Arrived in Dubai...

Arrived in Dubai at 5.30 local time this morning... that's 3.30 Leuven time... after a 6 and a half hour flight... I got to the hostel quite fast by taxi, and it looks like a decent place... and the pool looks good too... haven't slept here yet, an didn't take a swim yet either, so I'll tell you later if it's really good... I've seen quite a part of Dubai already... Been to Bur Dubai and Deira, and I've seen the edge of Palm Deira (one of the new island groups here in front of the coast. One thing that's striked me from the moment I got off the plain is the humidity... at that time it was only 24 degrees, but a few hours ago, I saw it was 35... Sweaty weather, I can assure you... After putting my luggage in my room, I first tried to get on a bus towards the centre (at the busstop, I met the first people from Leuven on this trip), but appareantly, it's not that easy.... they're often full, and if they're close to full, the drivers just don't let you on... So after half an hour I gave up on that, and took a taxi, which cost me about 15 Dirham (3 euro's)... after that, I had quite a walk through an area called Al Souk Al Kabeer... which has the grand mosque, Dubai museum, an old neighbourhood (from around 1900) called Bastakiya... That's on on side of the Dubai Creek, so I took a small engined wooden boat to the other side, with quite a few modern building (a.o. the twin towers), the gold souk, spice souk...and some highrise hotels.... walked on a bit towards the huge Hyatt hotel, and passed a dozen of mosks, more souks, and somehow ended up at the chicken and bird market, and the fish market (including a shark restaurant). Except for the heat, humidity, and sun from about straight above my head, what struck me is that about half of the population is Indian, Pakistani ofr Sudanese... There are Saudi's here of course... and they're quite easily recognisable (will post some pics later on)... After walking on a bit towards the coast, I saw a part of Palm Deira (one of those Belgian products ove here), went to eat and drink something, and got back to the hostel... Luckily half a litre of bottled water only costs 1 Dirham (20 cents) in a street shop, cause my pores are all cleaned out, and I've had to refill on liquids quite often already... Tomorrow I'll head out to Jumeira... I think the rest of today will consist of a nap, and maybe a swim... As I already said.. first pictures on the way... if I find a pc where I can reach the USB ports... Greetings to everyone!