Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (B)

I was actually supposed to be in Dubai just two weeks ago and going there in December probably would have been much nicer climate wise than it was back in July. Temperatures way over 50°C during the day and even 38°C during the night (!) were our daily program. Add about 100% humidity, and you will think twice before leaving any air conditioned room… We obviously still had to do some sightseeing on our few days in Dubai and most of the attractions were actually inside buildings. My three German companions even went for some skiing in the Mall of the Emirate, featuring a complete fake snow covered mountain inside one of the largest shopping malls in the world.

The other main attraction was our 4×4 jeep safari in the desert, just about half an hour out of town. The driver will get you right into the dunes and drive them up and down and even though it sounded like a great idea at the time, it turned out to be a bit less exciting. We were just not driving fast enough over the dunes! But it was certainly nice to get out into the “desert”, even though the next road was never really far away. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).