Day 51 - Desert Safari

Today was aweeeeesomeeeee! Desert safari time!

The Land Rover picked us up and drove for about 40 minutes before taking to the sand.
Today's activities were dune bashing followed by eating at a camp in the middle of the desert.

The dune bashing was immense! I really didn't think the poor Land Rover would be able to take the strain!

After being thrown around like a ragdoll for an hour, we arrived at a camp in the middle of the desert where we were given a really good kebab-type starter and buffet meal. They also had shisha, henna painting, and live entertainment!

It was a really lovely day out, a day I certainly won't forget for a long long time!

Day 50 - Dubai Marina Mall, Boat Ride, Mall of the Emirates

We went on a boat ride today that gave us a good view of the Burj al Arab and the awesome (yet unfinished) twisted skyscraper building.

The boat went the whole way around the Palm, and I was reminded as I was splashed by the sea that it is really hot! The sea in Dubai is like a warm bath!

After the boat right we went back to Mall of the Emirates, had a bit of a look around, and then returned home. This is the life!

Tomorrow is going to be INSANE.

Day 49 - Atlantis Hotel

Wow, 45 degrees celcius today!
We started the day by going to the world famous Atlantis Hotel at the end of the Palm Jumeirah.

We looked around for a bit, the place is absolutely massive! They've got an aquarium in there as well, just like the one in Dubai Mall!

Then we strolled to a nice restaurant on the beach and I had a WELL good pizza!
Dubai is so relaxed.

Day 48 - The Dubai Fountain

We spent most of today swimming in the pool at my aunt's apartment.
When nightfall hit, we headed back to Dubai Mall to grab something to eat and look at The Dubai Fountain.
It was absolutely beautiful! It starts up every 15-20 minutes and lasts for a few minutes.

It's so humid, even at night! We're having a wicked stay so far.

Day 47 - Dubai Mall, Dubai Aquarium & The Underwater Zoo

We went to another one of Dubai's malls today, and it was absolutely MASSIVE!
It has a record-breaking aquarium, an underwater zoo, and an arcade that actually has rides too!

After looking around the shops and getting some ice cream from a shop called Candylicious (omnomnom), we went to Virgin Megastores, as they are still massive out here! They have all sorts in there, pretty neat.

Then we went to the massive aquarium tunnel. Sharks, fishes, stingrays, the lot!

 

Next stop was the Underwater Zoo, even more animals we hadn't seen in the previous 2 places! PENGUINS! I could have stayed there all day. EEEEE. There were snakes too. Ewww

There were also plenty of fishies that weren't in the aquarium. They even had a Finding Nemo fishtank which contained all the species of fish from Finding Nemo!!!

Then we went to the awesome Sega Arcade, looked around for a bit, and then went home. Lazy day tomorrow for sure! I'm tired!

Day 46 - Arrival in Dubai, Mall of the Emirates

I wanted to take it quite easy today, as I'd been on a flight all night, but at the same time I didn't want to waste a day.
So, after I had settled in I went with my cousin Yasmin to the Mall of the Emirates. One of many malls here in Dubai, it was full of shops and even had a massive ski slope!

It's even bigger than it looks in the picture, and you can snowboard too! Yay for me!

We had a nice stroll round before returning home and getting a decent nights sleep.
You can see Dubai from the palm (my aunt lives on the Palm Jumeirah). The visibility isn't always great and it can be quite dusty due to all the sand.
They're building a lot as well, but it doesn't really take away from how beautiful it is!

Day 45 - Departure from Japan

Well, today was my last day in Tokyo. And what a day it was!
Joe left early morning because his flight was at 11am (he has to return to London before flying back out to Dubai, gutted!)
I rushed around all day to get some last minute bibs and bobs, popped back to Asakusa, Akihabara, Shibuya before returning to Iriya to pick up my luggage and heading back to Tokyo station to get the train bound for Narita airport.
I said bye to everyone at the hostel (Toco Tokyo). I was upset to say bye because they were all really really really nice!!!
As I glared out the window as the train darted through cities, I was really upset to leave. 5 days, as I suspected, is certainly not enough.
As I also suspected, the media has completely exaggerated the entire situation regarding Fukushima. Yes, there is still radiation in the affected areas, but Tokyo is not affected at all. There are no warnings, no less people, nothing.
Nevertheless, I will return one day and stay for a lot longer, and maybe venture outside of Tokyo. I've learnt quite a bit of Japanese since I've been here and can now hold simple conversations and make orders for food and drink, yay!

Quite frankly, travelling, if anything else, has made me realise what a shithole London really is... How disorganised and horrible everything is. Australia did a lot better than London at pretty much everything, and Tokyo was no different.
ALL trains I used (subway, overground, etc) were a MINIMUM of 15 cars (as opposed to our petty 8), AND they were bigger too. (Standard trains have 2 sets of doors on each side, these have 4 sets of doors on each side) Some coaches are even double decker.
Don't get me wrong, part of me will always love London. You can't beat London for clothing and a few other things, but on the whole, we're really behind.

I got on my flight smoothly, and slept pretty much through the whole flight. I'm just waiting for my transfer to Dubai airport now, and then it's time for fun!

It's 19 degrees celcius by the way. Cold for UAE, no? I didn't tell you it was 3am at the moment though, did I? 19 degrees celcius at 3am... Tomorrow is going to be fun.

Day 44 - Minato, The Pokemon Centre, Harajuku, Ikebukuro, Super Potato & Akihabara

Wow, today was an eventful day!

We started off by going to The Pokemon Centre, the official Pokemon shop in Minato, Tokyo. I had an overload of nostalgia and nearly collapsed, but it was all good.

Next stop, Harajuku! It's a shame that it was raining, but there were still super cool Harajuku girls as promised!

After lunch, we returned to Ikebukuro to visit Tokyu Hands, a department store that sells everything you don't need. I purchased a mario type box and star wars chopsticks! Happy days!

Lunch Dessert

Next, we hurried back to Akihabara to visit Super Potato, essentially gamers heaven. They sell every retro console you can think of. SNES, even pre-SNES. Sega Dreamcast, PSOne, Gamecube, GameBoy, GameBoy Pocket, GameBoy Color, EVERYTHING!

They also had these ULTRA CUTE Nintendo plushies which I definitely didn't purchase...
Photos shall be on Facebook!

A really long day, don't want to leave tomorrow!!

Day 43 - Asakusa, Ueno, Ueno Zoo & Akihabara

Another eventful day, despite it raining the whole time!
We started by heading out to Asakusa, to visit our first temple. It was beautiful. The walk through to the temple was lined with shops selling all sorts, from food to souvenirs. We stopped off and had a beautiful fudge ice cream! Omnomnom!

The temple was beautiful. There was a burning fire at the entrance which you are supposed to waft towards you (so the smoke goes on your body) to bring you good health.
Then, inside you can pray and light candles. There were so many people!

We got a bite to eat for lunch, I had gyoza. It was so nice! The food over here is exquisite, there hasn't been anything that I haven't liked so far.

Afterwards, we headed back to Ueno and went to Ueno Zoo. PANDAS! AHHHHH!
Only 600 yen entrance fee (about 5 pounds) and we got to see pandas, tigers, gorillas, a lot of animals that weren't in Australia!
I have to say though these animals didn't look anywhere near as happy as the ones in Australia. I guess they're treated better there.

Finally we headed back to Akihabara, played in a few arcades, got some dinner (Egg, fried breadcumb pork and rice! Delicious!) and then got a crepe afterwards, which had chocolate, ice cream, and cream in it. SOOOO GOOD!

Last day tomorrow and it'll probably be the best, time to go to Harajuku and hang out with the Harajuku girls!