I’m so over London. There really isn’t anything special about that place or the people. There is nothing majistical about it like Paris, or the feeling of awe like in Dubai. Grey and bland like the weather. That being said, I’ll be back, but only as a hub to get to other European countries and to stop off at Fulham Broadway to watch Chelsea play.

We did however visit China Town in London which was very cool – Chinese everything, everywhere! Had dinner in China Town and I couldn’t walk afterwards I was so full from it. So, Fulham Broadway and China Town I’ll come back for. :)

Dubai

Dubai is just insane. As my cousin who we visited, says, “in Dubai they go big, go home or go bankrupt”. We stayed at the Holiday Inn right next to the Mall of Emirates which houses an indoor ski slope. Yeah, a ski slope in the dessert. The hotel was roughly the same price as London and Paris, but 10 times better. We took taxi’s everywhere, and at R3/km, its really affordable. One thing I was really disappointed about was not seeing any Ferrari’s! I saw tons of Porsche’s, Audi Q7’s, Range Rovers and BMW’s, but no Ferrari’s. We weren’t staying in the area where all the rich Arabs stay I was told.

The 2nd day we relaxed at the Wild Wadi Water Park right across from the Burj al Arab (7 star hotel). Tons of water slides which I went on over and over again while Karina decided rather to tan. One thing I noticed is Dubai loves to show off water – from the water park to every mall and hotel have water features. Where they get all the water from?

Our last day of holiday we spent shopping at the largest mall in the world, which is situated next to the tallest building in the world. Dubai Mall is the size of 50 football pitches, while the Burj Dubai is 818m tall. With electronics being so cheap, I bought Karina a Blackberry and treated myself to an XBox 360. We had to buy an extra bag to carry all the stuff we had bought back to SA! I took some really amazing pictures of the Burj Dubai and surrounding areas. Dubai really is breath-taking.

The last evening we spent with my cousin at his home braaing. A really fitting end to the most amazing holiday. I’ll definitely be back to Dubai and Paris, with London only seeing me for my beloved Chelsea.

Photos will be up soon. I promise.