After a long day travelling we have arrived and are settled in our room. 39 degrees here - cooler than i hoped but warm enough I suppose. The Virgin Atlantic Flight was ok despite lots of turbulence but the bed was 2" shorter and 2" narrower than me! Watched The Day The Earth Stood Still which I had someohow managed to miss buying on DVD - good remake but the original is still the best. Only one thing on the TV news when we got here - sad, but for goodness sake, move on people!
Fortunately the bed in the hotel is much bigger than the one on the plane! Spent an hour by (and in) the pool whilst waiting for our room to be ready due to arriving several hours before official checkin due to the overnight flight, but hotel didn't keep us waiting long. But they shouldn't really have kept us waiting at all, after all they knew we were coming. Minus a few points there I think.

Off to the club lounge for pre dinner drinks and canapes and then we shall eat. What delights await us in the Brasserie I wonder. We will probably just buffet tonight as we are all a tad knackered and tired and can't be bothered to do much more than drink, eat and then collapse into slumber.

I think I am in heaven. We are at a place called the Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa. When we told people that we were going to stay in the desert in Dubai in July, they told us that we were mad. We almost kind of believed them too. But then we got here and wow. Look at the view from our bed. We have Arabian Oryx wandering past and a huge array of birds, many of which come and drink from our own personal not overlooked ( except by occasional oryx) pool. We even have room valets who put towels on the sun beds for us! The temerature in the shade at midday is 48C or thereabouts, but after the humididty in Dubai city, it is absolutely great. It is a much drier heat and we have no problem spending all morning on the sun deck and in and out of the pool. Me? I stay in the shade and write on the laptop, Yvonne lies in the full sun, fully factored up and then we get together in the pool for a cool.

The food here is superb, fully the equal of michelin starred restaurants that I have eaten in. Let me give you a for example, tonights dinner menu was:

Amuse Bouche: Marinated Lobster with a rouille sauce
Starter : Asian Crab cake with Mustard aoilli, fennel salad and caramelized kumquats
Salad: Baby beetroot salad with karkadeh
Sorbet: Summer raspberry
Main: Fillet of Hammour with a spiced crab crust on a saffron potatoe puree with steamed baby asparagus and a light apricot and ginger sauce
Desert: Lavendar & Rhubard panna cotta with pistachio syrup & candied almonds.

Six courses of absolutely stunning prepared food, that tasted divine, and if you don't want what is on the menu, then, they will do you something that you like, you just work it out with the chef (madame chef!) in advance, no hassle, no fuss. My blood sugar is around 6.2 two hours after eating, and so no problems at all with my diabetes, and even if there were, then chef would work with me to sort it out. Not many places where you can say that and get haute cuisine.

Lunch today for me was sushi and a selection of fruit, breakfast was a full English (yes with pork sausage and pork bacon) with toast and marmalade. I have truly never eaten so well on holiday, and that does include staying at the Burj Al Arab.

We have stayed at the Burj three times now, and to be honest, I don't think that we will go back again. We will probably do two nights in a city centre hotel such as the Le Meridien so that we can get a full day of city shopping - Al Karama Souk is the best place for designer bargains on the Ralph Lauren etc style, and then we will head out to the desert for our main chilled out holiday in the summer desert. Yvonne will no doubt use the Timeless Spa again, and me, I will just write and swim and eat. Heaven - oh yes!