Day 2

Arrival around 1 am without incident. Emirates Airlines surprised me - despite being fairly cheap, service was professional and everything from inflight entertainment to food was good quality. They are not too worried about terrorist takeovers, as dinner is served with sharp steel cutlery :D

Dubai is HOT! Even in the middle of the night it's 37 degrees. Luggage retrieved, my hotel is just 10 minutes away. A quick beer at the hotel bar before bedtime. As I chilll at the bar, I slowly begin to realize why this hotel was so cheap. It seems management here encourages the availability of certain 'extra services' for hotel patrons. The no less than 3 house night clubs are practically crawling with Philippino and African prostitutes - I'm basically sleeping in a brothel. Oh well.. I finish my beer and leg it out of there asap, but not before the Ugandan ladies have described in explicit detail what an African massage entails :D

I wake up early for a mandatory tour of the city. I manage to get lost in downtown Dubai and disappear from my guide. After a 30 minute jog around the souqs in 41 degree heat, I get back on track. Visits to the museum, the creek, Burj Khalifa and al Arab, the Palm, Jumeirah Mosque, the beach. There's a lot to see, and the (sometimes borderline ridicules) mixture of Arab and Western culture is intriguing.