Dubai and Abu Dhabi

We arrived in Dubai in the afternoon after a 3 hour flight from Mumbai. As soon as we stepped out of the airport we were stricken with the realization that we had no idea what to do, or where to go. Our plan consisted of this:

• spend 5 hours in Dubai
• take bus to Abhu Dhabi
• visit Leah's friends Farhad and Leila
• stay overnight in Abhu Dhabi
• take bus back to Dubai
• catch flight to Mumbai

This is a solid plan. But there's no meat. What do we do in Dubai? What do we want to see? Neither of us had any idea what might be in the least interesting to see or do in Dubai, let alone how to get to those places. These thoughts run through our minds as we stand outside the airport, our sunburns fresh from Goa.

Thank goodness for tourist offices, and we managed to get into the markets where we explored the sprawling trading areas of Dubai where every store - no matter what else is advertised - sells watches. Men constantly approached us trying to get us to buy these watches, and I wondered more than once, who buys all those watches? There must be millions of watches on display at any given moment in Dubai, so somebody is buying them.

We met up with Leila on her way back to Abu Dhabi from Syria, and we met with Farhad when we arrived. They took us out for a huge feast, of which I don't think we ate even half of it. That night, they had arranged for us to stay with a friend of a friend who was renting a spare-room, we were so thankful to have a nice place to lay our heads that night after a very shaky sleep on the night-train the evening before.

Abu Dhabi

The next day Leila took us around town and showed us the Emirates Palace, a hotel of such opulence and beauty that we just walked around with our jaws open. We also visited a historical village, where artisans worked on glass blowing, sword making and a couple other things. That evening we hung out with Farhad and Leila, and then at around 2am we caught the bus to Dubai - so we could make our 8.30am flight home.