Dubai Museum and Dinner Cruise

The good news was that I did able to fall asleep, even though it was for a short time of 6 hours.  I can handle it, I have gotten by on even less sleep before.  Woke up promptly at 7AM for our long day ahead in Deira section of Dubai.  I fixed myself some breakfast consisting of orange juice, chicken puffs, and coconut Greek yoghurt.  I enjoyed my breakfast in solitude on the balcony while basking in the warming sun.  The sky was quite hazy compared to the other days but still required the aide of sun glasses to fully see the view.

We attempted to get water from the gym on the 5^th floor but the dispenser was empty.  Back to the drawing board on that one.  Somehow, I got really drowsy and went back to sleep only to be awaken at 2PM for lunch.  Needless to say, I felt really rested after the 4 hour nap.

We took the metro to Deira City Centre which took about an hour only to find ourselves in the wrong metro station.  We had to backtrack to Khalid bin al Waleed station since we wanted to visit the Dubai Museum.  Knowing that our time was tight, we took a taxi to the Dubai Museum.  The entrance fee was only 3 AED (less than $1) and we went over the exhibits for about an hour.  I learned more about how life was back then and how much has changed over the years.  By the time we left, it was already dark.  We took an alleyway to the wharf area and strolled down near the creek.  There was still plenty of bustling from the locals as they boarded and crossed on river taxis across the water.  One notable building stood out and it turned out to be the government building.  The design is very ornate and grand so it stood out greatly. 

We saw dinner boats lined up one-by-one trying to solicit customers to dine with them.  We got a good deal with one group who wanted 125 AED per person and eventually went down to 100 AED.  We boarded the Palm Oasis and immediately went to the bottom lower deck where it was air conditioned.  We enjoyed mango juice promptly when we sat down.  The magician went from table to table doing tricks for everyone starting with those tables with small children.  The boat left at 8:30PM and we were served vegetable soup.  It was very salty but very still very savory.  The dinner buffet spread consisted of salad, grilled eggplant, fried fish, curry chicken, mutton, chicken nuggets, noodles, basmati rice, steamed veggies, watermelon, lemon baklava, and other assorted food items.  The food was not that impressive but since it was a buffet, it was expected to be not great quality.  The service was good and we were thoroughly well taken care of by the wait staff.  After dinner, the magician came out with his coat and top hat to entertain us once again with a better show.   

We made a long walk back to the metro that took about half an hour only to discover that it had closed an hour before.  Defeated, we took a taxi back to the Dubai Marina only to have the driver drop us off at the opposite side of the Marina.  We tried to figure out how to get across but gave up and got another taxi driver to take us back to our residence. Once we got back, it was well past midnight and we still had some planning to do for the rest of the trip.  We decided to make our trip one day shorter since it was recommended that we do not stay overnight in the desert since it is so hot.  There would not be any air conditioning in the tents so we decided to take the abbreviated tour for 6 hours in the desert.  Also, our chances would be better for upgrades from Dubai to Atlanta.  We did some rearranging of our schedule to cram everything that we wanted to see in the next few days.