Do you Dubai?

After leaving Melbourne on the day of lasts and last lasts, we flew 14 hours and landed in Abu Dhabi.


The internet, sometimes friend, sometimes foe, had alarmed us with information of what you could and couldn't bring into the country and we had eliminated all possibly controversial items and posted them direct to Teddington. We were also ready for boarder control, Abu Dhabi boarder control is consistently set to intimidate. Russ and I, being unmarried had be cautioned to go through separately which we did. The sweet joy of success almost made us want to kiss when we hit the other side but that would also have been technically illegal.
We caught a coach from Abu Dhabi airport to the Dubai Marina Mall after dragging our suitcases outside into the already oppressive early morning heat. The bus driver gave us both cold bottles of water and we found ourselves some seats on the beautifully cool coach. Russ started to drift off a bit after the long flight but I was more alert than ever. In retrospect he noted that I was “a bit quiet” in truth I was more than a bit freaked out. The last time I had driven this road we had been tail gated at more than 100km per hour, and this coach we were on was starting to look rickety. I checked out the driver, did he look like he was in a hurry? Was his the last face I'd see as we jack knifed into a Lamborghini? Was completely irrational, when we finally got going the coach, if anything, felt a little slow, it only took about 45 mins or an hour to get to the Marina mall from memory where we instantly jumped into a cab and headed off to the Jumeirah Beach Hilton. See now the taxi driver was more what I was expecting Dubai driver wise, slightly crazed, a little heavy on the break, but it was only 5 mins so I was willing to get over it.

When we finally got to the Hilton our room wasn't yet ready, so we waited in the foyer and got ourselves a little brunch. Club sandwiches and impressive fruity drinks which would have been the poorer for the inclusion of Alcohol. All I wanted was a shower and a nap so I was grateful when they called us to our room. Gorgeous big bed, and a huge window looking out on to the Arabian sea from our balcony. I would really only be able to appreciate it after an hour power nap and a change of clothes. Russ read while I napped, he would pay for that later.

We called Bec from the hotel and got directions to her apartment before getting into another cab and heading on over. Maybe a 10 min ride this time, but this guy wasn't so bad. We headed up and finally got to meet baby Harrison! He was wide awake after a feed and ready for cuddles. We had lots of presents from Oz for him and it was nice to get to sit down and relax properly.
As the sun started to dip below the horizon, Russ started to look catatonic, this is when he was paying for not napping. We headed back to the hotel and he said that he would take a little nap before dinner. He didn't wake until 5 am. Outside it was already at least 30 degrees, so I got my bathers on and we headed down to the pool. No one but staff was up yet and we ran the gauntlet of good mornings. Every person we passed, from the lift door, past all the desk staff, the guy polishing the floor, the guys by the front doors, the guys setting up the breakfast til finally we got to the door that takes you out and to the pool area. Everyone a good morning, the first time, we felt like rock stars, the second time was sweet, but after the third time it got a little grating and we felt bad for feeling annoyed by it. We had the pool all to ourselves and grabbed a couple of big beach towels for drying off afterwards. Russ had no bathers with him so he sat by the pool watching the myna birds taking baths at the edge and I jumped in for a swim. After about and hour and a half he told me we should think about heading in for breakfast and I swam off with a call of “just another 5 mins” and like a dad trying to get his kid out of the pool we played this game for another hour and a half.
After my 3 hour swim I was ready for breakfast and we headed straight in. Anything you wanted for breakfast was there, just with the pork products secluded off into a corner, far, far away from all the other food. If you ever go though, do not turn your nose up at beef bacon, its actually quite nice. We hit the breakfast bar like it was going out of fashion, more than making up for the previous days lack of sustenance and then headed up to shower and change before heading out for the day.

Harrison was a bit tired that morning so we headed to the Dubai Mall for a bit of shopping before visiting. The Dubai Mall is the one with the Burj Khalifa out the front which looks not unlike a giant hypodermic syringe injecting the sky. Its giant, filled with shops of every shape and kind as well as an aquarium housing sharks of many species and some very nervous fish.

After walking in, one of the first shops we saw was Brunetti's! Yes, Brunetti's has a branch in Dubai, we bought up big on our way out and lavished Bec and Ryan with Canolli.
One of the things I love about Dubai and Abu Dhabi is hearing the call to prayer 5 times a day. Just the sound of it is beautiful and I like that its a moment for people to stop in the day.
We got Russ some bathers from Marks and Spencer, I told you they had everything, so he could join in the swimming and once we got sick of the wandering we headed off to the metro station to catch the train to Bec's. The metro is a relatively new thing, its clean and seemed pretty frequent and dropped us right out the front of Bec's place, how could you complain about that! We had some more cuddles with Harrison and time with Bec before we headed off for our evening swim before dinner. Dinner itself was another buffet but with the added bonus of belly dancing and live music. The pool, the fruity drinks, the heat, I didn't want to go home, but return we must. We woke on our last morning for a final swim before breakfast and check out so we could catch our coach back to the airport. We used up the last of our Dhirums in duty free and boarded the plane for our relatively quick 7 hour flight to London.

Russ had fun but was glad to be home and drank in the sights of Feltham from the windows of the X26 heathrow express bus. Me, I wanted to be back with the warmth and the fruity drinks and the pool with its swim up bar. Oh Dubai, why you gotta be so far away?

Next up: Gay Paris