Dubai reaching to the sky from the desert

We reached Dubai eventually after being delayed due to Covid in Perth. Whilst not top of our list, we had wanted to visit Dubai as a contrast to some of the other places we'd been and to see the country so often captured in images and TV stories.

The long flight was fine, as Jacqui and I slept through most of it. The landing was great and the airport fittingly huge.

We arranged a taxi to our Hotel, and our immediate impression fulfilled the promise; the sky was full of skyscrapers covered in reflective glass that shimmered in the heat of the desert sun. It was also hot. Very hot.

The infrastructure was excellent, although, after a few days we realised they had their fair share of evening traffic jams. We were also struck that there was less greenery than expected and that observation didn't change throughout our short stay; for example, Palms were covered in a haze of fine sand, and some of the grass we found was artificial grass, not the real thing.

Since we arrived early and couldn't check into our Hotel, we visited a nearby JBR beach on the morning of our first day. The beach was clean and white and relatively busy. The sea was like a bath giving no relief from the heat.

After walking around in the searing heat of the city marina Bay and visiting the local shopping area, we decided to go to the world's second-largest mall, called " Dubai Mall ", and to see the nearby Fountain show at 6 o'clock. The mall was enormous, with its own ice rink and large children's entertainment area. We also stopped for lunch and sat down for Chinese at their large food court. A bargain for £16 for two.

We went outside for the Fountain show at six o'clock, which lasted about 10 minutes. Music accompanied dancing fountains, with nearby buildings, including Burj Khalifa, the tallest in the world, also lit up. It was spectacular and free, a rarity for Dubai.

We returned by air-conditioned Metro to our Hotel. The Hotel was nice but not luxurious. As a result, the price was reasonable, and the breakfast was relatively simple.

The next day we arranged our one luxurious treat: a dive in the 60-meter man-made pool called deep dive Dubai. Yet again, it was a scalding hot day outside the building, so we were pleased to be able to go in as quick as possible to enjoy the air conditioning. We were fitted with equipment and did the standard safety checks with the dive instructor. We then dived for 45 minutes exploring the tank, which was full of bits and pieces like an underwater playground. Examples included a snooker table, toilet, Mercedes, Subbuteo, motorbike, et cetera. It was a fun, novel, and one-off experience - at a price.

In the afternoon, we got a taxi to the

mall again, continuing to explore the vast building; we were rewarded by finding two new areas. One was an aquarium which you could visit or simply stand in amazement at the massive tank with sharks and manta rays swimming in front of you. Again we had another Chinese as we were starving and hungry after the dive and headed back to the Hotel to change to go out to a comedy night.

The comedy night was in an Irish bar two miles from the Hotel. It was an ex-pat area (they represent 70% of the population). The show was hilarious, aided by beer, which we found generally challenging to get in Dubai for religious reasons.

The next day we went to old Dubai to explore the colourful markets, which were more typical of middle-eastern market towns. The first market area, dedicated to gold, was full of shops displaying a vast range of gold goods, mostly 22ct - so bright and punchy. There was no apparent security - clearly, the threat of having your hands chopped off works.

After exploring other markets in the area, we crossed the old Dubai creek by boat for just 50p and continued to explore. Eventually, worn out and hot, we returned again to the mall via the 'Museum of the Future - tickets were sold out for the next five days! No one has warned us. We finished a little shopping and headed back to our Hotel to change before curry and a walk along the vibrant beach area.

We used the Metro several times, which is cheap for long journeys, efficient, and clean. Taxes were often inexpensive, and often luxury brands like Lexus.

Our overall impression of Dubai was more positive than we expected. It has a lot to offer visitors and many world-standard attractions. The heat was oppressive, but we knew we were there at the hottest time.

It's not a tiny place. The distance between attractions is quite far, so picking your Hotel's location is essential. Jacqui found men courteous, giving up their seats for her on the Metro and none of the touchy-feely stuff you can get in some middle eastern countries.

The future of Dubai will be interesting to observe. We were puzzled by who was in all these tower blocks and what they were actually doing; can it all be banking?

Our last day was short; we got up at about 4am for our early flight to Cyprus.

Five things we discovered.

1. It has the second most five-star hotels in the world.

2. Dubai's income does not rely on oil which is only 1% of GDP.

3. Bronze age items have been found in the area dated back to 1100bc.

4. Dubai was originally just a fishing village. In 1822 it had a population of between 700-800.

5. You can't use WhatsApp to make calls. It's illegal, and so is Facetime. It's because there is a state monopoly on phone communications.