai river. It’s quite nice and warm in the shade but not too intense, the driver of the taxi speaks broken english and asks if we want to go somewhere and I’m just like yeah whatever take us all over.

We get to the Gold Souk market and he asks for 150 Dirhams (50 AU) which looking back now is quite expensive compared with everything else, so maybe he used the language barrier to sting us for more cash, who knows? Not to worry, we look around the markets but it’s very hot and it’s all electronics or other in my opinion useless stuff I don’t need. Again the heat gets to you and we decide to leave, no water makes it even harder mind you. We get back to the Hotel for lunch and a drink and decide we will head to see the world’s 7 star hotel on Jemeirah beach – Burj Al Arab. We get a driver from the hotel to take us, but he informs us that to get into the hotel we need pants (we had shorts on) and a meal reservation. We didn’t bother too much with one and decided to take a look at the outside anyway. When we get there we see the enormity of the building, it really is huge, bigger than I expected it to be. It’s possibly taller than Melbourne’s Rialto (probably is) and it’s sitting in the middle of the Ocean. One rule for Dubai is, if your gonna build it, it’s gotta be massive. We take a few pictures while the driver waits in the air conditioned car, it’s very hot so we don’t stay out very long before getting into the car again.

Wild Wadi the water park is basically right next to the hotel, we had planned to go there for a crazy water park day, but it’s closed for maintenance and won’t open until the day after we have left. I took a couple of shots with Dean out the front, but couldn’t get in, from the outside though like anything unique in Dubai it looks pretty cool. The driver then takes us further down Jumeirah beach and shows us a palace hotel with a grand entrance and gold horses all along it. It has a watery moat around it and you can travel around the places grounds by boat. It looks very nice and very expensive, again we get out take a few pictures and get back into the car before the heat gets to us too much.

Next stop is the Palm Island. If you don’t know what Palm Island is, it’s a massive man made island in the shape of a palm tree and it’s visible from Google maps. This man made Island is huge, and there are buildings popping up all along it. We can’t get to the end because it’s not finished yet and construction is going on but when it’s finished it will be amazing. Like many other things in Dubai when they are finished they will be amazing and the growth of the place is crazy. I’ve never seen so many tall buildings in my life, almost every building seems taller than Melbourne’s tallest buildings. We get taken around various construction sites with guys in full overalls working their arses off. I don’t understand how they do it without drinking all day. To me it seems nuts, but there’s heaps of them building away. One of the things I noticed about this side of Dubai is there are nicer cars and I manage to see a Ferrari or two and the odd exotic, but I guess I was hoping for more, if I was ever gonna see a Bugatti Veyron I’d have thought it would be here, but it wasn’t to be.

One other remarkable thing is despite all the heat there is green grass everywhere. It’s just to do with smart irrigation but it’s still kinda funny to be in the desert and see all this green grass along the road.

We get back to the Hotel after driving for at least an hour and it only costs us about the same as the water taxi. Bargain really, cabs here are the cheapest so far. However they do drive like nutters here, speed limits are merely a minimum speed guideline and you see lots of smashed cars on the side of the road. The main street through the major city buildings is a wide 5 lane highway on each side and everyone drives crazy through here. If anyone stops suddenly the horn is the first reaction following by the brake. It’s really quite funny, I can’t help but laugh at the usage of the horn.

Driving through the main city strip is funny though with so many tall buildings you feel like this little ant in the middle, hard to explain I guess but almost daughnting. We have one more crazy adventure for the day, I took my mate Kavit’s advice and decided to go on a desert safari. I’m told that there is no entertainment (I thought that would mean no 4X4 through the desert) but apparently that’s ok, just no belly dancing, music or falcon. You see they usually take you trekking through the desert and stop at a camp where they have belly dancing, 4 wheel dirt bikes for dune bashing, a falcon (as in bird) that obviously swoops and returns. As a result though we still get dinner in the desert and dune bashing and if we like we can dress in traditional arab outfits. The 4X4 safari guy picks us up from the hotel and I notice the 4 wheel drive has a roll bar. Maria is naturally a bit worried but I say it’s ok the roll bar is only there incase we roll lol. The car seats 8 and we pick up some other tourists along the way. Dean and I get in the very back (although Kavit said the front seat is the best, I thought I’d be polite and offer the front seat to the others).

After driving out to the desert we finally get to our destination, they let some air out of the tyres to help with stability i’m guessing and before we know it we are on a desert roller coaster through the sand dunes. I tried to video it but it just doesn’t capture how crazy it is. It really is a desert roller coaster and sometimes it looks like you might slide down a large sand dune with the 4×4 on it’s side but we manage to get far into the desert with no problems. We can then do some sand surfing which is basically sliding down a large sand dune on a snow board type thing. It’s alot of effort to climb a sand dune after though. Next it’s more 4×4 madness and we stop at a camp site in the desert. Once there we can ride camels, I rode grumpy the camel while the one behind tried to eat my toes, even though he was muzzled. I call him grumpy cause he was grumpy alright. The guy guiding him kept whipping him and he was growling back, it was quite funny actually but I kinda felt sorry for him, he just didn’t wanna give camel rides.

We then had a nice BBQ dinner in the desert with some meat I don’t think I’ve tasted before. I didn’t want to ask but I had a feeling it could have been camel. By that time Ramaden was over the our guides were drinking and eating in their own corner. Once we finished our meals we were taken back to the hotel. It was definately good fun and I’d recommend it to anyone.

Dubai Day 3

Feeling quite satisified with yesterday’s adventures and seeing as Wild Wadi was closed we figured we would go to the snow park. Again into a cab since it’s on the other side of this huge city and again it’s really hot. We get to the mall of the emirates, which should be called mall for american teenagers. There were teeny boppers everywhere, it was like “oh my god”. Despite annoying teenage brats everywhere, we head to the snow park. We have a choice of going on the slopes or just in the snow park. I’ve never been skiing before so I am a little anxious as to what I should do. They tell us if we are not good enough to be on the slopes we will get booted out and put in the snow park. I figure I’ll just lie and tell them I’m a good skiier since I can roller blade and ice skate and as Dean says “you’re not a retart”, although some may argue differently.

So after organising our gear which doesn’t include gloves, get gloves trust me (I didn’t) we get to the revolving door where you go from normal mall (shopping centre – not center) into a snow field. I’m trying to use the polls to propel me over the snow and finding these skii’s strange and limiting. Maybe I should have tried snow boarding I’m thinking. Anyway Dean gives me a few pointers since he’s been skiing a few times before. He tells me what to do to get onto a snow lift which was funny to say the least and so far I think I’m going ok. We get to the top of a the hill and I look down thinking what’s gonna happen here. All I know is how to kinda stop and how to kinda turn. I go down first and remember Dean saying lean forward, just lean forward. Somehow I get to the bottom without falling on my arse and manage to pull it off like I’ve done it all before. Dean is impressed, but I’m not out of the woods yet, Dean reakons I should try the bigger slopes, so I try the second largest one there. I manage to get down ok and I seem to only fall over doing low speed maneouvors (spelling?). Dean manages to convince me to try the highest slope, I get to the top of the ski lift a little anxious but take the plunge. I manage to get all the way down but by the time I’m nearing the end I’m going so quick that I think if I try and turn I’m gonna fall on my arse.

I see some kids and think if I don’t stop I’ll hit them so I make the mistake of leaning back and I fall on my butt right at the end. Dean comes down to have a good laugh at me cause I have snow all in my hair. It’s not the fall that hurts but my hands which are freezing cause I don’t have gloves. I try to get a set but I need to exit the ski park to get them so we do a few more runs before calling it a day. I think I managed a mild case of frost bite cause my hands were burning for a few days after. Another words get gloves! .

We get back to the hotel and checkout, then we head to the airport for our next stop Dublin!