Friday 4 October 2024
Well, this a rather belated update on my latest travel project as I look down the club lounge in the First Choice Marina Hotel in Dubai on a huge oil refinery which is the basis of the obvious wealth here in the Arab Emirates.
Now the first thing I would say is that surprisingly, the large round tanks you see in the foreground, are not oil tanks, but water storage tanks, as this site is not just an oil refinery but also a desalination station which supplies water to the city of Dubai.
Now just think, Scotland, which has over 90% of the oil around the British Isles, is about to lose the only oil refinery in the country. Now apart from the loony greens and SNP most people in Scotland realise that oil is going to be greatly important for many years to come especially when because of crazy government policies we are all paying for the idiocy surrounding the sanctions on Russia and on top of that we are edging daily nearer a middle east war which will double fuel prices within the first week of such a war.
Actually, that brings me to the main reason I have waited until almost the end of my trip to post a Nautical Nomad blog and that is that I have been very busy on various social media platforms commenting on the awful situation in both Gaza and now Lebanon.
So, anyway getting back to the trip which started last Wednesday with the bus ride to Glasgow airport, on a beautiful, sunny morning, The photo is of the river Tay and Tay bridge.
It was a long day ahead, with a flight from Glasgow airport to Bangkok in Thailand. This time I flew with Emirates which is a cut above most airlines in both comfort and food.
It was one of these days which never seemed to end with a change in Dubai, but after more or less 24 hours of travelling, I arrived in Bangkok. There I boarded a bus to Hau Hin, another three hours traveling.
The last time I visited Hau Hin, I stayed at the Anantara Hotel which is a beautiful resort hotel on the beach but on the outskirts of Hau Hin. So this time I opted for The Centara Hotel in the center of Hau Hin but again on a very beautiful beach
The Centara Hotel is a beautiful colonial building which started life as a railway hotel and has developed into quite a large resort with lodges on its extensive grounds. I had one of these lodges which had its own pool.
On one of the days there I took a trip to Khao Kalok in Pran Buri District. A beautiful part of the country with soft white sandy beaches and an interesting forest park.
One of the notable aspects of Thailand is the food, especially seafood., There was a small restaurant not far from the hotel that offered quite a surprisingly varied menu which over the week was adequately sampled.
So after a nice 6 days at the Centara Hotel and one night at a hotel near Bangkok airport, I boarded the flight yesterday for the six-and-a-half-hour flight to Dubai and was pleasantly surprised, when checking in to be upgraded to a suite and I am sitting here looking out on the sun going down on Dubai.
Another day here before heading back on an 8-hour flight to Glasgow. It’s always good to be going back home to Scotland, but I will be back.
Bob Costello 