THE VIEW FROM MY ROOM ON THE 12TH FLOOR
With the Dubai 13 now the Dubai 4, it was time for us to check-out of our hotel and head for the Jumeriah Beach Hotel (JBH). The place is unreal, its 5 star and looks directly out on the Burj, probably the most famous hotel in the world. The JBH has 22 restaurants and bars, a marina, an unbelievable fitness area, numerous floodlight tennis courts, a climbing wall, and numerous other impressive facilites.
Also, Wild Wadi, the 'must see' water park attraction, is onsite. After a quick bit of grub with Dec, we hunted down Conor and headed for the slides. There was just three rides of note. The first and best one was built for speed. I don't know how high up it is but its prett high and takes nine seconds to go from top to bottm at a top speed of 80km per hour. It has one major dip in it and just before you get to it, you get a bollick load of water in your face so you don't know to expect it and then it drops and you feel like you have lost contact with the slide before returning to a more acceptable incline. Hairy enough. Deccie was trapsing around like it was his first time out of theWest of Ireland. He had the sandles in hand and the glasses on throughout. A sight to behold.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach looking out on the Burj and the Arabian Gulf. It must have been in the mid-twenties today and was very bearable for our pasty white skin. As the sun begins to set here, the temperature drops considerably, so at around 17h we called it a day. We headed back to the rooms to chill out for a while before meeting in the lobby at 19h. Next stop was the Mall of Emirates, apparently the biggest shopping Mall outside of America. The hotel runs a mini bus to and fro so that was handy.
The place is huge with too many shops to comprehend. The most impressive feature is the indoor ski slope. The thing is massive and covered in snow. Its totally surreal. There are about five different passages down and we stood watching a fair few novices roll instead of ski down the slope. The Bull is on about getting a beginners hour before he goes back but he'll be on his own I'd say.
Breaking from the Irish abroad traditions, once we got back to the hotel we agreed to head to one of the local hot spots. The Barista bar is located in The Meridien Hotel, is set at the foot of a cluster of sky scrapers and looks out on The Palm. Just after midnight, we were joined by some of the Nordies who had had the same idea as us. The banter was a little subdued as everyones batteries are running low. We hopped in the Taxi just after two and were in our beds by half past.
Not before I had a chance to quickly scan the web for news of the Cork Hurlers statement though. I have not had the chance to go into the details of it but it looks another serious blow to the chances of a resolution. At this stage, it is hard to know who is telling the truth but the hurlers are being a complete pain in their arse. There can't be any doubt that they want to pick their own manager. They have said they want to meet all the club chairman, an effort to rally support for their fight against the County Board. Given how quiet they have been in recent weeks, one presumes they have spent the time canvassing and that they feel they have sufficient support for their cause. I think todays newspaper will be my reading for the Dubai Istanbul leg of the journey home.
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