I do not like small boats. After various misadventures in the past, I have vowed never to set foot in one ever again. However, this trip promised a unique opportunity to visit an island inhabited by thousands of puffins and other birds. So I tried to be brave, and stepped into the small old boat. Our captain was 77 years old, with white hair and piercing blue eyes. We pulled out of the harbour, and I tried not to think about the arctic water that surrounded us. The boat rocked chaotically from side to side, the undulations increasing as we went further out to sea. I kept my eyes firmly on the horizon, keeping track of the increasing size of our destination. Finally we arrived, and somehow managed to clamber from boat to shore in between ocean surges.

However, the saga was not over. We were then scramble the near sheer cliffs, with only the occasional ladder placed over the dirt for assistance. About one quarter of the way up, I had had enough. I sat down and refused to go on. Adrian sat by me and comforted me until I was calm enough to appreciate our surroundings. I later learned that Rob had captured this moment of my anxiety:

We decided to slowly return to the shore. I would feel happier away from the cliffs, and Adrian would be closer to the puffins for photography. John also joined us, although he constantly lifted his eyes and scanned for the return of Jay. The island that we were standing on was formed from the magma core of a volcano 700 000 years ago, slowly eroded by the seas. As we were the only three people around, I was able to sit quietly and watch the birds in detail.

There were hundreds of kittiwakes, puffins, and guillemots roosting in the cliffs. The puffins were very skittish, as this island is used for hunting during various times during the year. They always looked worried and sad, as if they were contemplating global warming or their impending arrival on a dining table. It was very odd to see them suddenly take off into flight on their stubby little wings. They look so similar to penguins that I almost expected them to be flightless. I sat in the sun, amongst the birds, and watched them ferrying food to their new hatchlings hidden in small rock burrows. By the time the boat returned, I was so relaxed I slept all the way back to the mainland.

The cheapest way to get from Australia to Brussels was via the UAE on Etihad airways. Who were we to bicker with this? So we booked our tickets, with a day in Dubai in between our 15 hour and 8 hour flights. Flying Etihad was up there with flying Asiana Airlines – amazing service, great food, comfortable chairs, gift packs, and video on demand with hundreds of movies and tv shows from which to choose. I actually wish the flights had been longer, I was having a great time.

We landed at 5 AM in Abu Dhabi, and were ready to leave the airport by 6 AM. Etihad offers free shuttles from Abu Dhabi from Dubai, but the first one was leaving at 8:30 AM, so we decided to pay for a taxi instead. Because Etihad’s website was acting strangely, we booked our tickets and hotel through Flight Center. When I pulled out the hotel voucher and map in the taxi, I saw they had given us the worst map in the world – without a single building or street marked upon it – Deira is name of the whole old town, not a landmark.
We were so lost, and the poor taxi driver spent a long time driving up and down the streets, jumping out to ask people where the hotel was. Finally we found it, a dodgy little two-star place hidden in the corner. It was far from glamourous, but they let us check in first thing in the morning, which meant we could have a delicious nap before venturing out into the city. We spent the morning exploring the perfume, gold, spice, and textile souks. I bought some saffron and other spices, as well as a mortar and pestle. Out in the streets, nearly all the shoppers were men. The few women who were out and about ranged from mostly Asian women dressed in jeans and t-shirts, to young women dressed in long pants and tops with a sparkly scarf tightly wrapped around their hair, to older women in pairs wearing black burqas. Out of respect for the local culture, we both wore long pants, Adrian had grown a beard, I threw a shawl around my head, and we refrained from holding hands or displaying the soles of our shoes. None of this was strictly necessary, as Dubai is a modern multicultural city.

We visited the Dubai museum, as well as two old buildings retained in the style of the previous century. Heritage House was the home of a merchant built in 1890, and Al-Ahmadiya School was a traditional school built in 1912. Every room was filled with mannequins, making it very easy to visualise the lifestyle of the people of Dubai one hundred years ago – even the room in the museum that displayed ancient burial mounds was accompanied by models of archeologists standing proudly over their discoveries. As I walked into the Heritage House, I was surprised to find a warm and bright courtyard in the middle of the building. We were invited by the staff to sit down on some cushions, and were presented with some free pancakes and tea. This would be the only outside area that the women would be permitted to experience while uncovered. What a contrast to the neighbouring school, where the boys were educated in reading, writing, theology, and mathematics. It made me feel very thankful that I am an educated woman of the twenty-first century and not an illiterate sheltered wife of times past.

Leaving Deira, we caught an abra (boat) across the river to Bur Dubai. The dozens of wooden boats moved swiftly past each other through the water, on the Dubai Creek that has been the life blood to the city for centuries. At eye level, the hand carved boats seemed to enact an ancient scene, until one raised ones eyes above the horizon, to see the towering skyscrapers growing throughout the booming city. One third of the world’s cranes are in Dubai, and the bright blue sky is filled with their silhouettes. The new elevated train system, along with the world’s tallest building and the world’s largest shopping mall, are scheduled to open 09/09/09. We spent the afternoon exploring New Dubai – the Burj al Arab sailing boat hotel, the Madinat Jumeirah resort styled as a Arabian citadel, and Ski Dubai, the indoor world of snow situated in the Mall of the Emirates.