


saltwater stings my lips. Fourteen years


after my first attempt at waterskiing I am trying again. This time, the surroundings are a lot more luxurious – I’m at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa – but my skills haven’t changed. I’m still rubbish! “Keep your knees together!” the instructor


P


bellows from the speedboat, but he may as well be telling me to perform triple somersaults as seconds later I nose-dive back into the waves. It’s fair to say I’m not a natural at the sport. But it’s fun nonetheless, and that’s what holidays are all about, right? To be honest, agreeing to give it a go had been more of a ploy to escape the searing heat for half an hour – it’s scorching. Dubai truly is a sun-worshipper’s paradise. But as I’m rapidly learning, there’s a lot more to it than that. With year-round sunshine and white sandy


beaches, it’s easy to see why tourists flock here, but the vibrant desert metropolis has so much more to offer than just a suntan.


‘Shopping is a great example of the contrast between old and new


cultures in the city’ 


      


  


                   


 


                 


                    


      


    


    


                                                                                                                                       


122 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE TODAY 


 


  


LUNGING spectacularly into the Arabian Gulf for a third time,


Above: Jewellery at the Gold Souq, Dubai - one of the city’s 1,200 retail outlets. PA Photo /


t h i n k s t o ck p h o t o s .


Left: Palm Tree Court and Spa at Oasis Beach Tower, Dubai. PA Photo / Handout.


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