Trip to Dubai,  United Arab Republic
    23 April to 4 May, 2019

    Eva and I, (Dick), made this trip for 2 reasons.  One to visit as a tourist and second to attend the conference of the ‘Global Church for a Global World’.

    Our 13 hour direct flight from Toronto left on 23 April at 10:50 pm, arriving 24 April at 7:50 pm Dubai time.  We learned at the Dubai airport that the hotel had been changed but the new one, The Rotana, proved to be quite nice with very helpful staff, especially when Eva accidentally left her purse in the lobby one day.  (Instead of opening it they checked the security video first and recognized her.)  The concereigh staff were very helpful when we had difficulty with the amended schedule the local tour company gave us at the airport.

One view from the top of the Bruj Khalifa. 

DAY 1 - (25 Apr) -  Our first day, 25 Apr. Was a tour of the city of Dubai. We visited the world’s tallest structure, the Bruj Khalifa.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to the 50 m long aquarium in the schedule. We also visited the man made island of ‘Palm Jumeirah’ where we could get a lovely view of the super luxurious ‘Palm Hotel’. The tour also included several other main attractions including an Arab market and the spice market.
    We first encountered the problem of multiple languages on a tour here.  We were the only English speakers, the other 6 were Italian, and so explanations were condensed in some instances to accommodate everyone.

The ultra luxurious Madinat Jumeira

  

The Spice Market

The buffet on the 'Dinner Cruise', Other Dhows ahead in blue.

 In the evening we were picked up and taken for a Dhow Dinner Cruise on the “canal”, a semi-circular waterway about 3 km long which meets the ocean at both ends.  tallest building, from which we had a wonderful view of the city. 


DAY 2  -(26 Apr) -   The morning was free for us to explore as we would like.  About 3 pm we were picked up and taken to the ‘Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve’ for some Dune Bashing. The vehicles were Toyota Land Cruisers. 

There were close to 20 vehicles and after assembly and reducing the tire pressure to 15 psi for better traction, we went for a wild ride through the sand, up and down sand dunes and without for the skill of our driver, Saleem, I am certain we would have rolled.  (Check out “Dune Bashing By Saleem” on the internet.)
    After restoring the normal tire pressure we drove to ‘an Arab encampment’ where we had an opportunity to take a short ride on a camel.  Then, into the encampment for a delicious buffet dinner and a show with belly dancing and a fire eater.

Day 3  - (27 Apr) - Abu Dhabi - In the morning we took a 2 hour drive to Abu Dabi, the capital of the UAE. Again we were the only English speakers among several Italians.  Only this time the guide spoke very little English.  She told us they didn’t have an English speaker available but she spoke French and since we were Canadian, we would speak French,,,, sure!  Fortunately Italian and Spanish are very close so we were able to pick up a lot of the Italian dialogue, despite several years not speaking Spanish.  Eva: I would have said “a little bit of info.”
    First stop was at the Grand Mosque, one of the largest in the world. It is a lovely building and was crowded with tourists.  As usual, the women had to wear head scarfs and full length gowns.  (Eva’s skirt was full length but you could see a shadow of legs.  She had to borrow the proper dress for the visit. 
    We didn’t visit the ‘Heritage Village’ as indicated in the itinerary.  There was a long stop at the ‘Lourdes’ art museum which wasn’t suppose to be on the itinerary we got before we left.  We then headed back to Dubai with a quick stop at the Ferrari Museum, too short to see much.

Dhow Cruise on the Musandam coast, Straight of Hormuz

DAY 5  - (28 Apr) - We opted for the ‘Full Day Musandam Experience’.  After being picked up we headed to Dibba, an independent emerate.  Here we needed our passports to be able to return to Dubai in the afternoon.  At Dibba we boarded the Omani Dhow for a cruise along the Musandam coast in the Straights of Hormuz.  After about an hour’s cruise we anchored and several of us went swimming or snorkeling.  We were then served an excellent buffet lunch.  Dancing, foolishness, and sun bathing followed before we up anchored and returned to port and then to Dubai.  Leaving Dibba we had to pass through the border crossing and passports were checked.

View from our 31st floor suite.

DAY 6  - (29 Apr) - Moving Day.  Today we moved to the Two Seasons Hotel, (formerly the Gloria Hotel), to register for the conference to be held there.  This lovely 40 story hotel (1010 rooms), provided us with a suite on the 31st floor featuring a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.  We met several other attendees from the 54 countries represented, about 250 attendees).  The conference began the next day.  There were 3 excellent speakers who made presentations each day, including an interview with Leighton Ford and our Belleville pastor, (who was the conference chairman),

DAY 10  - (3 May) - The conference is over.  Friday is the day of rest in the UAE and that is when worship services for both Moslems and Christians are held.  Christian services must be held in Govt. approved locations and the Two Seasons Hotel was one of these sites.  They had 4 services each Friday at this location and 2 at another hotel.  We attended the 9 am service with close to 800 other people.  Interestingly, the 12 person worship team sang all the songs first in English, then Arabic, then in Tagalog, (Philippines).

Our flight back to Canada left at l130 pm.  We were picked up at the hotel at about 8 pm for the trip to the airport.  Again, 13 hours, arriving in Toronto at 5:15 am on 4 May.  We caught a shuttle to the parking lot to pick up the car then headed back to Belleville.  (We got a little lost leaving the parking lot in Mississauga and wasted perhaps ½ hour getting to Hwy. 401).