Jumeirah Beach, Burj Khalifa, Desert Safari

After breakfast, we took the hotel shuttle bus to the beach - Jumeirah Beach - with a view of the Burj al Arab.

The sand is white, the water is turquoise-blue, the weather is super hot, and there is hardly anyone on the beach as far as the eye can see.

After 2 hours in the sun, we went to the Burj Khalifa, really impressive how huge this building is!

For lunch, we went to the Dubai Mall - I had pizza with bell peppers and tomatoes, and of course without cheese, and Cynthia had noodles with sauce, not really spectacular but quite cheap 💪

Then we took the metro back to the hotel. There are only 2 lines in Dubai - the red line and the green line - with relatively few stations.

At around 4pm, we started our desert safari. We were in a jeep with 4 other people and drove out of Dubai for 1.5 hours. Eventually, we pulled over to the right and our guide Salim started letting the air out of the tires without explaining why 😄

And then it started...

We quickly realized that Salim had good control of the car, but Cynthia was still a little scared 😄

I was sitting in the front, and Cynthia was sitting in the back with a couple from the USA.

We arrived at a spot and met others, and then it started for real - 45 minutes through the desert, going up and down the sand dunes, sliding back and forth, and it was just amazing 💪

Afterwards, we went to a camp. First, we had a small appetizer, then we had time to look around - we got touristy and got henna tattoos and watched others trying on burqas and taking photos.

Then there was a buffet, not a lot of options for me, but enough to get full.

During the meal, various dancers performed - first a belly dancer, then a man covered in LED lights spinning for what felt like an eternity... Not spectacular, but funny to watch 😊

Now we're finally back at the hotel and pretty tired - tomorrow we continue to Auckland 🙆