Defeated by breakfast once again, I readied myself for an even greater challenge – the Dubai Mall.
It’s hard to comprehend how truly vast this structure is. Luckily it has its own app which will guide you to where you want to go. We spent five hours there and never even managed to see the aquarium or the zoo. We found the fountain but missed the show so it was just a giant pool of water. The boys spent the money to go up the top of the tallest man made structure in the world, the Burj Khalifa, and we left them to it. My dad had a great fear of heights and I inherited it.
Apart from those special things, it’s just a giant shopping mall with every high end store you could think of, and there were no bargains to be had either. Not much for a value hound like me. There was even a ten minute queue for the ladies toilets. Not exactly nirvana.
It was hot and humid when we ubered back to the hotel, so I set off for a swim in the sea. The hotel has its own private beach, with deck chairs and umbrellas and helpful staff with towels, water and menus for the adjacent pool bar. The water was ghastly. It was the warmest sea water I’ve ever swum in, unpleasantly tepid, and there was rubbish floating around in it in spite of the shark net. I could see plastic bags, lolly wrappers, and even some dental floss reminiscent of the tiny bikinis that seem to be de rigueur in spite of this being a fairly strict Muslim country.
I had to have a quick dip in the pool to cool down on my way back to the room for a nap.