Day 46 Home

After a fairly good flight (my new cold meds helped me sleep!) We landed in Melbourne 30mins late due to our late departure from Hong Kong. Baggage took forever today. 55mins after landing my bag came onto the conveyor belt! And there were still a fair few people waiting for theirs. I got the bus back to Southern Cross and went looking for a train. I was very surprised as trains were running hourly, no where near as regularly as I was expecting. I finally got a train home and for back to Pakky at 11.50am. So tired! I went and got my baby back at 1pm. She was sooo happy to be home. Recognised the garage from inside the car & jumped and and ran to the door desperate to get inside. It is so good to be home. I have only half unpacked. I am falling asleep now so I have to go water the garden then I can go to bed. Back to the gym & work tomorrow morning!

Day 45 Hong Kong

This morning we landed almost 30mins early at Hong Kong airport which was awesome. I took the express train to the city. From there things went downhill. The people that I asked for directions gave me vague answers & I couldn't find the bus stop. Then I discovered you need exact money for the bus. I asked someone where I can get change and was told 'upstairs'. There were 2 levels above the buses!! I find a bank who gave me change but I missed the bus. I had to wait for the next one. More time wasted. Then the bus took 1hr to get to the peak which was well beyond my allocated time!! Then I could not find where to go as there was no signs! I finally found a visitor centre who gave me directions to lookout over Victoria harbour. I stayed a total of 5mins then joined the huge queue to take the tram down to the bottom of the hill. Another 45mins by the time I made it to the train station.

I took the train across the river. I was shocked by the amount of people and how slow they walked! I walked to the flower market. So many orchids!!

Then I continued to the bird market. This was sad as there were so many birds in some of the cages. Others were in single cages not much bigger than themselves! Very sad :(

Then I went to the goldfish market. Another sad market. There are thousands of fish all shoved in clear plastic bags all hanging on the walls. Poor fish :(

Then I walked to the jade market. Along the way I had to walk on the edge of the road to avoid the crowds. It was horrible! I ended up at the jade market. Lots of jade sculptures and jewellery. A lady tried to force me into her shop and anoter grabbed my arm trying to force me to look at the fountain.

Then I had to head back to the airport. I walked to the train station. I had some Chinese food at the airport then boarded my flight. 9hrs to Melbourne & a spare seat next to me. Yay!

Day 44 Dubai

I woke feeling just as terrible as last night and slept very poorly. I think I might have a fever as I have been exceptionally hot & sweating since yesterday. The weather hasn't changed & my hotel room temp was the same so it's all I can think of. I took my time packing & left at 11.30am. I headed to the Green Planet to book a sloth encounter. Then I drive out to the Dubai Frame, the world's biggest picture frame and Dubai's newest attraction. It is 150m high and 93m across. There is an observation deck at the top. Out one side, you see Old Dubai. Out the other, New Dubai. It is covered in gold leaf.

Then I went back to the Green Planet. It is a small indoor tropical rainforest with lots of birds & insects. It even has 2 tarantulas.....I went down to the sloth encounter which allows 10ppl per day too get up close & personal with one of the 2 sloths. Today it was the girl & she lives people. She is soooo cute! We fed her cucumber, pear, plum, sweet potato & grapes. Then we got to touch her. The fur is so soft. I love sloths 😍

Next I went to the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Due to the normal tickets being sold out I had to purchase the VIP tickets which cost a fortune. They take you up to level 148, 555m above the ground. They also give you a drink & sweets up there. The view fortunately was pretty good as the haze was not as bad as it has been. You can see so much, especially to the north.

Next I went to the Mall of the Emirates. This mall is huge & home to the famous Ski Dubai. I walked around for a bit window shopping, grabbed some dinner then headed to the airport.

In a couple of hours I will fly to Hong Kong. There I have an 8hr stopover and I plan to head into the city to explore a little. Tomorrow night I catch my second flight back to Melbourne.

Day 43 Abu Dhabi

This morning I woke up feeling just as terrible as last night. Stupid body letting me down! I decided to take it easy & rearrange the plans for the day. I left at 10.30am and headed for Abu Dhabi. It is 110km/1.25hrs so not too far. I went straight to the Emirates Palace for lunch. I had read an article about this place and their signature meal. It is a burger made worth camel meat and sprinkled with 23 karat gold flakes. They also serve a camelcino, cappucino made with camel milk. This is what I had for lunch. Amazing! The burger was so good!

I had a quick wander around to take photos then headed into the city for a drive around then went out to the Grand Mosque. The mosque is not normally a place I would visit but the Trip Advisor reviews told me I should. It is huge! They have super strict dress code rules and if you don't meet them you must wear their abayas. Fortunately I planned ahead & I was fine. They had separate doors & xray scanners for males & females (seriously, what century are we living in?!). I heard the place is big enough to hold 40,000 worshippers at the same time. There are guards everywhere & they enforce each & every rule. No shoes are permitted so it is a barefoot place. I have to admit, the architecture is stunning. They have flowers made from marble set into the floors & 7 very elaborate & expensive chandeliers. It is mostly white and covered in marble. It is quite beauriful if you try to forget where you actually are. One family were taking a photo, man put his arm around the wife & kid while holding 1 kid & he got in trouble by the guard for touching! There were so many people there, including dozens of tour buses. Clearly it is a popular tourist attraction!

Then I headed back to the hotel to rest. Tomorrow is my last day in Dubai before flying to Hong Kong tomorrow night.

Day 42 Dubai

First up this morning I got up early for my helicopter scenic flight. I was collected in a nice Lexus (so many Lexus here!) and taken to the police academy where the helicopter company is located. There were only 3 of us so I was given the copilot seat & the other 2 had the back seat. We flew above Dubai seeing all the main sights: Palm Islands, World Islands, Atlantis resort, Burj al Arab, Burj Khalifa, old Dubai and the mega beach mansions of the ultra rich. It was very hazy so visibility was nit the best but it was still good.

Next I went out to the Dubai Miracle Flower Garden. This is a huge flower display constructed each year. It was absolutely incredible! They even have an Airbus A380 covered in flowers! There are gazillions of flowering plants in all shapes and sizes. Stunning!

Then I had a booking at the Burj al Arab for afternoon tea. This was the only way I could gain access to the building as only guests are permitted onto the island. It was in the Skyview bar, on level 27, so it has great views on clear days. I have been fascinated with this place since hearing about it on tv many years ago. I was early so the guard sent me down to the outside terrace. The pool area was stunning! It is new and so beautiful. When I went upstairs to the restaurant I got a window facing the ocean (bummer, I wanted the shoreline) but oh well. The staff gave the best service I have ever received! It was a 7 course menu. The food was amazing and the iced teas were so delicious! I could not fault a thing. I ate almost everything they served me (at $250 aud you need to eat everything!!!) and almost had to roll out of there!

I decided to head to the gold souk and spice souk in old Dubai after lunch. On advice, I parked at the Dubai Mall and took the metro. The souks were one of the worst experiences of my whole trip. Just after leeching the Stein the harassment started. I walked past a spice shop and they told me to come inside. I said no thanks and kept walking. Then he yelled at me "EXCUSE ME, COME INSIDE MY SHOP!!" How rude! At the souks there are sooo many men on the footpath who come up to you and tell you to come into their shops, they have Gucci, Prada bags, jewellery, silver etc. They follow and keep trying to get you into the shops, no matter how many times you say no. Then I got cornered. I was walking and these 2 men walked in front of me and stood there to block my path, telling me to go inside their shop. I said no and they kept trying to direct me infuse! I was so uncomfortable and a little frightened. It was awful! The gold is everywhere and allegedly cheap but I never went inside any stores due to the harrasment. I would have liked to buy a gold bracelet but no. There is the world's largest gold ring there too which is 57kg. The spice souk has loads of spices out the front in bags and they have millions of dollars worth of saffron threads in the windows. All in all, it is not a place I would ever go back to.

Then I headed back to the mall. It is one of the largest, with over 1200 shops. They also have an ice skating rink, aquarium, waterfall and a big fountain show each night. I also found a real, full Victoria's secret, complete with the full lingerie range! By then I was feeling really unwell so I headed back to the hotel.

Day 41 Dubai

This morning my plane touched down at Dubai airport at 7am. I went and collected my rental car and headed for the hotel. Dubai is such a huge, spread out place. There are huge blocks of land with just sand between clumps of highrises. Took my about 40mins to get to the hotel. I left my luggage and drove to the Dubai Marina Mall. I had booked the Xline zipline over the marina. It is the world's longest and steepest. 10 of us boarded the busy after leaving everything  in lockers at the mall and drove 1km down the road to a residential building. We went to the top 170m up and got kitted up. The view from the top over the marina and the ocean was spectacular. Unfortunately since we could bring nothing with us, we could take pictures of the view. The zipline is across water, buildings, roads & restaurants and you are in a laying down position on your stomach. There are 2 lines so another single rider went next to me. We laid down & got attached. They lowered the tables so we were hanging then counted down. The first 5 seconds were terrifying. Then it became insanely awesome! It felt so much like flying! You have a go pro attached to your helmet and they take photos and videos. They edit then and email them to you in a few days.

Next I went back to the hotel to wait for my dune buggy safari pickup. I was driven 1hr to the dunes then given safety gear to drive a dune buggy. I had to follow the guide about was driving a 4wd. We saw camels right next to the tracks and stopped halfway for photos. It was so much fun.

Next I joined another group and we were taken to one of the desert camps. Here we were meant to hedge a bbq dinner and show. We were first to arrive. We went on a camel ride, held a falcon then got fed appetisers. We then had 2 performances. One was a guy spinning in a circle with a big circular skirt. Next was a fire dance show which was great. After that we were served buffet dinner which was fairly average. Afterc dinner we watched a bent dancing performance which was really good.

Then we began the long journey back to Dubai (1.5hrs to my hotel).

Day 40 Madrid

I didnt have much planned for today so I started the day slowly. I headed out in desperate need of more paracetamol to find a pharmacy that was open. My body is wearing down and I'm feeling completely out of energy at the moment. Poor sleep, lack of sleep & crap diet would be the cause of this. I'm really looking forward to my own bed & getting back into my F45 program. I really need some broccoli!

First stop I went to a chocolate shop which is always very busy  when I pass. It wasn't too bad so I had churros with chocolate sauce and a cappuccino for brunch.

Next I made my way to the Royal Palace. It is pretty huge and dripping in gold. I walked around, stopping firstly at the armoury. No photos are permitted so you have to visit yourself. It is full of ancient knights armour, horse armour, lances & swords. Everything was in Spanish so I had a quick walk around and moved on. Next was going inside the actual rooms of the palace. They are EXTREMELY OTT. Like unbelievably OTT. I actually found the rooms really quite ugly. Far too much decoration & artwork.

That's all there was to see there so I left and headed for the La Latina district. The mercado was mostly closed so I walked the streets. I found myself in Plaza Mayor, a central busy square with lots of restaurants and shops. I checked out shops then went to the main mercado. I found a meat paella so decided to have it for lunch. It was better then the one in Barcelona. Along with a raspberry juice, it went down well.

Then I just wandered the main streets. I passed Plaza de Cibeles, some archway and ended up in the gardens near the crystal palace. I hung out in the sunshine for a while before heading back in a different road.

Eventually I collected my luggage and made my way to the airport. My flight isn't until 9.40pm but I was bored and came here early. I am in a satellite terminal and had to take a little train from the airport to this terminal. Then I had to do passport control, something I haven't had to do since arriving in London!

Now I'm sitting at a PowerPoint in Burger King with my litre of coke waiting for my flight. Tomorrow I will land in Dubai and I got the ground running with a mega zipline flight at 12pm and a dune buggy safari with bbq dinner at 2pm. Busy busy!

Day 39 Toledo & Segovia

This was morning was an early start as I had to meet the tour company at 7.45am. I took the train to Ventas which is the site of the Plaza de Torro (aka the bullfighting ring 😠).

We boarded the bus and had a 1hr drive to Toledo. This place is an ancient city fortified wth walls and a river. It is also built on 7 hills so plenty of walking up and down. We walked the streets for 2hrs with our guide taking us to certain spots to tell us about the building and its place in history. One thing I didn't know was that there were Jewish people living there and many years ago the government killed a lot of them and according to my guide, even today, Spanish people 'hate Jews'. Anyway it was freezing cold so the walk was long. We ere given some free time but bring Sunday and bring Spain, very few shops were open. A couple of metal shops were open selling swords, gold plated jewellery & plates etc. Apparently Toledo is famous for its steel and many companies including Hollywood movies buy their steel products (swords etc) from Toledo as it is very good quality. The funny thing is, Toledo buy the steel from China! Everything comes from China!  They had lots of replica swords everywhere. Lord of the Tings, Conan, GoT etc. I bought a big scarf that I could use as a blanket to warm me up a bit!

Next we boarded the bus and headed off for the 2hr drive to Segovia. I began to get a little worried when we started driving through hills covered in snow! Segovia was cold but as it was 2pm, it was warmer than Toledo. Segovia is famous for a huge aquaduct system that brings water from the mountains to the town. We had free time to get lunch (they are famous for baby suckling pig but I was refused at a restaurant). I had a kebab instead. We walked along the street stopping again at places to hear the history. We ended at a castle, a real castle that looks like a medieval castle. We then had free time to explore then meet back at the bus. It was a little boring although I found my knight in shining armor. Shame he is inanimate and on display in Spain!!

When I got back to my local Metro I was shocked to see how busy the streets were. It was 7pm on a Sunday night and it was like 7pm on a Friday/Saturday. So unbelievably busy! I walked the steeets exploring for a bit, bought a waffle then headed back to my room.

Tomorrow I have the full day here so I will explore the city of Madrid. Tomorrow night I leave Europe and fly to Dubai for a few days before coming home.