Long Day in Dubai

For once a flight arrived early - not necessarily what you need when the arrival time was about 0500 local time!   We collected our bags and made our way through immigration and customs all too efficiently.  As a result, we arrived at our hotel before 0630 and left most of our baggage with the meeters and greeters (as our room would not be available until later) whilst we negotiated that we could use the pool changing rooms to freshen up.  Having had a shower and changed, we decided to have a wander.  This is not always the best option in Dubai (a) because of the drivers and (b) because the footpaths may end abruptly as one comes across the next building site (of which there are many).  Not much was happening so we went back to the hotel and decided to decamp to Dubai Creek golf course where we were due to play later.  We managed to secure an earlier tee time (some 2 hours better) and, therefore, scurried about to get ready to play.  We played with a nice Japanese couple.  The course has been remodelled a bit in an attempt to get the Dubai Desert Classic back and was both enjoyable and a good test - especially the last two holes which have the creek down the left hand side and other hazards down the right.  We went back to our hotel, had a swim and another shower.  When we were considering dinner, the decision was for something straight-forward so we went out to one of the shopping areas and found a Rivington Grill (basically the same format as the one in Greenwich);  as the evening progressed, the tiredness set in and approaching 9 o'clock we had both had enough and we set off back to the hotel to get some sleep in the hope that a good night would get us over the long flight here.  And, yes, we had to get "that" photo at Dubai Creek