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UAE April Sketches (Part I)

15 July 2013 • Travel time: with 15 April 2013 on 29 April 2013
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This is not Egypt, this is much more expensive.

One of the impressions after the rest.

- There is oil in the UAE.

- And that's all?

- Yes, now there is everything.

Almost a conversation between two tourists.

Choosing a country for vacation.

Well, in the UAE, we were not serious. Cheap hotels, very expensive tours and "empty" (compared to the Red Sea) Persian Gulf did not inspire us to travel to this country.

We were preparing for a trip to Egypt, good thing we already feel at home there. The hotel for rest (Albatros Junglie Aqua Park 4 *) was chosen, the price for it ($ 2.400 for 14 nights, settlement 2 + 1, all) was quite satisfactory, but here the unforeseen happened - this hotel disappeared from the list of available for booking from all tour operators Of Ukraine. In fact, it was sold by only two tour operators (Annex and Thesis Tour), it disappeared from both: immediately and irrevocably. A few weeks of waiting did not change anything, the hotel was "on foot".


He tried to find out from acquaintances travel agents what was going on, received vague explanations that the Albatrosses had severed agency relations with Ukrainian tour operators and would not be sold yet.

Decided: no problem, let's go to our friends Sunrise Mamlouk or Sunrise Garden. It was not here: the prices for these hotels in February soared to two and a half - three thousand dollars. March did not bring much change in price, and in early April, these hotels stopped selling until May 10. And here's a failure! More or less normal hotels in Hurghada or Sharm have risen sharply by an order of magnitude, and I did not want to fly into the "killed" Egyptian fives to deal with difficulties and problems. And here came the option from the UAE.

The tour operator was quickly identified: there are only two major players working in the UAE in Ukraine: Natalie Tours and Join Up. The level of reliability in both is high (according to a survey of vacationers), and prices in the "Join Up" were clearly cheaper, and significantly, by 200-500 dollars.

So, there was no doubt - Join Up.

Choice of hotel, type of food and date of travel.

Choosing a hotel in the UAE was not easy. Beach hotels were rejected immediately due to their high cost. Dubai hotels did not suit either the location or the price, the infrastructure of some also raised doubts. Prices for hotels in Sharjah (a neighboring city of Dubai) looked quite attractive. So they started looking for a hotel right there.

The requirements for the hotel we had were: the availability of its own kitchen, convenient location near shopping malls and supermarkets, proximity to Dubai, good reviews and a high rating on the website of Turpravda. After a short sorting, there are two hotels left: Golden Tulip Sharjah 4 * and Ramada Sharjah 4 *.

A few more days of reflection, and "Ramada Sharjah 4 *" confidently won by a clear advantage (more reviews of tourists, all positive, high rating, almost perfect location (as for a city hotel) and cheaper price).


Well, it seems that everything is clear: the country has been decided, the tour operator has been chosen, the hotel has been selected, determined by the type of room and food, and the date of departure. Everything was simple with the room: the hotel has "small" rooms (75 square meters and one bathroom) and "large" (100 square meters and two bathrooms). The "big" room was about 25% more expensive than the first, we reasonably decide not to overpay, and huddle in the "small" room. Close of course, but, as they say, "in the crowd, but not in the image"; -)))). The food option was also clear: breakfast alone (in our version) was $ 700 cheaper than the breakfast / dinner system. A great convenience in the version of "Bad & Brekfast" was complete freedom in food for the rest of the day, without being tied to the hotel (the next vacation confirmed the correct choice of this type of food). By the way, in this hotel the cost of food for a child is divided into several age groups (up to 2 years, 2-6.6-14).

For the sake of interest, I looked at the difference, feeding a five-year-old child (in our case) for two weeks is $ 110 cheaper than a six-year-old. Well, like, saved; -)))

I looked at the prices for this hotel on the tour operator's website. We considered the following version of the tour: 14 nights, 2 + 1 accommodation, a small room, BP food. Tours with departures in two or three days were significantly cheaper ($ 1.700) than tours with departures in a week (2.000). The problem was with the visa - on the website Join Up, in black and white it was written that a guaranteed visa requires at least six days. It was possible to take a risk and try to get a visa on a "hot" tour, but it was not a fun option not to have time to get a visa and wait for it at the UAE airport, not to mention the option of refusing the visa department.

The idea is that a family of three, with the same last name, who has no "sins" during previous visits to this country and does not have an Israeli visa in his foreign passport, received permission to visit the emirates guaranteed. But, estimating all the pros and cons, we choose a more expensive but calm option for a visa.

On April 8, I drive to the "YOUR TOUR" travel agency with money. Manager Anna quickly kills all the data to obtain visas, asks me to check the data again, and (after all the formalities) sends a request for maintenance. We have two foreign passports (the daughter is registered in the wife's passport), so an additional $ 140 for visas. After all the discounts, the price of the tour was $ 1.934 (including visas). It turns out that one day full day stay in the tour package costs us $ 150 (1.934:13 = 148). In my opinion, the price is reasonable.

Departures to Join Up have no alternative: every day the flight "Air Arabia" G9 294 Kyiv-Sharjah at 13.50 picks up vacationers there and returns by flight G9 293 at 9.00.

It was possible to "play" in the Annex with the time of departures, but there was no such opportunity.


Four days later (April 12), Anna called and said that visas had been opened for us, and she sent me a complete package of documents for the trip. After all, how convenient it is to receive all documents by e-mail and save time! I print out all the documents in two copies (one goes in a backpack, the other in a suitcase, just in case), and, according to the documents, we are ready to travel.

This trip of ours was not very different from the previous, "Egyptian" ones. It was not necessary to have so many different clothes (it's not cold in the UAE in April) and the sunscreen series of creams and sprays was the maximum, an umbrella from the sun on the beach, that's, in principle, all the differences. We pack almost all conceivable medicines for a child (in the UAE medicines are very expensive, and it is not always possible to find an analogue), changeable shoes, etc. , and the little things.

A "tourist lunch" is on board separately: according to the rules of the airline "Air Arabia" food on board is paid, consists mostly of snacks, rolls, soda and more, prices as in a good cafe. Unfortunately, according to the new wonderful "anti-terrorist" rules, liquids with a volume of more than 100 ml cannot be brought into the salon (they say we will not give terrorists a chance). We pack food for the child, do not forget about ourselves, and throw in the "salon" bag a few packets of juice (will be taken away during the inspection, and horseradish with it, and maybe we will carry). Another important nuance: you need to arrive for check-in not two hours before departure, but THREE! Why I don't know, maybe they give me more time to study the Duty Free range; -))) Well, as if everything is collected, you can fly.

Simple arithmetic: departure at 13:50, check-in starts at 10:50, drive to the airport 30 minutes, sketch another twenty on possible traffic jams, together departure from the house was scheduled for 10 am.


A friend in the car arrived on time, sit down and start. The road (by Kyiv standards) is deserted, we get there quickly, as soon as we enter the airport we start wondering how to get to Terminal D. We never flew from this terminal, so we try to follow the signs. It didn't work out - we had to climb the viaduct, and we drove to the lower exit, where the markings did not allow us to stop. Our driver carelessly waves his hand (they say, get off quickly and I'll go), and brazenly parks in front of the bus from the chess. . , ugh, Hasids. We jump out, take out our suitcases and bags, say goodbye, and hear: “Hello, Kyiv City Traffic Police greets you, why is the capital's driver so rudely violating the traffic rules? ». Damn, the GAI officer got off the bus with the Hasids, that's a failure.

Zheka (driver) shows documents:

- So we just unloaded for a second.

- And that the strip is continuous, so you do not know?

- I know, where to park here?

- And upstairs it was necessary, and that your toning is so strong, you do not know the standards?

- That's how she came from the salon, I have all the documents!

I don't walk, I stand by and pretend to be worried. The GAI officer squints at me unhappily (without witnesses there is a better chance to "negotiate" with the driver amicably), but I'm not going anywhere, and "hang" next. The expectation is that he is accompanying a group of Israelis, and he does not have time to draw up a report, and the witness will not be able to cut down "lightly". The conversation lasts a few more minutes, the GAI officer is called from a patrol car standing nearby, and after giving us a couple of instructions in an instructive tone, he turns around and leaves. Ugh, good luck… Say goodbye and go to the terminal.

We determine our route by arrows, go up to the second floor, look at the board - check-in for our flight is already underway, quickly find a bar and take a turn.

The gloomy border guard is studying our documents, for some reason he is looking at my passport for a long time, checking the original with the photo several times, checking visas and packing. Let's move on to customs control. As it is impossible to carry liquids to salon, we finish drinking mineral water near a customs post the big garbage container, I want to throw out an empty bottle, but at first with interest I look in the middle. That's right, it's full of aerosol cans, creams, soda bottles, a couple of bottles of WINE and even a barely started liter bottle of vodka resembling a bottle or a bottle we will not be thoroughly checked. And so it turned out - passed without problems, "smuggling" was saved! Check passports and we're all in the departure area.

In Terminal D, the departure area is huge, deserted and unfriendly.


Two identical dutas and cafes, a room "Mother and Child", and three rooms for smokers, operating on an idiotic scheme (the door to these smoking rooms does not close, so everything around within a radius of ten meters is permeated with smoke).

We looked at the range of duos - everything is banal and familiar, nothing extra-original. We buy a couple of bottles of Mozart chocolate liqueur for 15 euros (it is problematic to find it in Kyiv), sweets for a child, and go and wait for boarding.

Boarding the Airbus A 320-200 is made from the "sleeve", so we did not even have to go outside. We go into the salon, sit down, listen to "invaluable" instructions from Arab children, who from the monitors tell us in English all the rules of conduct in emergency situations. The staff of the liner consisted of Filipinos, one of whom spoke fluent Russian.

- I'm sorry, can my wife and child and I move to the beginning of the salon?

- No, these places cannot be occupied.

- Behind us the drunken company constantly swears and does not allow to communicate quietly. If you do not transfer us, then soon you will have a scandal on board, at least, a fight at most. Moreover, for the next five minutes. My patience is running out, or transfer us here, or calm the violent passengers yourself.

The stewardess thought about it, outlined the situation of the stewardess in English (I understand, senior in rank) and, after consultation, pointed us to the free row ahead. Hooray, the problem has dared! We collect things, move to new places, and peacefully reject.

Then the flight was peaceful, we had a snack with our food, gave Margot a tablet to watch cartoons and spent the rest of the flight talking about future vacation.

Sharjah Airport.

We landed, plunged into the bus, went to the airport building. Then our group "Ukraine Tourist" was delayed because it was not clear where to go.

Several people saw the stand with the inscription "Passport control" and rushed there, the rest (including us) confidently followed them. There we were all wrapped up by an Arab woman in a uniform and sent for a retinal scan.

We take turns, stand, wait, I hear behind the conversation of a boy and a girl, both in their twenties. I listen to the bald man's statements:


-… Tanya, the main thing is not to blink, and everything will be fine!

- Does it hurt?

- Well, how to say, it burns, and quite strongly, the main thing is not to blink, or you'll get rid of it!

- Oh, how is everything so dangerous?

- Arabs, they do not feel sorry for anyone! !!

As if inadvertently turning my head, meeting the eyes of a guy, he winks - aha, another joker!

Poor Tanya takes everything seriously, and with horror looks at the line that is shrinking in front of her, to the scanning machine. Unfortunately, they were standing in line behind us, and I did not see the end of this sincere drama; -)))

The scanning procedure itself is simple - lean over the scan panel, two seconds and free!

Margo was not subject to scanning, which made her very disappointed; -)))

We pass passport control in seconds, pick up our luggage and go to the airport. It's too late, but there are many representatives of the party, they indicate the direction of movement with smiles, it is extremely difficult to get lost.

There is a stand on the street, behind which the Arab puts ticks in front of the names of tourists. The Arab presents roses to all women and chocolates to children. In our case, it was a little muffled, and Anyuta got a bar of chocolate, and Margo - a flower.

At once I pay attention to the fact that the room has two bathrooms, although we paid for a "one-toilet" room. Not bad, let's look further: a large corridor, a mini dining room, a sitting area with a low table and a TV, a large equipped kitchen, and a bedroom. Another door was locked, it was never opened for us. After a while I realized that we were given a large room, but access to one bedroom was closed.

In general, I really liked the room and planning, and "filling".

The first acquaintance with Sharjah.


Hunger is not an aunt, we throw things away and hurry for a walk for food. We go into the elevator, press the number "1", go down, the door opens and we are on a normal floor, obviously this is not the first floor. Below the number "1", just the key with the letter "G", press it, and, hurray, get to the reception. It turns out that in the UAE, the European system of calculating floors, unusual for us, and, in my opinion, strange, where the second floor (according to our system) is the third, etc.

It turns out that we do not live on the 21st floor, but on the 22nd floor.

We go out into the street, questioned at the reception, where the Lou Lu supermarket, and the receptionist and doorman confidently lead me across the road in the direction of a huge building with the inscription "Sahara Mall".

By the way, in the UAE I was just killed by a specific Arab trait. If you ask them for directions, they will always point you in the right direction.

Even if there is no idea where the desired object is located. Well, literally no Arab refused us a search for various shops, buildings, etc. , but it often turned out that there was nothing close in this direction, and why we were clearly shown the wrong way, it is unclear…

The way to this shopping center was through an overpass equipped with two elevators. Later we used them sometimes, but mostly they were used by people with bicycles, carts and other bulky items.

We go to the "Sahara Mall", I ask where "Lu Lu" is, the security guard confidently points down, right at the entrance to the supermarket ..."Spinneys". Well, it's strange, but since the desire to "eat" has gradually grown into a desire to "eat, and soon", we go there.

The supermarket is standard, we collect more ready-made food (grilled chicken, rice, bread, yogurt), juices and yogurts, and then quickly go to the room.

It is harmful to eat at night (at half past eight at nine o'clock in the evening), but we all rush to the grilled chicken. We start dinner and… we understand that it is impossible to eat chicken, it is very peppery, it is impossible to eat. Here's a pancake, I take the chicken to myself, I give rice and meat to the girls, they try it - it's also spicy and inedible! ! ! ! ! In short, had a snack with yogurt and pastries, that's the end of this difficult day.

In the morning pra-a-active alarm clock, hinting that if we want to visit a restaurant for breakfast, it's time to get up.

We struggle to get up, do morning exercise, and go down.


Zaafaran Restaurant is to the left of the hotel entrance. It is decorated in a pleasant European style, new furniture, huge panoramic windows face the street, for the convenience of dining rooms, they are closed blinds, needless to say, that the room is air conditioned.

When you enter the restaurant, you call the number of your apartment to the person behind the counter on the left, after which he will offer you to a free table.

Breakfast that day was very tasty, there was my favorite fried bacon, fresh fruit and omelet. To order an omelet, you need to go to the window leading to the kitchen and report the desired number of servings and fillings. As further practice has shown, quite often the ordered omelets were simply displayed from the window, and if you did not wait for them, they were immediately "taken away" by other hungry guests.

This problem was solved by a pair of dirhams for one of the food delivery people, after which he brought the order to your table.

From drinks it is possible to take in the automatic machine a juice drink (orange, pineapple or apple content of juice in a glass makes about five percent).

Unfortunately, the vending machine often confused drinks in places, so that pressing the button with the inscription Apple, it is not necessary to pour apple juice; -)))) Sometimes the machine just poured unpainted water, so the fun was still the same! Coffee and tea were offered during breakfast, and if there was more or less tea, the coffee was very soluble Nescafe, so there was nothing to luxuriate.

There were no problems with feeding a five-year-old child - a variety of cereals, vegetables, muesli, yogurt were perfect for this purpose.

Bus and beach.

After breakfast (around ten in the morning) we take towels (standing to the left of the reception, around the corner) and stand waiting for the bus.

Please note that most people waiting for the bus are not in the cool lobby of the hotel, but on the street, at a temperature of about 35 degrees.

00, picks up from the same place where he lands, although possible options, it all depends on the occupancy of the parking lot.

Mamazar Beach Park.


To enter the beach you need to buy tickets sold to the left of the entrance to the box office. The ticket costs 5 dirhams ($ 1.36), children after two years are paid at the general rate. I look at Margo with doubt, she is five years old, 117 cm tall, looks a little like a two-year-old child, but I decide not to buy a ticket for the sake of interest, I think: the guards will wrap up - I'll buy. I buy two tickets, go to the entrance, the guard lazily tears our tickets and turns to other visitors - swept; -))))

We go into the territory, nice territory, randomly go to the right. A little tangled paved paths, get to the water, the temperature is 37 degrees, and there are almost no people on the beach.

There are also no sunbeds, umbrellas and service - we just have a wide strip of sand and water, and nothing more!

Okay, get under the palm tree, go watch the water, which is warm (24 degrees) and clean. Animals are not observed in the water, the bottom is full of stones, everything, to put it mildly, is not impressive.

In general, we swim and sunbathe until noon, after which we gather and go to explore this beach park. On the territory we find several large and well-equipped playgrounds. All of them are completely deserted, which is not surprising - in the sun about forty degrees, all the main parts of slides, swings and more, made of metal, so it is absolutely impossible to use them. Margo finds a swing in the shade, rides for ten minutes, and we move on.

We leave the park, go to the parking lot, time - half the first, before the first bus a lot of time.

Near the parking lot is a public transport stop, which has two pavilions for waiting passengers.

In one of them the air conditioning system does not work, so it is completely empty, because no one wants to be in an iron heated box, we go to the second, there is a bliss of cool seats and air.

Without fifteen hours we regretfully leave our oasis, and go to the crowds of tourists from different hotels watching their buses. We are lucky - almost immediately two buses from "Ramada" arrive, one fills up and goes, the other (in which we got) honestly waits for tourists until the first hour of the day, and only then goes to the hotel.

Earthquake.

In the hotel we have a rest from rest on a beach; -))) Anyuta goes to the bathroom, Margo rushes to the room, and I decide to fill out the questionnaires issued to us when transferring from the airport to the hotel.

I sit down at the table, write, after a while I notice the shaking of the table.


I look at him in surprise, then I hear an unpleasant squeak from above - I raise my head and see the chandeliers swinging in all directions, and I do not have time to understand what's the point of a glass falling from the arm of the chair. Earthquake! ! ! ! ! I quickly pretend that you can't use elevators during an earthquake, you can't run away from the 22nd floor quickly, so I decide to just film this chaos. Anyuta takes a shower, I decide to "encourage" her:

- Anyut, don't pay attention, but maybe we'll fall now!

- What? ! ? ! ! ? I can't hear!

- I say, we have an earthquake! ! ! ! ! Let's get out of the bathroom slowly!

- And why slowly?

- And not to create panic; -)))! ! ! !!

- Well, you! ! ! ! ! What's so bad?

- I do not know….

Margot cheerfully portrayed balancing on a chair, Anyuta hurriedly dressed, and I… I looked curiously out the window at the tourists and Arabs pouring out on the street.

All this lasted five minutes, after which the chandeliers calmed down and froze.

We decide not to change our plans, and at half past three to go to a meeting with the guide.

At 3.20 pm a bell rings in our room, and a woman's voice reminds us that we have a ten-minute meeting at the reception. Ok, let's go down and find our guide at the reception desk.

I forgot the name of the guide, we saw her only once, but were pleased to communicate with her. In pure Russian, the woman informed us about all the nuances of being in the UAE in general, and in Sharjah in particular. She spoke about the nuances of buying gold at the Sharjah Gold Market "Gold Souq", the tricks of local taxi drivers, and much more. Our conversation was constantly interrupted by calls from her friends, who hurried to share with her news about who and how survived the earthquake. According to the guide, such events in Sharjah happen every five or six years, the current shocks came to us from Iran, where the epicenter was about 8.5 points.

In Dubai, many frightened residents jumped out of banks and shops, leaving valuables and money. Good luck with our adventures.

We leave the hotel and go in search of the supermarket "Lu Lu", where according to many reviews the lowest prices for products. The guide gave us fairly accurate guidelines, and in ten minutes we reached our destination.

Lou Lou Supermarket.


This shopping complex belongs to the Indians, on the ground floor there is a grocery supermarket, an upstairs exchanger, and industrial goods, even higher electronics. After a few visits I can describe it as "good" in range and prices. I haven't seen such direct low prices there, most goods are really a bit cheaper than Spinneys, but it only makes sense to buy at Lu Lu with large purchases.

The vast majority of ready-made products in this supermarket was impossible for us to eat due to the excessive (to our taste) passion of chefs for peppers and spices. The grilled chicken was not something that "with fire", it just "burned"; -)))), the finished meat was of two types - sharp and not very, so, this "not very" for me was enough to make tears. Vegetarian samosas (bags of dough with vegetables) were also "spicy", almost all the cakes were from the same opera. But I realized all this much later ...I saw a canned mango, happily grabbed a jar, well, I think I'll eat (yes, now, the mango was generously seasoned with chili peppers: - ((() Bought a "blue" crab (16) dirhams for 450 g), half a kilo of shark fillet (7 dirhams), all sorts of delicious.

I always read the composition of products - I look at juices in large canisters, almost all 20-30% of nectar, found only one 100% juice (orange, 11 dirhams per 3 liters), which is interesting, shelf life even in a closed package is only 20 days. It turned out very tasty, all the rest of the holiday we bought this juice as the main drink, occasionally took others for variety.

Sahara Mall.

Loaded with shopping, we get to the hotel, have lunch, and go out on the promenade at Sahara Mall. Honestly, I don't like such shopping malls, but I made an exception for the Emirates.

Boutiques, branded stores of sports brands, cafes "a la Ponty", perfumes - prices are all higher than in Ukraine. We don't find anything particularly attractive until we go up to the fourth floor of the left wing (if you go from Sharjah). There is a playland, children's joys in the form of delicacies and attractions.

The payment scheme is simple - buy a card, deposit money on it and move on!


The price range for children's slot machines is wide - from 2.5 dirhams per race or shooting, to 17 dirhams per slot machine, where you can pull a small ball out of leatherette. Margo is torn between the machines, I only have time to spend the card to pay, tried about two-thirds, then Anyuta decided to try his luck, and pull out the ball, empty the card, accurate movements with the joystick, and the ball falls into the prize compartment. By the way, this one costs 50 dirhams in the store, so to be honest - there are three attempts.

I invent an adventure for myself - I decide to ride with Margo on a train, like a mini roller coaster. Except for us, there were no people willing, we get in the first car and the JSC started!

The safety system in this fucking attraction is very simple - a small thin metal handrail is lowered, which is not something that does not hold the child, it does not even touch her! ! ! !!

Given that the train moves quite fast, and often makes sharp turns, the chance that Margot will fly out of the seat, and fall from a height of seven to eight meters, was quite real. With one hand I cling to the handrail, with the other I tightly embrace my daughter, rest my feet on the floor and look forward to the end of this trip with HUGE impatience. He throws us from side to side, Margo laughs merrily, and I scold myself through my teeth for this absurd idea. See such attractions! ! ! ! ! Thank God, everything ended well, on shaky legs we go down to Anyuta. I buy for the whole family "soothing" in the form of ice cream, and go to the hotel.

At the counter I ask about the Internet, answer: No problem, wireless internet for hotel guests is free! ».

I am cautiously asking several times if it is free (the website states that this service is paid - 3 dirhams / hour), a smiling Filipina assures me that there is no cover, shows a sign where it is all written. Okay, I get the password, and go to the room.

Internet at Ramada Sharjah.

We have dinner, take out the tablet, enter the password, a few seconds, and we are online. I'm checking the speed - it's quite decent 35-52 MB / s. I start Skype, dial the number of relatives in Ukraine, the subscriber is on the spot, we communicate. All the rest we periodically went to the Internet, in the evenings we talked on Skype, looked at news sites, and then there were some nuances of using the Internet in this hotel:


In our room (as it turned out later in many others), the Internet works fine only in the immediate vicinity of the front door (hall, seating area). In the bedroom, he is already working in the "lucky or unlucky" mode, and the signal is often interrupted.

Although (according to the receptionist) the password is issued once for the entire period of rest, we had to learn a new one three times, because the hotel server stopped letting us into the network.

3. Some sites cannot be viewed because they have been blocked by admins. I still understand why sites with erotic content were not opened, but that's why two Ukrainian FOOTBALL sites and one news site were blocked, it remained a mystery to me.

4. The speed is quite decent and stable, video communication works fine. Especially if you sit under the front door; -))).

We understand the features of the beach.

We spent the first half of the next day on the beach, discovering some useful nuances along the way.

First, after entering the territory, it is desirable to go to the left side of the beach - there is concentrated all active life (locker rooms, toilets, shop). The beach in this part is fine sandy, sometimes there are cobblestones.

Secondly, you can rent sunbeds and umbrellas (10 dirhs). We rented them only once, because it is expensive and inconvenient. All umbrellas have a blunt end, and their whole engineering art should be dug deep, and they should be dug through the winds, which easily pull them out and carry them all over the beach. On particularly windy days, many vacationers either lowered them as low as possible or closed them altogether. We found a place under the palm trees, spread out large brown towels taken from the hotel and settled down perfectly with all the amenities.

We have to buy a ticket for children after two years, I didn't take a ticket for Margot, we just passed with an unmoving look, we passed nine times, twice we were turned to the box office; -)))

The beach is periodically patrolled by police on the SUV. They very carefully drive past vacationers, and look violators. At my place, they stopped at three hookah lovers who smoke it on the beach.


The police did not even get out of the car, they stopped near the smokers, called a friend and told him something. I don't know what, but a couple of minutes later the hookah was packed in a bag; -))) On this day we were unlucky to leave, the bus arrived small, and we were waiting for another, which turned out to be forty minutes of standing in the sun, this is clearly not the best end to a beach holiday: - ((

We rest in the room, have lunch of shark fillets, fruit and ice cream. We go down to the reception until five, and talk to other tourists waiting for the transfer.

The hotel bus arrived on time, picked up everyone, and we went to Dubai to the metro station "Deira City". We drove for fifteen minutes, landed near a huge shopping center, the driver reminds us that he will leave from the same place at ten o'clock in the evening. Ok, I'm taking a picture of the landing site, and we're going to the subway station.

The main purpose of our trip to Dubai is to buy tickets for the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa. Buying tickets in advance is much cheaper, we have enough time in the UAE, so we go to the tower for reconnaissance.

All entrances to the subway in Dubai are made in the shape of turtles, which helps to easily calculate them in the city's mazes. We go down the escalator, find the cash register.

The payment system in the Dubai Metro is quite confusing (at least for me). There are one-time cards, silver, gold, cars of different values, etc.

We have planned to go more than once, so we buy two pieces of "Silver Card" for 20 dirhams each, 14 dirhams fall on the card itself. Okay, let's go to the turnstiles.

Next to them hangs a sign that children over the age of five must pay for their travel. I think, I lean towards my daughter:

- Yes, Margot, if you are asked how old you will show four fingers!

"That's right. "

- Okay, let's go the other way, do you want ice cream?

- Then you are four years old today!

It is clear?

- Yes, and when will I get ice cream?

- Today, after leaving the subway.

- Yeah, agreed!

I take Margo in my arms, hold the turnstile card, the amount is displayed: "14". I walk with the child behind the turnstile, lower it, let's move on. As it turned out, no one is particularly watching the age of the children, with me ten or twelve-year-olds also passed as four-year-olds, so I wasted on ice cream in vain; -))))


The subway itself has many pointers, so you can navigate quite easily.

Find the right descent, stand, wait for the subway, look around. The metro is positioned as "the safest and most modern in the world", the doors leading to the rails are closed to the carriageway, they open at the same time as the car door, and a monitor hangs overhead showing the time left before the train arrives. The average train interval is 5-6 minutes, in my opinion, it's a bit too much.

We arrive at the warehouse, the doors open, and… the uncontrolled movement of passengers from the car and vice versa begins. In the Dubai metro, no one is waiting for passengers to get out of the car, the open door of the car attracts Arabs like Aladdin's cave, so the crowd from the platform begins to break into the car, ignoring those who want to get out, they, in turn, understand that the desire to get out still need to be implemented, and break to the exit.

More than once I watched the picture, how especially weakly they clung to the handrail of the car, waited for everyone to enter, and then quickly jumped on the platform. So to speak, a national sport; -))) Several times there were conflict situations with tourists (including me), when the departing Europeans did not let particularly fast passengers in the cars, just pushing them aside. I let Margo in front of me, putting my hands forward, showing with all my face that God forbid someone should break into a child! Help; -)))

We get in the car, find a free place by the window, go. We drove thirty minutes to the required station without a change, the car was already the usual international: tourists, Arabs, Negroes, Asians in equal parts; -)) When passing through the turnstile, I enclose a card, and shows the amount charged for travel, and the balance on the card (for this trip we took 4.10 dirhams).

If the card does not have enough money to pay, the machine starts screaming with a vile sound, hinting to you that it is so easy to get out

Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original
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Супермаркет
- Папа, ну купи мне эти конфеты!
Цены в киевском
Наш самолет
Инфомониторы в
Летим в Шарджу
Марго еще не перестроилась от снежного Киева к солнечным Эмиратам
Пляж Маамзар Бич
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Карл Маркс и Фридрих Энгельс (арабская версия)
Свежая пресса
На наш вкус, лучшие соки в ОАЭ
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Супермаркет
Оч-чень вонючая рыба!
Варим!
Марго делает халабуду
Жареное филе акулы
Суп варили один раз - первый и последний!
Важнейшая информация!
Метро
Метро
Метро
Грандиозная стройка возле
Переход от метро к
А В А Т А Р !!!
Бурж Халифа
Бурж Халифа
Жуликоватое кафе!!!
Бурж Халифа
Мужчины налево, все прочие - направо!
Манекен в
Манекен в
Петросян ???
Машина, для перемещения по
Машина, для перемещения по
Можно подумать, этот араб когда-то видел стиральную машину вживую!
Стиральный порошок
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