We are on our way!!! We left some dreadful weather behind in Christchurch. The departure was without stress, for me at least. Grey still had some last minute purchases to make but even he got everything sorted and we made it to the airport in time. Christchurch, Sydney, Sydney, Bangkok, Bangkok, Dubai. All in the dark as we kept up with the night, it only got light once we arrived in Dubai. 21 hours was again long enough sitting on your arse with your legs folded double. The food is good and the entertainment system makes the time pas quicker but it is still a long time. As we have a lay over in Dubai of more than 8 hours Emirates airlines puts us up in a hotel for free with breakfast lunch and dinner thrown in as well. We actually have 16 hours so after a shower and breakfast we took the metro and explored a small part off this unreal place.The first thing that strikes you here, after the killer heat, is the cleanness. No graffiti anywhere and by the looks of it no vandalism of public property. The metro has been open for 9 months and still looks like it was opened yesterday. The folks that are running the show are very friendly and helpful. The architecture of the place is out off this world. On the flight from OZ to Bangkok we sad next to a guy who was on its way to a hockey tournament in London, for the weekend! I couldn’t help myself and make a comment about the size of his carbon footprint, to which he said something about him not wearing a green shirt anyway. Once you get to a place like Dubai though, you have to admit that it is all very futile what we are talking about. The amount of resources that is being used up in this place is just staggering and the decadence of it all is overwhelming. We let ourselves being overwhelmed and enjoyed the show.
