Who said it only rains in London?

We've had a weekend in London, staying in Clapham North with Lauren's cousin Emma. Claphams a great place with lots going on, it's nice and central and there are loads of Kiwis and Aussies.

On our first day Tony and Emma took us to Tower Bridge, Borough Markets, St Pauls Cathedral, the London Eye, Westminster and Big Ben. Borough markets were made famous by Jamie Oliver, and are home to the best brownies in the world, so naturally we had to try some.

After a refreshing Pimms on the Thames, we ventured out on our own to Notting Hill Gate and the Portobello Road market. The highlight was the red velvet cupcake from the Hummingbird Bakery, an institution in Notting Hill. We like the cake in England, they know what they're doing.

Today (Sunday) we jumped on the tube to Camden Town, which is a punky / gothic area with markets full of union jack t-shirts with safety pins and fluro tights. From here we walked to Hamstead Heath in search of Parliament Hill, famous for kite flying. We couldn't find it but enjoyed the park all the same. People sunbathe in their bikins on sunny days in the park, even though there's no beach.

Primrose Hill was next, which is home to the rich and famous including Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. Sadly we didn't spot any celebs. We finished off with a walk through Regents Park past the boat house back to the tube.

With three more days in London we've still got a lot to do. We're hoping the weather holds out for Grenwich, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

Sand, sun and shisha

It feels like we haven't posted in weeks, but it's only been 2 days. It's called the desert affect.

We spent our second day in Dubai. After being advised not to use public transport because its "so dodgy" we purchased a 10 trip ticket and went on our way. This was a great way to see the city, as we visited the 7 star hotel shaped like a sail, had a swim at the beach, ventured into Diera which is the old, poor part of town, and checked out the mall with the ski field in it.

Dubai is basically a city for people with money created by people who have money (quote un quote, Lauren B Thatcher). It's all about luxury and the tackier the better.

Then the rest of our time has been spent in and around Abu Dhabi. The evening is the best time of day as Olivia, Shwan and Shwan's sisters are all finished work and the weather is much cooler. We have enjoyed some al fresco dining, shisha (apple flavoured pipe) and traditional arab food which is pretty much like Turkish but we like it. The Morrocan tea is a bit on the sweet side and Kim has to drink double time as Lauren can't stomach it and we don't want to offend the Arab men who give us free tea.

The highlight has been our Dune Safari which was last night. We were picked up and taken outside of Abu Dhabi to the Dunes where we did 4 wheel driving, camel riding, dune boarding, dressed up in Bhirkas and enjoyed a traditional bbq dinner. Even at 5pm it was about 50 degrees in the dunes, so it's pretty hard to imagine how anyone could live there.

Today we are heading to the grand mosque and will go to the Emirates Palace tonight with Olivia and Shwan. Then we fly out tomorrow for London so will have to pull out the winter woolies again.

Love hearing from you all, talk again soon.

Love Lauren and Kim

Who in the name of Allah would live here?

Not us is the answer.

Today we arrived in Dubai, then caught a 2 hour bus ride out to Abu Dhabi. The men here aren't used to people like us on the street, so we got quite a few stares.

The desert it turns out, is hot. 37 degrees at 10 am this morning, and then we stopped counting ...

The decor is quite artificial and lots of sand. It's a mass of unfinished construction and hazy skies.

The photos here were taken in the 3 minutes we ventured outdoors, the rest of our day was spent under the air con inside. Lauren is taking a photo and trying to fit into the Muslim dresscode, and the other is of the house we are staying in. There's nothing around where Olivia and Shwan live so we're looking forward to having the car for a day.

Departure

Today's the day we've been thinking about for the last 3 months. Today we leave behind the wintry weather of Auckland to go to Dubai where it's often 40 degrees. We'll be keeping a blog of the next 90 days we spend in Dubai, the UK, but mostly Europe. x