Bhutan, Dubai, Doha, Kathmandu

[sprite]

We're going on a group tour of Bhutan in September. yay!! Lots of walking, so I have to get some practice in. Taking my walking poles.
Open to recommends of music, movies, or books pre-trip. In my head, I pretend that I'm going to learn the local alphabet and basic vocab. hahahahaha.

I'm looking at flights today (UK to Kathmandu), and the best ones have stopovers in either Doha or Dubai. And these are PROPER, 15 hrs + stopovers.

Neither city is on my radar. I am deeply uncomfortable with human rights records in both countries, I don't see the point of luxury shopping, and there's only so long I can spend in a spa.

What else would you recommend to do in those places? I was hoping to fly Singapore Airlines solely for the gardens in their airport, but that involves flying past our destination and then back again.

[whothingie]

Re Singapore gardens. They are stunning and I definitely prefer them over Dubai options of sand dunes or shopping. Ask yourself if you are likely to be back that way in the future or is it worth a detour to do something you really want to do.

[sprite]

Partner wants to go to Hong Kong some day, and I'd be happy to go back to Borneo or Malaysia...
But it's something I'm thinking on.

[tzarine]

tho i will probably not return to hong kong, i can give you lots of tips. it's still an amazing city even tho the communists are trying their damnedest to destroy it. many of our friends have left.

i have a problem w dubai's human rights but i loved the old city & riding the abra
www.dubai-online.com/transport/abra/

we also hung out w locals @ a cafe near the mosque, drinking sodas & eating falooda

[Liiisa]

I wouldn't want to go to Dubai or Doha either, but sometimes you gotta do it I guess.

Re learning the alphabet -- I found that super useful in India, since once we were out of the city, many of the street signs were only in Devanagari and we would have gotten lost if I hadn't spotted one particular road sign. Of course now I've forgotten 90% of it.

[wombatrois]

We flew Emirates to Portugal and had an enforced stopover in Dubai (flight was delayed by 12 hours). We spent the entire time in the (free) hotel - researching Portugal, sleeping and going down to the restaurant for meals.

So I can't help with ideas on what to do :-D

[Liiisa]

I just remembered poor kneazle's extra-long stopover there! Yikes, so glad you're better.

[sprite]

Yes, yes, I am really hoping to not have a Kneazle-style visit to Dubai...

[kraken]

That sounds amazing, I definitely have trip envy!

Thinking outside the box, are there other European countries within easy reach with more palatable stopovers? In my mind it could be worth a short flight to somewhere like France, Germany, Nordics a day or so before/on the way back (plus bonus mini stopover in another country, yay!) if there are drastically nicer options for the long haul portion.

[kneazle]

Yes, I'm in no hurry to go back.
I can say I was well looked after and there were some really lovely people.

I did get to see the mistreatment first hand as the cleaners at the hospital only had one day off a month. This seemed appalling at the time but I now think they didn't have it too badly. The same two women were there every day and they were so friendly and happy. I saw the supervisor around and told her what a great job they were doing.

[tzarine]

the cab drivers in dubai were all south asian & one took us to this little working class joint that was a cabby fav for some great curries
i must admit the desert is pretty touristy, but tzarevich sandboarded. i sat around smoking shisha & getting henna. the food was pretty tasty too. kebabs (i per person) but all the mezze you can eat.

changi airport is pretty amazing & the food!

[kneazle]

There's a hotel Jumeirah AL Naseem that has a turtle sanctuary. It's near the Burj AL Arab and has really good coffee.

www.jumeirah.com/en/article/stories/dubai/meet-the-turtles-inside-the-dubai-rehabilitation-project

Also if you're cheeky you can walk through to the private beach and get a good look at the Burj AL Arab.

[tzarine]

the old sector
i bought a lot of spices @ the souk
great prices
theculturetrip.com/middle-east/united-arab-emirates/articles/the-best-things-to-see-and-do-in-dubais-old-quarter/

[sprite]

starting to look more promising!

[romily]

I flew via Doha to Kathmandu - but only had a few hours stopover so never left the airport.

The only other options besides the gulf region was to fly via India with a stopover in Delhi - now I love India and all that, but I also know how chaotic it is especially f you have to switch terminal...and the flights via Doha were cheaper as well.

[Liiisa]

I love India too but I would NEEEEEVER choose to transfer through Delhi! That airport is completely insane (or it was 20 years ago, and surely it can't have improved).

[sophie]

I transferred in Delhi once from an international flight to a local flight to Srinagar. I remember catching a few winks in the floor somewhere as there was a 12 hour wait. This was years back and it was a study of chaos.

[Liiisa]

Jan 23, 2023 21:52:52 GMT -5 sophie said:

I transferred in Delhi once from an international flight to a local flight to Srinagar. I remember catching a few winks in the floor somewhere as there was a 12 hour wait. This was years back and it was a study of chaos.

Well yeah I guess with an internal flight there's nothing you can do, and I don't know if spending a night or two there and then going back for the onward flight is any better!

[romily]

Just imagine you check your bags through and have to transfer at Delhi - you can be sure never to see the bags again. I had a direct flight to Delhi in - what was it, about 2011? Airport freshly refurbished with crazy pattern carpet buts still chaos - and had to wait for 3 hours to get the bags unloaded from a direct flight from London, and they piled them all into a big heap next to the luggage carousel...the mind boggles. At least transferring via Qatar or UAE - if you don't leave the airport - everything was super efficient.