The Final Countdown
As we enter our final full day on holiday I am ready to come home. It has been wonderful but a month is about my limit. I have family at home and 3 wonderful grandsons to catch up with. Think CLP and I would also agree a break is about due, too much of a good thing yada yada yada. But first I have to endure 14 hrs of business class on the way home….
We are staying at the Sofitel on the Marina and it is fine but nothing special in this class of hotel. What it does have though is the best bathtub we have see for many a year. Slept better last night as no construction going on – from memory in this part of the world they do have different days off to our standard weekend. Started off with the usual buffet breakfast but honestly not too much is all that appealing at this stage. Then it was down to the Not Quite Dead Sea where it was very pleasant to float around in the high salt concentration. Made the mistake of drifting too close to shore at one stage and 2 smart asses rolled me back out to sea. Bloody Greenpeace everywhere. Then it was back to our poolside cabana where the most difficult decision of the last month awaited us – we had 600 AED to spend in one day. I could get all of my underwear pressed I guess or better still – search out that poolside menu. Of course, no alcohol before midday so we swaddled by the pool for a couple of hours and then ordered 2 beers and a few mini burgers. I should have got the “extra cold ” Heinekin on tap rather than the bottled Corona. I decided to leave it for 10 minutes in the Dubai heat to see if it would cool down! The burgers and chips burned a few hundred AED and then in a simple last act of defiance went for a swim only 10 minutes after lunch! What can I say- I live life on the edge .
Leaving the Glass House mantra to one side momentarily there are not a lot of flash bodies around this pool in Dubai. There is a lot of flesh on show but not the good kind. Good luck to them if they are relaxed about it all but would suggest there should be a general rule enforceable by expulsion from pool area that has 2 criteria – if > 60 kg then your bikini must cover > 20% of your flesh. Cruel but fair. In general Dubai would seem to have an obesity problem worse than Australia especially amongst its young men. Fat tourists are expected but it is a concern amongst the resident population I would imagine. Anyway I have my own problems to deal with………. namely 300 AED to spend by days end.
After a brief walk through the shopping mall it was back to the pool for the afternoon and into a lovely sunset. Very pleasant indeed and a faint sea breeze made it all very comfortable. We had planned to go back into mall for dinner but was so relaxing by the pool ordered a few beers and a couple more hamburgers and then hit the Shisha. Good times. Of course by now we had blown our 300 AED so a quick trip to the ATM allowed us to settle our hotel bill and have 7 AED left. What a pity there are no beggars in Dubai
So a rough start to the “relaxing” few days had ended well and now with only the Business Class journey home to deal with I may just survive for another holiday anther year. Of course being unemployed after December 7th may mean that one occurs in Australia – not a bad result at all
flashman181 