Belated TR: Middle East and Central Europe Dec 22-Jan23

[Seat0B]

Oh I forgot to include our illicit grog run to Ghantoot, a place half way to Abu Dhabi which has a booze shop called "The Windmill". We drove for about 50 mins to get there , but it ws worth it for the extensive range of booze and the prices that were way better than anything we could get in Dubai. But OMG, the crowds!!!! As soon as we arrived, I joined the line to check out with an empty trolley, and the boys did the rounds of the shelves, progessively adding items to my trolley as I shuffled forward, and then they joined me well before I reached the head of the queue. On the way home we expored a few abandoned luxury resorts in the area- massive buildings, still in reasonable condition, but just abandoned. Very weird.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai Saturday 31 December 2022

Passed a lazy morning packing and organizing, and re-thinking our plans because of the weather - a very strong wind blowing this morning making the desert unattractive. However, by early afternoon it had settled, so we decided to go anyway, but to keep flex about the idea of sleeping out. Seat Son said he has done that in the wind before and it was a big mistake, with fine feche feche getting into everything ypu own, plus eyes, eybrows, hair, ears, mouth etc. Doesn't sound fun.

We loaded up with a full set of recovery gear (bog boards, snatch ropes, shovel, tyre deflator, compressor, tool kit etc) and drove for about 45 mins to the very outskirts of Dubai, and there began the desert. We traveled as a 2 car caravn with the GF's family. Prepared the two x Paj by letting down the tyres to sand pressure (16 psi) and away we went. It felt weird to be driven by Seat Son as in his youth our family had spent many a holiday 4WDing in the outback, the mountains and on Fraser Isalnd (K'gari), so it was kind of the circle of life and the passing of the baton to the next generation. Anyway, he did a great job and we had lots of fun dune bashing, with the CBD skyscapers receding into the distance.



As we drove about, we noticed 2 SWB 4WDs perched on the op of a dune, and thought it was a great place to take in the view. But adfter a few more circuits, we ended up in the same area and noticed they were still there. I asked Seat Son if they might be in trouble, but he said unlikely as they had made no effort to flag us down, they were Arabs, and they had 2 cars. So we bashed a few more dunes, and the shadows lengthened, with dusk not far off. Time to make camp. We noticed the cars were still in the exact same spot and that they seemed to be spinning their wheels and throwing up rooster tails of sand everywhere. Following the law of the desert, we decided to check if they were OK. They seemed very calm and nonchalant as we approached, but when we asked if they needed any help, they could not accept fast enough. Turns out they were totally bogged bottomed out on the top of the dune. They had not let down their tyres. Did not have any recovery gear and were not really sure what they were going to do if we did not stop .

The boys quickly set about restoring order! Deflated their tyres and had a go at just driving it out - no luck. So connected up the snatch rope and gave them a shovel and suggested that they dig it out a bit - so they immediately started to dig out the tyre side walls . Seat Son drove his Paj, Mr Seat 0A drove the ogged one and I took photos and videos and can confirm it took only 9 seconds for Seat Son to pull them out on the snatch rope! They had a lucky escape as they would have been totally stuffed without our help


Dusk was really falling now, so we had to hustle to find a suitable camp site, which we soon enough did, and then our planning and prep came to the fore. Plenty of wood, matches and firestarters; suitable chairs and tables and blankets; warm clothing; plenty to eat and drink - Boerwurst in buns with chuckalucka, fire roasted corn cobs and potatoes, chips, dips and veg and some very nice red wine. All accompanied by the most spectacular sunset.


Decided to skip the camp out and headed back into town around 11pm, via a service station to pump up the tyres. After waiting more than 30 mins and getting no closer to the compressor, Seat Son decided to give his Christmas present compressor a go - and what a champion it was - the Thumper got it done in 3 minutes per tyre. Seat Son was very impressed with Mr Seat 0A's research! when we arrived home just around midnight, it was time for a shower and wash of hair to remove the feche feche and campfire smell. A really fantastic experience.

Goodbye 2022.

 

[Seat0B]

I am really feeling all the feels as I write this report. Our trip is coming to an end and I already feel the melancholy bittersweetness of leaving Seat Son behind, but heading home to my mum, my daughter and her wife, my granddaughter and my friends. I will write more tomorrow.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai Sunday 1 January 2023

Started the year off right with a decent sleep in - yay!

Started the packing to come home - not yay! This necessitated a few loads of washing and the first inklings of awareness that we seem to have collected almost as many things (by weight) to bring home as we arrived with and as we don't have scales here, it will be a bit harder to estimate our luggage weight. By volume, we can retire at least 1.5 of the bags. So we made a few decisions about leaving things behind (Hungarian wines) and not buying anything more. Our plan had been to pack this morning and then shop to fill the gaps, but the shopping part has definitely been deleted!

Enjoyed just pottering around the house and spending the time with Seat Son. I can see some of the aspects that attract him to living here, aside from the obscene salaries. It's such a cosmopolitan, exciting place. His apartment is amazing, with spectacular views, spacious and in a convenient location. There's a lovely pool and outdoor entertaining area, and a gym. He is spoiled for choice with an interesting blend of supermarkets so he eats very well - Lulu (which has an Indian flavour), Union Co-op which is more Arabic, and Waitrose for "white people stuff". He's got his water polo team for fun and exercise. He has a love/hate relationship with his job, but loves the big fat salary that lands every month. He's very happy with the GF and integrated well into her family. He loves dune bashing and desert camping. He loves the ability to fly to many exotic locations in 6 hrs or less and has made trips to Georgia, Central Europe, Easter Europe, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Nepal and Greece in the past couple of years. I can see why he likes it. But for me, the climate is a deal breaker. It has been quite pleasant the last couple of weeks, mainly in the 19-28 degree range, a bit hotter when we first arrived. But by March, the thermostat will be set to rise and August and September are unbearable with temperatures in the mid to high 40s and very high humidity. I don't know how people live with that sort of heat.

A late afternoon game of padel, and then we headed to an Ethiopean restaurant "Zagol" located in a bustling part of town that doesn't see many Emiratis, and mainly exists to serve the guest workers - so home style food at very cheap prices. it looked and felt very authentic, although I haven't been to Ethiopoia to be sure - it was painted in bright African colours of yellow, red, orange, blue and green and the staff wore vividly coloured kaftans and shifts. We ate at a low table that was specially built to receive the massive round communal serving platter containing our meal, and we sat on cushions and stools. We had a selection of curries (spicy!), various types of lentils, some pickled veg and salad, all beautifully portioned and arrayed over the platter and served with rolls of tef - a soft and very flexible flat bread made from threshed grass seeds with a rough aerated bubbly sruface that was perfect for scooping up curry, lentils and sauce. All food is given a healthy splash of vinegar when it is served. I liked the sour taste. Ethiopean food is eaten with the hands by tearing off a small portion of tef, and using that to contain a morsel of your choice from the communal platter - and all to be done only with the right hand.

Seat Son accepted the challenge of the poster in the restaurant proclaiming "Ethiopean languages are very difficult" and googled how to say thank you. Turns out, Ethiopea has at least 5 languages - Amharic, Somali, Tygryna, Afar and Oromo. he guessed Amharic based on the script on the menus, and said "āmeseginalehu" which must have been a reasonable approximation based on the smile on the owner's face. She brought her husband over to hear it said again and many pleasantries were exchanged.


A little digestive walk though the crowded and noisy streets, mainly checking out other restaurants Seat Son wants to visit in the future, all of which are in the interesting and affordable category. We noticed a substantial crowd of Indians at what we thought was an iceream shop, so decided to follow local demand and join in. Turns out it was frozen pureed rice pudding and was super delicious and is a specialty of Goa.

What a lovely day we had to ring in 2023.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai - Monday 2 January 2023 - Day trip to Abu Dhabi Part 1

Today will be a very big day as we leave tonight for the airport to make our way home to Aus at 10pm, so no time to waste as we made an early departure from Dubai to make a visit to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi where we planned to catch the 10 am tour. Despite heroic efforts we encountered a lot of traffic and only made it to the mosque precinct at 0950, further to discover that things had really changed since Seat Son's last visit there a few years back. It's now kind of a Disneyesque experience. There is a massive drop off area, and quite remote underground parking with a ling walk back to drop off area. An enormous underground mall, full of shops selling modest clothing for the forgetful/ignorant; a huge array of coffee and pastry shops; fast food places; better restaurants; and many souvenir shops. Next was a free but slow andcompulsory electronic ticketing QR code arrangement. This was followed by a very long walk via tunnels, travelators and escalators to the mosque. We arrived at the mosque after all this at 1025, so had to wait until the 1100 tour. This wasn't a problem as it gave us plenty of time to take photos of the mosques which is a most spectacular building that looked stunningly beautiful against the clear blue skies.



Our tour was excellent and totally worth the palaver if only to avoid the crowds, which were significant. There were only 12 people on our tour and we had plenty of quiet spaces to ourselves, including the beautiful covered colonnades. Plus we were given information about the construction of the mosque, the chance to ask questions about Islam and a tour of the main prayer hall. This was over the top luxurious with beautiful silk hand-knotted carpets, mosaics, wall art and chandeliers, which lots of marble, crystal and gold. We saw the prayer clock with the times for today's prayers set out - these change slightly each day with the sun and moon rise and set times of the seasons. Our guide was a beautiful young woman with impeccable English, who really warmed to us after Seat Son spoke to her in Arabic "with a beautiful Iraqi accent". Yes his university lecturer was an Iraqui woman. I now know that the Imam also faces to Mecca and does not face the congregation, that the call to prayer is the same for each of the 5 daily prayers, and that it is not expected that women will go to the mosque 5 times a day to pray as they are likely to be too busy with their children. When she finished the tour, she shepherded the other guests out with her, but said to Seat Son, "you may leave in your own time", so in the end we had the place literally to ourselves. Amazing, given the hordes of tourists we could see on the other side of the mosque. I bet they were wondering if we were someone important or famous to get such special treatment!



We made a leisrely trip back to the underground mall where we enjoyed another in the succession of ridiculously expensive coffees - $12 per cup, and as Seat Son says "expat tax". I pondered buying a piece of the very pretty tile work I had walked past, and in the end it called to me, so I went back and bought a gorgeous little wooden tray with a traditional blue and white tile inset. I plan to use it to keep the TV remotes tidy.

 

[RooFlyer]

Al Mahatta Aviation Museum

Needs to be added to the Aviation Museums thread!

 

[craven morehead]

Ok that's it for today. I will start again soon with the trip from Dubai to Europe.

Playing catch up. Great read so far

 

[Seat0B]

Needs to be added to the Aviation Museums thread!

Think I already added it? I’ll check and update if not.

 

[Seat0B]

Think I already added it? I’ll check and update if not.

Nope you’re right @RooFlyer - it’s not there. I must have had good intentions but neglected the follow through. I will add it very soon. I’ve got other details and photos, that I can put in that more focused thread. Thanks for the prompt.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Friday 2 December 2022 - UAE National Day - trip to Al Ain

Started the day with the now traditional dip in the swimming pool, breakfast and then collected Seat Son's GF to join us for a day trip to the oasis town of Al Ain in the neighbouring emirate of Abu Dhabi about 2 hrs drive away. Trip passed easily on freeway, with a speed limit of 130 km/hr and leeway to 140 km/hr. Many cars decorated for UAE National Day today with huge decals of their favourite sheikh(s), flags fluttering everywhere on cars, roadside and buildings. Saw plenty of camels by the roadside along the way.

The Al Ain oasis itself was very cool on a hot day of 34 degrees and we enjoyed the lovely dappled shade from the huge date palms. Explored both the formal and informal paths and the ancient irrigation system that is still in use today. Off the main track (which was quite busy), it was calm and quiet and the sounds of running water and birds chirping were very relaxing.

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Next stop was a massive lunch at an unassuming little Lebanese place that Seat Son had visited before. He speaks quite good Arabic and so we were given a very warm welcome. Our meal was moutabel (baba ganoush), hummus, olives, pickled vegetables, flat bread, fatoush, tabbouli, grilled chicken, lamb kebab, lamb and pine nut kofta, spicy fried potatoes (and they were very spicy) and freshly squeezed juices all round - for a total of AED 250 ($100 for 4). Note the patriotic decor in the restaurant.

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After this we could hardly walk and a food coma threatened, so we went for a walk around Al Jahili Fort, a restored mud brick and straw fort built in 1898. We saw an interesting documentary abput the restoration using traditional methods (clay mud daub) and modern techniques (cooling via chilled water hydronics). The biggest risks to these buildings are heavy rain storms (rare), rising damp and termites that eat the date palm beams.

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Saved the best for last and undertook the ascent of Jabel Hafeet in time for sunset. This is an extremely rugged mountain that rises 4000 feet above the desert floor right on the border with Oman. The road was steep and winding and very crowded. Many cars pulled off from overheating. Traffic was next level, with bumper to bumper pinches. Local were showing their exhuberance and the different attitude to road safety with many children riding on running boards and others standing with their heads through opened moon roofs waving massive UAE flags. We arrived in perfect time for the sunset along with huge crowds of others, but were able to get an excellent view point. The atmospehre was lovely, the lack of drunken yobbos very refreshing. It was noticeably cooler at ony 25 degrees althogh there was a bit of haze that slightly obscured an otherwise magnificent view.

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trip back was busy but uneventful and we made it back for a fireworks display at Atlantis on the Palm at 9pm. What a great day.

Great that you keep such a diary @Seat0B love the sunset snaps and enjoying this journey with your family special times.

 

[VPS]

Just catching up on this.

A couple of things that I should put in the WCMO thread is why some countries don't give you your train platform until just before you're supposed to board. When train travelling I try not to have too much stuff but occasionally you do feel encumbered. I can't even understand the announcements in English in England let alone in a foreign language

I did a lot of train travel in Switzerland over their last winter. They publish all the platforms for months in advance.

It's also sad that the German railways are so unreliable now as I'm hoping to do more European train travel next year

 

[MARTINE]

@Seat0B thanks for this fabulous report.
Such an interesting contrast between Eastern Europe and your time in the Middle East. Lovely to see your time with Seat Son. All the best for your ongoing health

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai - Monday 2 January 2023 - Day trip to Abu Dhabi Part 2

Well by now we had worked up a fair appetite so it was off to lunch at a beautiful Lebanese restaurant Zahrat Lebnan (Flowers of Lebanon), where Seat Son again used his Arabic to totally over order us a massive feats of fresh, tasty, delicious Lebanese food. Note the manakeesh (half cheese, half za'atar pizza), and the generous servings of bread. There was more food (chicken and lamb dishes etc), but honestly as it was 3pm I was so hungry I just stopped taking photos and started eating. We also had amazing fresh fruit juices. I'm a fan of fresh kiwi, lemon/lime and mint!


We then paid a visit to the oustside of the Louvre Abu Dhabi because it was now so late in the day that we didn't have time to go in before needing to head back to Dubai to prepare for our flights home. A beautiful building that we will no doubt visit on our next trip to see seat son.



Filled up with fuel on the way home at AED 2.79/litre (about 70c per litre). So cheap.

We had a bit of a repack finalising the luggage to include today's purchases, stashing today's sweaty clothes in plastic sarcophagus and then lugging it all down to the car. Somehow, we still seem to have a LOT of luggage - less by volume than on arrival, but it feels pretty heavy. Let's see how we go at the airport when we check in.

I hate leaving. No matter how hard I try not to, I always end up crying, and I feel quite melancholy for the last few hours before leaving. Time seems to really speed up for me in the last few days with Seat Son, and the last hours seem like minutes. I really miss not being involved in the day to day of his life, and it is hard only seeing him for a couple of weeks each year. I do better with the farewells when I know when the next visit will be, no matter how far in the future that may be. Unfortunately this time, I don't know when the next visit will be, so it's hard for me. Managed to only cry a little bit at the wave off, but I was crying as I wrote the diary entry I am using for this TR, and I am crying again as I type this. Oh dear. Mothers!!!!

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai - Melbourne Tuesday 3 January 2023 and MEL-CBR Wednesday 4 January 2023.

Well, I listened to my earlier "note to self: and we arrived at DXB at about 2200 for our 0150 departure, allowing plenty of time for a long visit to the EK F Lounge. That certainly lifted my spirits!

Check in at First Class counter was an easy process, but....our bags were at 118kg and our limit was 116kg! So we quickly did a bit of sorting and removed 3 kg to hand luggage. All fine, no problems. I'm not really sure how we ended up with so much to bring home but , it happened!

Breezed though immigration and security and straight to the F Lounge. Had a complimentary 20 min massage - slightly odd as no clothing was removed- a long and leisurely a la carte meal, with fantastic wine pairings, a shower and change of clothes, and hey presto, time to board the A380 for home. I fast binged the remaining episode of the Flight Attendant so that was good that I got to see how it ended. Followed by a sleep, a meal, a movie (Downton Abbey) and arrival into MEL at about 2230. Bag retrieval smooth, no drama with immigration, declared our spices which were sniffed by a sniffer dog and allowed through with no further questions. Walked over to the Park Royal and had a long wait to check in (more than 15 mins), upstairs for a shower, a cuppa and in bed by 0030.

Including our day trip to Abu Dhabi, it was a big day by any standard! And somewhere in all that, we had 3 January!

Slept well and enjoyed watching the morning aviation with a cuppa in our room. The blockout blinds and soundproofing work very well and I feel quite rested. Checked out, over to domestic, checked in for 1130 flight, dropped all the bags - no issues as this time our allowance was a whopping 160kg- and into the MEL business lounge for breakfast - bacon and eggs and free, delicious coffee (several cups). Barely even noticed this flight. On arrival in Canberra, a bit of shuffling around as we had too many bags for a single taxi or Uber, and we live about 30 mins from the airport ($80+ fare) so Mr Seat 0A took some bags and went home, collected our car and came back for me. I amused myself with ....more coffee!!

Spent the afternoon doing washing and catching up with Seat Daughter +wife and granddaughter, my mother and then easy dinner and bed. Trip done and dusted.

 

[Seat0B]

At the end of each trip I take, I like to do a bit of reflection on what I learnt or experienced, so this time I have a few thoughts about Dubai, and also about COVID that I will share now.

Travel at the end of the third year of the COVID pandemic was pretty much a case of COVID? What COVID?
Australia required masks to be worn on domestic and international flights until 9 Septemebr 2022 and when we left on 28 November 2022, wearing a mask was still encouraged. We were quite careful before our departure as frankly we did not want to catch COVID before the trip, and at that time, COVID cases were on the rise in Canberra. So we reduced our social contacts and wore masks when out and about for groceries, coffess and other outings. We also chose to wear masks at the airport and on our flights. I estimate that about 80% of people on domestic and 90% of people international flights did not wear any kind of mask. All the social distancing signs and stickers and sanitising stations were still prominently in place, but largely ignored.

Things were similar on arrival into Dubai. Almost no one wearing a mask except a few travellers and some staff around security, luggage and immigration. Out and about in Dubai, almost no one was wearing a mask.

Things were very different on arrival into Munich. Masks are still compulsory at German airports and also on public transport, and they are supposed to the the FFP2 type. We didn't have any of those, wo made do with standard surgical masks. At the airport, compliance was about 100%. On the trains, about 50% wore the FFP2, another 30% wore a surgical or cloth mask and about 20% brazenly wore no mask at all. There were frequent annnouncements about the mask requirements, and maintaining social distance, and people tried hard to comply. Train tickets also had a printed message that the use of the ticket was contingent upon wearing an FFP2 mask, although nobody ever questioned us in our standard surgical masks. Out an about in Berlin, about 25-30% of people were wearing masks. So in Germany, there were still obvious COVID precautions in place.

The rest of Europe - not so much!! This was very evident on the train trip from Berlin to Prague. When it started, German rules (FFP2 mask) applied, and there was good compliance with the requirement. As soon as we crossed the border into Czechia, many people (but not all) took off the masks which were not required in Czechia (or Slovakia or Hungary either). In all these locations, it was very much a case of practically no one choosing to wear a mask. We persisted with "prudent mask wearing" eg on trams, in indoor shopping and in crowds, but went without in the open air. There was practially no compliance anywhere with social distance.

Our next trip is Japan in late January/February 2023, and I am pretty sure that is going to be quite a different COVID experience.

 

[OZDUCK]

I am sorry this TR has come to an end. It was thoroughly enjoyed it and it certainly seemed to bring back good memories for you. I hope everything goes well and that you can jet off again as soon as possible.

Edit: We noticed the Czech thing as well. Many people took off their masks as we crossed the border. After a day or so we blended in with everyone in not wearing masks - until we crossed the German border again. We will be in Germany in around 37 days and I expect the mask regime to be much different than last year.

 

[Seat0B]

Thoughts about Dubai

December and January are fantastic months to visit the UAE - days are warm but not too hot. Nights are cool. This might extend to February as well.

I go there to visit Seat Son and spend extended time with him, and I actually don;t care what else I do!

I really like the "side trip to Europe" that is all but a no brainer the way the fares work out. It feels like a holiday within a holiday. It is a chance to go to places that are easy to get to from Dubai, and it virtually pays for itself!

Google maps is useless in the Middle East. Waze works much better!

I'm a bit conflicted about the "class/caste" system that operates in Dubai. The Emiratis sit above everyone. There is virtually no path to citizenship for anyone not born in the UAE, other than to be a woman who converts to Islam, marries an Emirati and has a child. Men who marry Emiratis (does this even happen) do not get citizenship.

Next in the layer is the professional expat class, comprising teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, project managements and similar. These people live a very well paid, luxury lifestyle, in enclaves with other expats. Many continue to just live as if they were in their home country and they don't seem to try to experience much of the local culture, and almost never learn the language. For example, Seat Son's GF was raised in Dubai from the age of 4 when her parents moved there for work. She went to an international school, speaks less Arabic than I do, and has only 1 friend that is an Emirati. It's a glitzy, boozy, artificial way to live in my opinion, and I don;t know how anyone ever weans themself off the sugar rush of high wages and glitz. There is also always a fair bit of visa stress for the expat class as well - lose your job, lose your visa and leave the country within 30 days - although that has recently been extended to 90 days as I think the Emirati government wants to keep the expats in country, spending like drunken sailors. It has also introduced a wider array of investor visas "golden ticket" that are for 5 or 10 years. Seat Son is thinking about maybe buying a house to get one of these visas (AED 2million = $800,000) required.

There is a weird sub category here of Russian and Eastern European women who are exceptionally glamourous and beautiful, and widely reputed to be there seeking a wealth husband (if possible) but sugar daddy if not. They'd prefer an English speaking or European expat, but will happily settle for mistress status with an Emirati. I certainly saw evidence of this with my own eyes in the upmarket shopping malls, as Russian speaking women in their 20s were being indulged and paraded by Emirati men in their 40s and 50s.

Then we come to the "service class" which is made up mainly of Filipinas, Moroccans, Algerians, Egyptians and other Africans like Sudanese and Nigerians. These people tend to work incredibly hard in service industries like tourism, hospitality, reception desks in apartment buildings, security guarding, and for the Filipinas particularly nannying, maid/housekeeper and nail/beauty salons. Many of these people told me that they can support their whole extended family plus live a modest life in Dubai on what they make. They also tend to live in enclaves of small high rise apartment blocks which lack many of the facilities we would take for granted in such a climate - like airconditioning, private indoor plumbing and a laundry at your house. Many of the technicians in the nail salons I visted with Seat Son's GF showed me photos of their children back home with grandparents, that they see once every couple of years. This is a very hard life, and motivated me to tip generously in the service industries.

Finally, there are the outdoor workers. These are almost exclusively young single guys from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and some parts of Africa. They work as food delivery drivers, construction workers, rubbish removal and similar roles. These people have an exceptionally hard life, working outdoors in searing temperatures, with poor work health and saftey standards and no social safety net. They are housed in dormitories, often very crowded and with no facilities at all for cooling, cooking, washing, laundry, nothing. They are bussed to and from work each day, and hang around in "gangs" playing street cricket and cooking over fires in fuel drums. It is very chastening and sad to see how these men live, and that they clearly find this sort of life better than their home life - assuming that they are not victims of modern slavery. I find it astonishing and fundamentally wrong. But even worse is the "rumour" that the UAE buys forced prison labour from China for hard manual labour on government infrastructure projects.

 

[Seat0B]

Thanks to everyone for following along. If you are travelling into the Middle East, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have if I can - we have now spent quite a bit of time in the UAE and have also visited Oman and Jordan.

I think I might also now do a belated trip report for our Jan/Feb 2023 trip to Japan.

 

[drron]

Thanks to everyone for following along. If you are travelling into the Middle East, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have if I can - we have now spent quite a bit of time in the UAE and have also visited Oman and Jordan.

I think I might also now do a belated trip report for our Jan/Feb 2023 trip to Japan.

Yes do that extra TR.
I really enjoyed your TR but will only be transiting Dubai in the future. Too hot,too glitzy and in December January are either in Bangkok or with our son and family.

 

[VPS]

Thanks that was really a good fun TR with a little bit of info thrown in.

Hope your health improves soon