The bed is really comfortable and so I already slept half a day: Around 12:30 am I wake up and missed breakfast. But not so bad, because I can have lunch right away. Here I have delicious penne with mushrooms and salad and then I go back to the room. Put some suncream, sunglasses and water in my bag and then I'm off to Dubai Mall. Practically, the hotel is directly connected to the mall by a corridor, so that one can escape the heat outside (approx. 42 degrees, felt like 50) a little bit. I am really impressed how huge this mall is. There is actually nothing that doesn't exist. By chance I also walk directly past the Dyson Store, which is of course always exciting even after leaving the company. After about an hour I walk out towards Burj Lake and admire Burj Khalifa, which really looks more impressive when you stand in front of it. It's crazy what humans can do. It's not so easy to stand the heat any longer. So after about 30 minutes I go back inside, cool down a bit, and ask for tickets for "On the Top" for the same day. Maybe it will work.

Meanwhile there are a lot more people on the road, because the temperatures without the sun are now more bearable (with 38 degrees...). For me the crowd is actually too much. Besides, it is somehow exhausting to have so much consumption in front of you. 

From the hotel I received two free tickets for the Dubai Aquarium and the VR Park and decide to have a look at it.

The aquarium is massively built, but I'm not a fan of such "attractions", and therefore I also flash through and actually only feel sorry for the animals that don't belong there.

Then I grab a pizza at Pizza Hut, which was way too much. On the way to the VR-Park I pass an ice rink. Crazy....

In the VR-Park, especially kids get their money's worth, and since I'm somehow not so comfortable with the pizza, I sit down in a roller coaster, the "Dubai Drone". Very cool experience, but I'm not feeling good in it and then I'm on my way home, which, despite the direct connection, is still pretty long. It's now almost 11 o'clock in the evening, but you don't really get it from the crowds.

In the hotel I take a shower and quickly go to bed. There I look whether I book a tour into the desert, but also that does not really attract me and therefore I decide to leave it. Good night :)

Today I set the alarm so I can take breakfast with me. It really is a great buffet with a good selection of food. I spend a lot of time in the restaurant, because it just doesn't really drive me out in the heat. So I go back to the room and tinker a little further to the side. 

Time passes by and occasionally I go to the balcony, but you start sweating right away. So cool down again. Today I would like to see the Burj Al Arab and because I love to explore cities on foot, I look up, how the path to it could be so. Big mistake, at 16 km and 42 degrees Celsius that's not an option. So I jump into a taxi, which is not so expensive, and go there by car. It is about 9 Euro (36 AED), which is really great. Arrived at the Burj Al Arab it is a bit unspectacular: waiting taxis, many tourists, who all take a photo, and a security house, because you can't get close, if you don't have authorization. Yes, well, it was to be expected at a 7-star hotel. Right next door is the Wild Wadi Waterpark, but even this would be too hot for me :D

I ask a driver how to get to the public beach, and after a short conversation he is so nice and drives me there. It is really quite unspectacular there, everything is empty because it is so hot and nobody wants to be "cooked in the sea". Nevertheless there is a nice view of the hotel Burj Al Arab and I am glad that I did not walk. 

Then the driver offers to show me a few things, and because I don't have a real option anyway, I agree. But I should have asked for the price before... The taximeter is running, but I can't see it until I ask and am shocked. I didn't want to spend my whole budget in one day. But at least I see a lot and he always comes up with new motifs and poses for photos. Of course I would never have done that myself. I mean, when would I photograph myself with golden horses? :D I think I now have about 25 pictures with me and the horses, and those who know me, know, how much I like pictures. But that is a bit too much. It's almost a bit unpleasant, because he gradually switches more and more to the pickup mode and I'm always friendly to try to get rid of him. 

We drive to different top hotels, lookout points to the city and Burj Al Arab and also to the artificially created island The Palm, which seems almost creepy to me, just because everything, really everything, is artificially arranged.

Nevertheless it is also interesting, so much luxury wherever the eye goes. In addition, there are some things that are explained to me that I might not have known. Where Tom Cruise shot the movie Mission Impossible, which hotel in the lobby varies its color, how the city districts are named (there is for example the Internet City or the Media City), which city district looks like Manhattan, where the rich live, where the women of the king live and so much more. But I have to slow the good boy down sometime, because my wallet complains. That's why I ask him to take me to a metro station and give him 300 AED (instead of 500 ), because it wasn't agreed before. My mistake, really stupid. After he says that I could pay the rest with a kiss, I quickly squeeze myself into the Mall of the Emirates and am glad that I can go my own way again. This mall is also very impressive (oh wonder, like everything else here). But I don't stay long here and go to the metro (by the way, there is a "great" 2-class society here). You can buy a golden ticket to get into your own compartment), which takes me directly to the Dubai Mall. This one is close to my hotel and after several kilometers over corridors I arrive back at the hotel. There I enjoy the dinner in peace, stay for a while on the terrace with the wonderful view to the Burj Khalifa and the skyline at the pool, then go writing a little on my own balcony (tatatataaaa - you read it now) and now I go to bed. There are no plans for tomorrow yet. Anyway no more tour, that much is clear. I'm already checked in for the flight to Denpasar on Monday. And even if I don't think Dubai is bad, I'm looking forward to Bali, because it seems more original and easier to explore on my own. This "being dependent on drivers and others" and "constantly paying attention to what you say to whom" ("Why are you here alone", "Are you married", "What are you doing tonight?") is not so much my thing.  

Of course, not every day can be full of action. Even I couldn't stand that ;)

The alarm clock rings, but somehow I prefer to stay in bed and skip breakfast again. At least there is something to eat the whole day, so I prefer to sleep. 

I enjoy lunch for quite a while and think about what I could do. I'm a bit torn because I'm already here to see something, but it's all too exhausting for me. Then I access my photographed travel guide and read "What you can do in Dubai at too high temperatures". Of course there are some things that take place in the mall, which I already grazed on the first day. Then I come across the idea of taking the metro and getting off at some places. With a day pass of about 5,20 Euro I can't do anything wrong. I think.

Then it starts, the ticket is very easy to find at the machine, again regular and not gold, I have already learned. 

The trains arrive every 3 minutes, I first drive towards Emirates Tower and Deira, the historic trading centre of Dubai. What I really like about the Metro is that there are extra areas for women and children. I hope that this will give me more space. In my thoughts I imagine very romantically how I can sit in the air-conditioned car at the window and watch everything. Great plan. But then the first car arrives and it's so full that nobody goes in anymore. Then I still wait, I think that makes sense, but even after car 2 and 3 and 4 it doesn't get any better. Then I squeeze in somehow and drive 2 stations to the Emirates Towers. As well as squeezed in, you have to squeeze out and hope that nothing gets stuck in the doors. I walk towards the towers and past the Museum of the Future. It doesn't seem to be finished yet, but sometimes it can be deceiving, because the whole city is a construction site. I stroll around for a while, but even at 6 pm it is still so hot that I go back to the metro and want to continue. I squeeze back into the full car and get out at the station near the Golden Picture Frame. This one is quite impressive already from a distance and seems to be an interesting building. Again somehow squeezing out and down the station. But I don't find a way to the object of desire, because... Yes, everything is full of construction sites and you can't get there. I don't want to take a taxi for it, so I try to climb over a few construction sites, at least getting close. It succeeds halfway. And again it is too hot, so I go back again and to the next - and last - destination is Deira. Slowly the train gets emptier and I actually have a seat for 2 stations. In Deira I also walk around for a short while, but then it gets dark and then I go home. Quite soon with a seat I go back to the Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa, my stop, and back to the hotel. Such a 2-hour excursion is already exhausting. Haha. 

Then it's on to dinner, a little more on the terrace and then into the room, where these lines wait and the suitcase wants to be packed. Tomorrow I go early to Bali. At 6:30 o'clock I am picked up in the direction of the airport. I am checked in, this time unfortunately not with a window seat, but at least not on a middle seat.

Then I continue to write in Bali, which will probably not take place every day :)

Anyway, I hope that you like my website so far and that you get an impression of what I am doing.