Standing at 828m in height, just over half a mile high, it’s awesome and stood on the 154th floor with champagne at 585m is an awesome view. We have been up the tallest building in the world.

Afternoon chaps

So here we are in downtown Dubai after searching shops for another pair of grundies each. Put it this way you can only wear a pair of pants four days before they need a wash.

Mrs Fogg decided to visit the local “thrift stores”, where t-shirts have slogans such as “trendy, hip to be and my other cat has hair”. After I educated her in the fact thrift is not what she thinks it means and instructing her that she dutifully must walk behind me at all times in this country (shhh don’t tell her), we found a new set of duds and clean unsmelly pants.

On then to the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa, via the sky tower where you can walk on a glass floor and slide down the side of the building on a carpet. we also found a place to cook our own dinner.

On then for a photo stopportunity at the Birk. Today we received a postcard from our luggage which is currently enjoying the sights and sounds of Singapore!!!!

Awesome pickup, awesome flight and food and that’s where it ends.

Flight arrived 1hr late so missed the connecting flight however Emirates new after this weeks downpour that all flights were delayed or cancelled, but still transported you to Dubai where it was your responsibility to sort it yourself by queuing for 9 hours to rebook your flight along with hundreds of other passengers and 6 checkout staff. The people just kept surging so you couldn’t move.

Next flight to Singapore is in 3 days, so we would arrive after we are due to depart to Bali. So rebooked from Dubai to Bali in 3 days, can’t get a hotel voucher from Emirates since compooota says no, you should have been given a voucher when they rebooked your flight. So now booking our own, oh and we also have no luggage, won’t get it before we leave Dubai so it’s having a holiday on its own.

Amazingly 12 hours after we landed, Emirates posted a backdated “do not travel alert” showing the time before we were due to set-off, in full protection of the company, even though they advised hundreds of flights to take off for Dubai. Oh I can see a formal snotty complaint coming.

So awesome it is not, no clothes, delayed flight, incompetent staff, no currency. We are tired and smell. Still slightly better than some who have been in the airport 3 days.

And now the Dubai Savoy, well it’s a minor step up from a DaysInn (only just), with spectacular views of a main road and a supermarket car park.

Still off we go to explore downtown Dubai and buy another pair of undercrackers, I’ve been wearing these 3 days and they only have one more turn left in them.

Well here we go, the first leg of the trip to Bali, first stop Dubai (along with water wings for the arrival), then onto Singapore for a few days.

This morning we had a chauffeur collect us and whisk us all the way over the the airport.

Hello Britain we want you to move from dirty nasty orrible fossil fuels to clean sustainable electric. So where does the electric come from eh?

Buy an electric car, get screwed by the fact if you want to charge it at home you need to pay over £1k to get an over priced plug installed.

Charge it remotely and hello £0.85 per KWh to charge a car that does 220 miles (so 66.6Kw x £0.85 = £56).

Insurance, oh right sorry we don’t insure electric cars so bugga off and pay more.

Basically, maybe in 30 years the UK may be ready, just not today

Mrs Fogg dragged me to Manchester to the Discover the world Holiday Show and oh dear, how dull about 12 stands with companies offering “holidays”, one even offered a cut price hotel in Madeira where you had to sit through at least 90 minute “time share” when you arrived. One stand was so bored she was knitting for goodness sake!

Anyway 32 minutes later we left (after finding our 2025 holiday on a luxury South African train journey).

Food then, Teppanyaki oh yes!

That’s it road trip over and one of the least amount we have travelled (in the car) of 663 miles (not counting the two ferries.

This morning up and out from the “NOT Shangri-La”. Since this “hotel“ is closer to the airport, even though we ended up actually driving back past the actual Shangri-La (how does that work Mrs?). Just putting it out there that the Shangri-La was closer, cheaper, nicer, with better food, you can swim in the pool with Mr Doobie and you don’t get woken at 01.30am when the next door occupant spends 40 minutes shouting at the top of her voice to her partner stood next to her in the hall way!.

So what have we seen, a fraction of Canada, but so much more to plan and see, and next time it’s an RV trip around (especially since Mrs Fogg now has a Bear Bell to carry).

Next stop Gatwick (dirty ans chaotic in comparison to Cancouver airport).

Well our last full day in that there Canada before starting the journey home. A fantastic 2 nights in the Vancouver Shangr-La with our monster cycle round Stanley Park, before the monumental 10 minute drive to Capilano and a suspension bridge.

Tonight we are slumming it in a Best Western literally 5 miles from the Shangri-La, to keep costs down, except the hotel costs the same! Has no breakfast included and is not anpatch on the Shangri-La (you can tell by the clientele who go to the parking lot swimming pool (yes a pool in the parking lot) swim whilst puffing a doobie and then starts to BBQ in parking lot.

We were kept in suspension HERE

Onward then to Grouse Mountain with a cable car and a ski lift, through grizzly bears and into the blue yonder

We’ve stayed in the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong Island, Shangri-La Singapore and now at the Shangri-La Vancouver and we have to say this one is just awesome. With a massive hallway, entertainment room, bedroom, bathroom (with the biggest shower ever) and balcony, this hotel is something else to round off our Canada trip.

Food this evening was at the Keg just opposite the hotel, with a fantastic surf n turf, before a late night trip to the 24 hour gym (to work off those calories).

Shangri-La is HERE