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Day 2 - The day started with a lovely breakfast and then pick up by Arabian Adventure Tours at 8am for a ½ day tour of Dubai. Again a very hot day and thankfully the bus was air conditioned even the local bus stops are air conditioned. Went to the more elite residential and business areas of Dubai. Visited the Jumeirah Mosque but unfortunately only from the outside. Daily tours are conducted at 10am but they are separate tours. From here we drove to the home of the Sheik and to the home of the future Sheik, the Sheik's eldest son. Money, money, money. The road system, landscape etc etc in Dubai is just spectular and not a bit of graffiti to be seen. We visited the historical museum which was very informative and descriptive. After the museum we boarded the little boats which took us up the creek to the Souks (markets). So many jewellery shops you couldn't believe, wonder how many of the items are actually genuine. Very pushy trying to sell their wares of scarfs, handbags, hats etc, etc, etc - bought nothing just far too pushy and we only had about 1hour. Found the Souks a bit disappointing and was happy to leave, not my type of shopping too in your face. Trying to put scarfs and other items on you and trying to get you in their shops - not for me. We then decided to catch a taxi (100 dirham) to Atlantis in the hope of seeing the largest swimming and aquarium. This adventure was a dismal failure as all these areas are out of bounds except for guests. The water park could be accessed for a day fee of 250 dirham which the four of us meant 1,000 dirham (roughly $330) and the aquarium for another fee for the afternoon. Security everywhere, definitely a waste. We then needed to catch the monorail then a taxi to the Metro. Got on the Metro rail and we returned to The Mall of Dubai where the dancing water fountain is shown nightly from 6pm every 30 minutes. The lake containing the fountains is that large that they have boats on it taking tourists for rides. This is in the centre of the city. The line of fountains goes for a couple of hundred metres - unbelievable. This show done to music lasts about 3-5 minutes but is well worth a look, it is more spectacular as night falls and the lights turn on. The lights on the surrounding building including the Burg Kalifa next door to the lake add to the atmosphere. Returned by the Metro to the hotel to pack and be ready for our 4am start to head to Glasgow with Emirates.
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