A short stopover in Dubai

My flight arrived into Dubai at 5.40am and the next flight didn't depart until 2.25pm the same day. Emirates offer free accommodation for passengers with a stopover of more than 8 hours as long as they are booked on the next available onward flight to their end destination. I thought was a good idea for me even though I had arranged to catch up with some old friends in Dubai and have a look around.
Getting through passport control was a rather long process, long queues and actual process was quite lengthy, I had plenty of time so I wasn't too concerned though. Then trying to find out where the transfer to the hotel could be found was another trick altogether, after several enquiries I did eventually get to the right place though.
It was only a short transfer to the Arabian Park Hotel where I was able to freshen up before meeting up with Kathy Saxton for a express tour of Dubai.