Cape Town

Mum and I parted at Dubai Airport. She flew back to Melbourne and I back to London. It was an overnight flight and I landed at Heathrow at 7:00am. I got through customs at about 7:30 and the race to get to the office for my 9am sales meeting began. I made it to my meeting only about 5 min late and managed to keep it together that day at work despite having just arrived from another continent.

But business called, and I needed to fly out to South Africa the very next day!  And as luck would have it, that Monday night, my only night back in England before heading to the Southern Hemisphere, happened to have a rare work Monday night drinks. I can't say no to drinks, so I went along and had a couple of red-bull-and-vodkas. Just as I was starting to feel the groove, I thought I better head home, unpack from Dubai and pack for Cape Town.

The next day I was in the air all day, and arrived in Sunny Cape Town on Wednesday night.  I had a chance to look around before going to some business meetings over the next two days.  Most of my sightseeing was spent around the harbour area, enjoying the colonial maratime scenery.  Cape Town is really a beatiful city. Central Cape Town is currounded by mountainous cliffs on one side and the sea on the other.  But when you get out past the mountains and into the suburbs it is a different story. There are vast areas covered by little shacks that look like they are going to fall apart. These crowded "townships" show the massive difference between the rich and the poor.

Even in the rich areas of the city, such as beautiful Camps Bay, things are cheap. I would pay about GB £1.50 for a beer in a bar or £3 for cocktails.

Overall Cape Town reminded me of Australia. Compared to Europe it had that relaxed, beachside, sunny feel. It was the middle of winter but the weather was still sunny and mild. To some extent, cape town had the cafe culture of Melbourne, with lots of trendy places to have a coffee or something stronger.

The highlight of any Cape Town visit would have to be Table Mountain. This plateau is visible from many parts of the city and provides some stunning vistas.  I made it up to the bottom of the cable car station but unfortunately it was too windy and cloudy for the cable car to run that day so I didn't make it to the peak.

I would definitely recommend South Africa as a cheap and interesting holiday. It is far away, so had I not needed to go for work, I wouldn't have gone so far just for a few days. But it would be a great trip combined perhaps with some of the surrounding countries in Southern Africa. One day, I hope to return.

Dubai in July

Dubai has long fascinated me. I have often wondered what it would be like as an expat working there. I promised myself that one day I would take a look at the city and see what it was like. Would it have any appeal?

My mum came to visit me in London in June. It was great - she had never been to England before, and I got to see her for the first time since I last left Australia in April last year.  We did all the touristy things and it was a great excuse for me to see more of London. She had flown Emirates to England, so I thought if I escorted her back to Australia part of the way, that would be  a great excuse to visit Dubai.  So mum changed her flight and I bought one, which gave us five days in Dubai together on her way home.

We flew out on a weeknight after work. It was a red-eye flight, and we arrived seven hours later in Dubai, bright and early at 7am. And it was already scorching!  I had heard Dubai was going to be very very hot in July but they weren't joking!

Mum had booked a hotel on Jumeirah beach - an outer part of Dubai along the Gulf coast. I was worried about how we were going to get there but we jumped in one of the many creamy-sandy coloured cabs and went the entire 30km journey for about £10. Wow, taxis in Dubai are cheap!

Upon arrival at the Hilton Resort we were immediately noticed and given fresh watermelon juice. This was my first time staying in a five star Hotel and wow, what a welcome! The service in this place was excellent, you never had to wait for anything.  I don't know if all five star resorts share this same level of service, or whether it was a Dubai thing - where customer service was always amazing.

During the day it would consistently be around 40 degrees - bloody hot. It was basically too hot to walk around for an extended period of time, so we spent most of our days in and around the pool.  The pool?- I hear you ask. But you were staying at the beach, why the pool? Well, you see, we did try the beach first. The sand was hot, nothing unusual there.... and anyway, there were deck chairs on our fully serviced private beach. The problem was the water. It was clear, blue and beautiful, but it was unbelievably hot. Not warm. Hot. Like getting into a hot bath. No exaggeration. I had never even imagined, nor contemplated, that sea water could be so warm. It was about 38 degrees and although tolerable, it provided no cooling effect and made you feel sick if you were in there for too long. So the pool it was.

Other escapes from the heat included visiting the many fancy shopping malls, which were in themselves tourist attractions, and my favourite day, when we headed off for a desert safari of 4-wheel-drive dune bashing, camel riding and dining out at a desert camp.

By night it was less hot but a lot more humid so a common activity would be drinking Gin and tonic with lots and lots of ice on the balcony while we watched Jumeirah beach by night.

The most interesting thing about Dubai, however, was watching the people. What a mix. Arabs and expats workig and living happily side by side. If you picture Dubai as a place where people cover up - you are wrong. Foreign girls in short shorts and little skirts were not an uncommon site, but at the same time Arab men  in Sheik-like white suits being followed by their harm of women in burqas wasn't uncommon either.

The rich were certainly comfortable in this city hazy city of high rise constructions sites. But these construction sites seed to be manned by poor Indian guys, who were driven to the sites in rickety old buses. These uniformed men worked in their jeans and matching shirts out on the hot construction site all day, and it didn't look like much fun. I guess a city doesn't grow by itself - some poor man has to build it.

The other negative thing that struck me about the city is the strain this place must have on the environment. a huge city in the middle of a very hot dessert, desalinating water, pumping out air conditioning and filling in the gulf with new land mass, all because the rich want a comfortable place to hang out in the Middle East.

I have to say, it was certainly one of the more interesting places I have visited.  Would I work there? Probably not. Too hard to find an alcoholic drink!