3 hours, 11 hours, 4 hours.

I thought I said the first post was the hard one... This one doesn't seem any easier! Regardless, we shall press on...

I avoided insanity during the three hours at the airport by 'borrowing' airport electricity through an unsecured power point and 'borrowing' an also unsecured wireless network, courtesy of the Qantas Club. The full (and when I say full, I mean full. There were a total of 9 seats left unallocated 5 hours before the flight when I checked in online) flight to Dubai boarded and left on time at around 10:30pm Friday the 6th of April. The flight itself was pleasant, but long and we arrived a little early at around 6am Saturday the 7th of April.

Arriving in Dubai can be a reasonably harrowing affair, this time a friendly bus drove us from the plane to the airport before the confusion began. Following the signs past the hundreds of people trying to get to connecting flights, I soon found the passport control 'arena'. Imagine maybe 30 queues of people, each queue around about 100 people long, and you get the idea of the place. The cruel twist is that there is probably only 20 or so officers actually operating, so many of the queues are in line for the same passport controller. The heartstopping fear that I should have some sort of visa organised beforehand was exacerbated by the throngs of people clutching pieces of paper, and the occasional person being turned away once they reached the holy grail of the Passport Control Officer. These fears were allayed as once I reached the officer who took my passport, scanned it, stamped it and returned it to me, with nary a question or comment! I then quickly collected my bags and walked into the steaming outdoor arrivals area, looking for my name on one of the boards held by the numerous hotel drivers awaiting fellow businessmen (how good is it?! I'm a businessman!!).

Arriving at the hotel soon after I showered and slept briefly before hitting provided breakfast and then the streets. Wandering around the area, I found the local amenities and then planned my return to the supermarket for supplies. I did however miss the MASSIVE Burjuman shopping centre about a block away from my hotel, it took me about 3 days to finally find it! I spent the rest of my first day pottering around and relaxing before hopping on the hotel bus to Nasser Square, in the heart of the old part of the city. This old part of the city holds the souks (markets), the gold souk is particularly well known, however the area I wandered was less specific. I would describe the area as the world's largest $2 shop, spread across city blocks, dotted with mobile phone shops. The four hours the hotel deemed appropriate to allocate between bus drop off and pick up was excessive. I ended up sitting down for the last hour watching the bustling masses bustle by, waiting for the bus, having bought nothing. The bus dropped us back at the hotel, and I was more exhausted from the evening, than I was from the 11 hour, over night flight here!

Well, I think that's quite enough for one post... stay tuned next post for my start at work and...PHOTOS!!!