The mix of people is multi-cultural as they come from all over the world to work here. Lots of Filipinos and Indians work e.g. in the gold souk (district) as ‘marketers’ – “Hey my friend. You want a copy watch? Rolex? Breitling?”

All in all they manage to lower the GDP (BIP) of the United Arab Emirates to about USD 56,400 per person per year, which is still one of the highest in the world.

But prices are of course negotiable. At one place I wanted to buy stamps. I was offered four stamps for AED 20 (4€), but when the guy wanted to give them to me he noticed that he didn’t have any left. So we continued.

At the next shop a marketer led me to a small room full of souvenirs. His friend was taking over the selling. First offer: “In Dirhams? Hmm, let’s say 150 (30€).” To send four postcards? You gotta be kidding me! His next offer was 100 and then 50, but I was already leaving the shop. I had seen that the original price on the stamps was AED 3 and I was not willing to pay more…

The numerous skyscrapers in the middle of the desert are quite amazing. The Burj Khalifa is the largest one. With its 828m it is currently the tallest building in the world. The observation deck “At the Top” is located in the 124th floor (452m), so not really at the top. Unfortunately the tickets for today and tomorrow (reservation required) are sold out and instant tickets (no reservation required) are AED 400 (80€). Instead we’ll go to the “Level 43 Rooftop & Lounge” (at 155m) tomorrow.

You’re right. We didn’t mix up the planes. The picture in the previous post has indeed been taken in Dubai, inside the Mall of the Emirates. And it shows real snow (with up to 400m downhill slopes).

Fun fact: Outside temperature is almost irrelevant as airport, metro and malls are a closed system. While the sun shines outside and it’s about 35°C warm, the shopping mall is well tempered at 19°C and the ski park inside the mall is cooled down to -3°C. Wow.

After about six hours of sitting inside the plane with not nearly enough space to fall asleep, we are now 5139 km and three time zones away from home. Very sleep deprived we’re hoping to get a bit more of Dubai tomorrow.

Maybe we took the wrong plane after all?

Just went into the plane and ready to lift off. Let’s go!

After what felt like hours of preparing and playing tetris to fit everything into the backpack, it’s finally time to start this journey for me as well.

Currently I’m sitting in the train, heading towards a beautiful sunset. Direction: Köln. I’ll meet up with a friend there for one more quiet evening in germany and will continue tomorrow to catch up with Ben in Krefeld.

… and of course I’m ready for No-shave-November as well. I’ll go even further and extend it till mid December!