Dubai - United Arab Emirates

My research for Dubai (pic. 1) indicated I should take the hop-on/hop-off bus visit the museum, take the walking tour, visit the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, take the Dhow river cruise, then see the spice market and the gold market. I also saw that on Sun. there was a free Mosque tour at 10 a.m. so thought I would start with that. Maybe if I could figure out how to do it I would fit in the Ski Dubai.

However our port lecturer really discouraged the hop-on/hop-off bus and indicated hopping taxis between individual stops was the way to go so I reserved judgment, got off the ship and checked out the taxi situation. When I finally decided to go the taxi route I had the bad luck of attempting it when all the passengers with luggage were leaving the ship. As a result all the taxi's wanted to take them to the airport, expecting a longer and more lucrative fare. They all denied knowledge of the location of Jumeirah Mosque, which was only about a $5 cab ride away. I went back to the information desk to check out my options. There was to be a shopping shuttle but it wouldn't have gotten me there in time for the tour so the lady from the desk came out and made a taxi driver take the fare. The driver was not pleased. After I got to my destination (pic. 2 & 3). I tried to pay him but he would not make change. Luckily there were people who wanted to get in who made
change for me. But then he refused to take them and drove off. I was a bit worried that when I was ready to go back to the ship which was even closer to my last stop of the gold market I would not be able to find anyone to take the fare.

I found the tour starting point, paid my fee, got my headscarf on loan and was enjoying my day as more tourists showed up for the tour. While waiting I met a lady who was in Dubai for her fourth and final day. I decided to review my plan with her to get her input. I also mentioned a private tour that my friends and table mates were on. She voted for that because of the guide narration. She also indicated that the Palm island wasn't much to see to drive down it and view it from the hop-on/hop-off bus. She was headed to the golf course and then the Mall of the Emirates after the tour and I could share her taxi if I wanted as she has pre-arranged one to pick her up. I was considering that option and then the private tour from the ship that my friends were on showed up and they invited me to join them. I needed to make a quick decision. My last experience with taxi's in Mumbai wasn't very positive so I bailed on my independent plan and joined the tour.
Unfortunately I had to abandon my mosque tour to do so as they had only planned to walk around the outside and continue on.

My day then took on a new flavor as I proceeded to see the highlights and high end hotels of Dubai.