Dubai 5th-16th June 2008

Hm, here's a place I can blog publicly about my Dubai trip 2008!

To friends and visitors... Leave your nick / name (no need to tell me WHICH blog you are from, unless you want the world to read it) should you leave any comments ya?


Love,
gl

Dubai Day Ten

Today's Saturday, my last weekend here in Dubai.

Bathed and still feeling VERY sandy.

Well, coz... Eugene, Irwan and I went for the desert safari! I must say, this is the highlight of the trip. Must join any agency for the desert safari if you ever come to Dubai. It's fantabulous I tell you.

As desert safari only starts at 3.30pm, we spent our morning indoors. We were picked up by the landcruiser 4X4 WD (wheel drive) at 3.30pm sharp, joining our jeep was a German couple. Journey from Jebel Ali to the desert was around 45 minutes or so. Eugene and I fell asleep on our way there. Pigs we are. Tired pigs that is.

First, we were brought to the sand dune along Al Alwir Road where individual dune bashing took place. You gotta pay to ride that lil' vehicle on the sand for half hour. Not cheap, so we just stood around, take pictures, see animals - donkey (my eeyore, Eugene says... and he made me pose with the donkey. -.-), camels, an undernourished monkey, dogs, horses etc... We watched the others engaging in their dune driving and realised that some vehicles are tortoise slow... Wonder why.

Then came the exciting part! We were brought into the depths of the desert where the real dune bashing took place! As the 4X4 went through the mountains of sand where it seems to be borderless, our hearts race as the vehicle brought us through 30 minutes of roller coaster ride. Sometimes my arse was just not on the seat and I find myself flying off the seat along with my heart. Wah lau... but it's really enjoyable. Where can you drive through the sand like

Next, we headed towards the desert for sunset photography. (though there isn't much a sunset, since it's summer, sun sets much later...) I really had a hard time posing for pictures, Eugene laughs at me, saying that I had a sour face throughout... :X And he felt that I didn't enjoy myself. Truth be told, I enjoyed myself, I am just not a very vocal person, I don't wow and wah but I do feel the fun inside. Just that, the sand was TOO much la, even with shades, my eyes were badly tortured by the pain the sand caused, especially with contact lenses on, the sand keeps rubbing against your lenses and eyes, it's simply TORTURE that was killing my eyes. Oh well. We saw others do the sand ski and it's funny IMO 'coz you gotta climb up to the top where you came from with the ski after you've skied down larh...

We passed by the camel farm but didn't stopover. After all, as the vehicle drives through the desert, all we wanted was to grab on to the handles for our lives, it was seriously hard to take pictures anyway...

Headed for the campsite where there were loads of 'stations' you could visit. We took the camel ride! Was great fun and my heart skipped a beat as the camel stood up and 'sat' down at the beginning and the end of the ride. One thing that's pretty gross is... the camels shit and pee on their way. Ewww...

There were souvenir stores (expensive), shisha stations (we didn't try), arabian costume station (Eugene looked pretty hilarious in the costume... haha...), freeflow drinks station, henna painting station (which I had henna painting done on my right hand and left foot. Whee, nice. But I think the Indians in Sg do a better job.) and obviously the spread of buffet + bbq food.

Like what the boys said, the desert is actually rather romantic at night! Incredible. Eating in the middle of nowhere, the skies are just above you, light music playing... very wonderful indeed + "got mood, got feel".

And to end off our night, there's the belly dancer who did a really good dance for us. Several dances to be exact. First two were solo dances then two with male / female audience respectively and the final one which was a solo dance. Very sexy dancer indeed.

It ended at around 9.30pm and the 6-hour experience is simply amazing. It's money well-spent!
(diff agencies have diff rates, we spent AED190 for ours, roughly 70+ SGD.)

You'll also truly understand the true meaning behind Dubai and the Emirates countries being famous for its sand...

Dubai Day Nine

It's Friday the 13th!

Eugene and I woke up at 7 plus and decided it's kind of early so we went back to sleep. Heh. Had our brunch with Irwan at Battuta. While the boys had KFC, I had fish & chips + shrimps set which was pretty good, of course not as fabulous as Sydney's.

The fish & chips store was so high class sia, they provide a beeper that lights up, beeps and vibrates when food is ready then you go collect it. Wheet.

(beeper beeping, the lights light up the entire round, i only managed to catch it when one bulb was lit up. diao. AED34 ~ SGD$13)

Went for a walk around the mall, the boys brought me to the pushcart that sells chocolate dates, yay, I'm gonna bring some home! And prob some dates / arabian sweets from Geants (the supermarket)...

We headed home for a rest first before carrying out our planned souvenir shopping trip in the afternoon. Fridays are such that people go to the mosques and shops are generally only opened after 3.30pm. We had our naps and left the house nearly at 5pm, the time for bad traffic. True enough, there was an accident on the highway (KNS, bus flipped, taxi kena buang-ed, dunno what happened to the people)...

We went back to Karama shopping complex/ Karama souk. Woo hoo, whoever wants to buy souvenirs in Dubai, please, Karama shall be it. Loads of shops selling similar items, up to you to go bargain and find out where to get cheap and good stuff. I didn't buy the glass bottled sand thingy, hm... kind of regret it now, argh, never mind, if I still want, i can go get expensive ones at Battuta before i leave, doesn't matter la. (:

Too many shops to compare prices and quality of goods, you get so tired after all the bargaining. At Bangkok, all you do is to slash the price by 1/4 to 1/2 and then start the haggling. Here, they start by asking you, 'how many pieces?' and you will just have the 'oh man, not again...' kind of thought. 'coz before you start haggling, you need to tell them how many pieces you are getting... And if you want good price obviously you'll get more... Luckily there were 3 of us, so we shopped together, got basically the same stuff, at a rather good rate. (: And Eugene made good friends with them. Haha... Joker la... Oh and I must say, Eugene is a better shopper than me... Kowtow to him!

It was 8 plus when we finished our Karama shopping. I guess I only thought of buying stuff for my cousins and aunts so I didn't buy as much as I thought I would.

We drove to Dubai Festival City for dinner. Gave Deira City Centre a miss... 'coz we were too tired and hungry. Never mind, 340 shops only. Haha... Next time if I ever come back to Dubai, at least there are still places to cover mah. I think Dubai malls are really pretty. They are aesthetically pleasing and the architectural aspects never fail to wow us. Left only at 11 or so. Malls here in Dubai are closed at 12... Shiok right? Can shop until you drop, literally...

Been a long long day. Gonna sleep le...

(me at Dubai Festival City)

Saturday awaits... My last weekend in Dubai...

Love,
gl

Dubai Day Eight

I zoomed out of the house early at 8.10am, so as to miss the cleaners. (It's either to sleep in super late or run out super early) Haa... AGAIN, i'm so suay to wait for the bus for 1 hour and headed towards Jumeira area. Main aim is to cover Souk Madinat Jumeirah...

It's again a market place (think, night markets in Bkk), but this is the high-class kind, covered and air conditioned, machiam shopping mall with a twist. Well, there are beach resorts and hotels at the area and so this souk is real pretty IMO. I forgot to top up my wallet before I left the house and so I didn't have much $$ with me. :(

Got myself a lil' camel toy, hee, will remind me of Dubai when I'm home, v cute la. (I got myself an Elephant from Jim Thompson when I went BKK larh.) Got mama a blouse, i hope it's not too small... =X and also got something to hang in the house. Well, persian carpets are one of the can-buy items here, but we don't need one, so I got a mini version, with antique silver ornament hanging down (camels) so it looks like a carpet-flag thingy. Expensive but sweet.

Took pictures of the Burj Al Arab, the icon of Dubai. Silly me didn't walk further to take a picture upclose. Eugene also chided me for not going down larh... Fine, I will make my way there before I leave. Hmpf.

Cabbed down to Mercato shopping mall. It's an Italian inspired building. Very beautiful, you won't feel that you're in Dubai, it feels like Europe. Went around snapping pictures of the mall. Wanted to get dates and date-products but no more money!!! :(

Took the bus home, very very tired... don't know why too... And now, i'm getting the effects... Horrible headache plaguing me. Tomorrow and Saturday is the weekends! Yay, the boys will be out with me! More fun coming my way before I leave...

I.Hate.This.Feeling. :(

Dubai Day Seven

Time flies uh?

As I count down each night... I just feel more and more uneasy. I don't want to go home. I'm getting used to this place. I am happy here, very happy... Departing is a horrible feeling.

I didn't want to go out today. Rather, if I went out, I would be unsure where to head to. (I could finish up Deira but the traffic turns me off.) Plus, I want some time relaxing. (: And so I stayed indoors.

It's not just cableTV and internet.

I gave Eugene a surprise!

Since he loaned me his room, we didn't let the cleaners (they come twice a week, so it's somewhat like a service apartment liao...) clean his room, it's after all somewhat like a "boys' dorm". Felt kind of bad to impose on him for so long and not have the cleaners do the job for the week... So...

I decided to be Maria for the day. (:

Open the windows, air the room; vacuum the floor; wipe the floor X2; remove bedsheets, comforter cover, pillow cases, bring them to the wash; dry them in the dryer; make the bed, hotel style; arrange shoes; fill bottles by the bed.

Yay.

And the room transformed from

(before the wash)

to...

(bedsheets done)

and...

(pillow cases up)

then...

(comforter laid)

finally... with a little card... [pretty lil' card with materials collected all over the house]

(ta-da!)

I had great fun doing housework, seriously! I can imagine mama's look if she sees this. I don't even do this at home... And I'm washing up plus making the bed in dubai!?! Haha... Well, I gotta be useful here, can't eat his, drink his, sleep his, use his... All The Time mah... ^_^

Had my lunch at good o' Battuta mall, walked around a bit and headed back. Eugene made us dinner of pizzas! And my day was simple and all good. (:

Dubai Day Six

And this is Dubai Day Six.

It's the middle of the trip. I'm ending my trip soon. This IS sad. :(

Not that I'm madly in Love with Dubai, but I'm getting used to the place ba. Not that jialat after all la.

Anyway, today, I decided to do a WALK tour. So I needed to cover many places in that limited amount of time, thus, transportation had to be CAB all the way. Chor-ness but can't be helped la.

I won't be able to illustrate how FAR I walked today by mere paragraphs, but just imagine a walk-a-thon for 5 hours. How's that? 9.30am to 2.30pm. Under the freaking hot sun. Now I have birkies imprinted on my legs and mild sunburns. Gah. Like I told Eugene, I wish I were walking around in bikini, then I can get my tanlines. Haha... But I'd probably be thrown into the police station la. And I prolly won't be visiting the beaches coz it's just too hot, the boys ain't going and I won't want to go myself in bikini. Dubai men haven't really seen women much, I don't want to let them ogle too much. :D

Left the house at 9am after watching Looney Tunes on cable. Caught a cab to Bur Dubai (AED60!!) and started my crazy walk tour. Lonely Planet provided a good itinierary for the Bur Dubai walk tour. I could follow the map and navigate really well. Deira tour was bad though, thus I couldn't complete the major places but I'm reluctant to go back and be lost a second time. Btw, Deira and Bur Dubai are just opposite each other (banks of them facing each other), only seperated by the Dubai Creek. So the places along the Creek is bustling with activities and places of interests.

Let's just look at the places I covered la...

• Bastakia Quarter (which includes: Basta Art Cafe, Orient Guest House (Fine, I walked past it okay), The Majlis Gallery, Siwar Jiqw or something like this, Shiekh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, walked past Bastakiah Nights Restaurant (quite famous one), Architectural Heritage Dept, Philately House, Dar Al Nadwa, XVA Gallery (Damn pretty, I love the art pieces in it!!)
• Visit to the Post Office coz I sent a postcard back to myself. :D
• Saw the Grand Mosque
• Dubai Museum, which I thought was worth the AED3 to get in.
• Bur Dubai Souk (Aladdin shoes only come in size 37 and beyond... I want those curly toed shoes!! But I still got one without the curly toes. HEEEE.)
• Hindi Lane (literally very Hindi-ish. Smells nice though. Jasmine flowers everywhere. Hee)
• Walked by the Dubai Creek, saw the Dubai Old Souk Station and Bur Dubai Station + many abbras (little boats that carry people over the creek to and fro Bur Dubai and Deira)
• Visited the Sheikh Saeed Al- Maktoum House to see many old photographs and documents of Dubai Emirates
• Heritage Village (huge place but many halls were closed)
• Diving Village
• And walked a BLOODY damn long way to take an underpass (below the water) to Deira and then from Deira WALKED bloody few kilometres again to take an abbra BACK TO BUR DUBAI just because I WANT TO TAKE AND TRY AN ABBRA. Call me CRAZY. I could take from Bur Dubai to Deira one, but I wanted to visit a mall which was nearer to Bur Dubai so thus the crazy decision. I've seriously never walked under 40 degrees sun this way before. Without sunblock somemore. I am nuts.
• Reached Bur Dubai and walked like mad again trying to catch a cab to the mall.
• No cab. I walked to a random hotel and asked for help. Bellboy was so nice, he helped me call a cab. Heehee...
• Cabbed to Burjuman Mall. Not chio one. Battuta is better! I had my lunch there, read papers and then walked around the mall, grabbed magazines and left.
• Cabbed back to Battuta and walked back. AED50+.

And so I reached home at 4+, totally shagged.

Thought Eugene and Chris would be back late, Irwan and I wanted to head out for dinner but dilly dally long enough for Eugene and Chris to come back... Three of us (minus Chris) went to Battuta Mall, our friendly neighbourhood yet very upclass mall for dinner. (:

Watched David Villa kick in two goals for Spain before returning home...

There you go, a very very action packed day. Yay, now I can safely say, I've covered Dubai more than Eugene. Wahaha...

I think I'll sleep in tomorrow and do housekeeping. Heeheehee.

Dubai Day Five

It's 2.22am GMT+8, so it's 10.22pm here in Dubai.

It... was a... tiring day yesterday. Woke up at 7+ and I was concussed again. While I planned to wake at 9 or so, lazy me ended up only waking at 11+am, after the cleaners have come to clean up the apartment and have left...

Hastily prepared and left for Mall of Emirates (with tired and wobbly legs, no less). It's a really hazy day (not sure if it's hazy or dusty?!), by Singapore standards, PSI 150-160 or more? Meaning, red alert liao, no need go school... Haha... Cabbed my way there - AED30. And for the records again, the cabbie asked if I were a Japanese. Haha... I told him that he's not the first (in fact, third) to think I'm Japanese and he insisted that I looked like one. Wahaha, shiok-ness, coz I think Japanese girls are cute. :P

Anyways, Mall of Emirates is a HUGE mall. 300 over shops, all sorts of things you can find in malls in Dubai, no wonder Bran told me shopping is fabulous here. Bran was from my contract school, we're more like friends coz I never ever taught him before and he just kind of got to know me by talking to me outside the staff room, very interesting boy.

Went for lunch (but I skipped breakie yet again, so I wanted breakfast, not lunch sorta food). Ended up eating at Dunkin' Donuts... yummilicious donuts and hot choc. (Krispy Kreme is there too... but I find it tad too sweet.) Window shopped and got myself a H&M top (AGAIN) and a lilac cardigan [yay, can wear to sch].

I think I covered the entire complex... ok, not all, ALMOST... And I don't mean going into them, just walking outside and looking in... Damn big la, the place. Oh and there's the world largest indoor ski park there!! Best place to hide when you're feeling too hot.

Left the complex nearly at 5 and cabbed back. Cabbie got lost and i made him stop me at the mall instead. AED40 this time. Wah lau, next time tell cabbies just drop me at the mall can liao, no need to make me pay extra for turning in rounds!

So I toured Ibn Battuta Mall the 3rd time, this time snapping pictures of the various themed courts. Think I went to India, China, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia courts but not Andalusia court. Guess what? And I popped by H&M one more time... ended up reserving one dress coz I tried on the M at Emirates but I thought I would like it in S... And Battuta has it!! Whee... Reserved it coz I thought it's really 'sinful' to spend so much in a day. In the same shop somemore.

Went home (ya, I'm starting to call the apartment 'home'...) and we drove out to seek Burger King. Reminds me of Harold and Kumar 1. BK is not cheap here!! AED20 a set, meaning, nearly 8 buckeroos. Fwah... Eugene wanted to get his blazer/ jacket from H&M and so I got to visit it again (might as well buy the dress la), I think that salesperson recognise me liao... :X and we left the place happily with our buys.

Today's a nua day, I think tomorrow won't be so air-con-ish. Shall venture to the Central Dubai area again. (:

Seriously, I'm feeling comfortable here le. Air's bad, my running nose's BAD but I think it's an okay place. When all the buildings, MRT and all are up by 2009, this shall be a good place to visit.

Kz... Gonna sleep early today le...

Dubai Day Three and Four

Lazy to update last night and too busy to update this morning, thus a joint entry. Haha...

Day Three

Day Three was Saturday, but I stayed indoors! Well, Fri and Sat are weekends for peeps in Dubai, I've mentioned that, Eugene and friends have worked for a week so they deserve their rest. As for me, I guess I didn't feel like going out and so hang around, watch tv, read magazines, the only mall we went to was for lunch. (aye, skipped breakfast again.)

The mall 5 min (or less) away from Eugene's place is Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall, it's this themed mall named after this guy who's a great traveller, think: Marco Polo... Well, so there are various 'courts' with beautiful backdrops and displays, representing the places he had been to... Think there are 5-6 themes and it's really huge. Can't rem if I mentioned, the cinema in 'China Court' has got 20 screens larh... So imagine the number of shows that can be screened at any moment...

Again, it's a mall with brands from all over the world, there's Charles and Keith, Hang Ten, Giordano, Forever 21... Heh, that's not exciting. What excites me most is... THERE IS H&M!! WOO HOOO~~~ (I heard Singapore's gonna have H&M, not sure when... Anyone knows??) Yay, I won't return home with nothing liao, any extra money can go to H&M, gladly. Haha... :D

Eugene's constantly worried I'm bored, Irwan says I look bored. ERM, sorry la, I have limited expressions k? Next time I will have to wear a board that reads, "I'm NOT bored."

Dinner was good. Eugene's the best. His wife would be really fortunate larh. He cooks well enough to beat many ladies out there. Tsk tsk, shame on Us. Lebanese food - hommus with zaatar bread, a baked chicken + potato dish. *squeals* wah lau, I go back Singapore want to eat Lebanese food must blame Eugene... Rawr.

Day Four

Sunday, that is, today. It's my FIRST day of Dubai adventure! I'm on my own, it's the true challenge. I would be lying if I said I am not SCARED at all. After all, it's not a place where I can communicate with everybody I see, so I do have the jitters but good practice to make me more gungho.

6+am - The sun's up! This is summer... Sun rises really early. Back to sleep.

7am - Eugene's up, preparing for work. I'm up, too.

7.30am - Eugene and friends off for work, not forgetting to remind me to be careful and call him if I were in trouble. Haha... I think seeking help from the locals would be faster though. And I started getting prepared for the adventure ahead.

8.20am - Left house. Armed with my backpack (I realise I brought three bags to Dubai larh... Scary... One for carrying up plane, which can house my laptop; one for shopping malls (brother dearest bought it for me during his HK trip, yay); one backpack that has been with me since JC times, 9 years old liao...

9.30am - The bus came after 1 hour of agonizing waiting. :( I should have taken the cab. More ex but it's hell faster. Bus trip from Jebel Ali (where I was) to Gold Souk would be AED3 only, slightly less than S$1.20, cheap. What intrigues me is that there are seats reserved for ladies. The first 3 rows... And there is this sticker on the window that marks that. Wow... But seriously, there are really no ladies out there taking buses... At any one time, the 6 double seaters are hardly full, sometimes I was the only one... I don't dare turn back my head larh, the entire 3/4 of the bus is full of burly men... -.-" And at one time, a man was sitting at the third row, the bus driver actually stopped at the next stop, walked to the man and asked him to go to the back. Fwah... By the way, there are air conditioned bus stops (some places)!! Looking like quarter-dome shaped container... Not bad for sweltering summers...

11am - 1.5-hour ride of bus to Gold Souk station. I was dozing off now and then. Jialat, damn seh... I headed off to seek the world reknowned Gold Souk upon leaving the station. Wah lau eh, no traffic lights one, how to cross road? Monkey see monkey do, crossed the road at this apparently not-so-obvious passenger crossing?! And the rest of the time I was hopping across roads, Bangkok style (Bangkok gives good training for the jay-walker wannabes).

11.30am - Explored the Gold Souk, walked around the textile shops beside the souk and got myself two pashmina shawls, at a ridiculously cheap price of AED16, that's around S$6 bucks for Two shawls. Yay... Could have gotten more, hor? Wanted to look for the Spice Souk / Deira Covered Souk but I CAN'T FIND THEM!! Sian. Went in circles and ventured alleys... Asked for directions but they don't seem to help much.

12pm - Since I couldn't find the above souks, I decided shopping wasn't it. History lessons, baby... So I searched for Heritage House and Al-Ahmadiya School, both heritage sites. Found Heritage House after much wrong turns. (Al-Ahmadiya School is just behind it.) The person-in-charge was so friendly, greeted me in great enthusiasm, asked me take a seat, showed me the brochures (ALL THE historical sites in Dubai. Wow...) and an assistant handed me a Dubai map and guidebook. Damn Touched. They further wow me by giving me tea (rose flavoured), chickpeas and dates... Felt like a queen. They are really nice people and both these sites are wonderful. Footage and displays of the traditional lifestyle of Middle Eastern people and the first school in Dubai. Nice...

2pm - Searched for the Spice Souk again, but failed. Managed to see more alleys and the Perfume Souk. Basically this entire area is like Little India la...

2.30pm - Left the place, found the bus terminal to take the bus back.

4pm - Reached our apartment, hopped over to Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall for H&M shopping. Haha... This mall is so huge larh... And so I tried many tops from H&M and decided I should just get one top + one clutch bag and leave. I... Can... Always... Return... EVERYDAY!! Wahaha...

5.15pm - Headed for Geants (French, same as Giants in Singapore), kena stopped by security (think he's African eh), told that bags need to be deposited at the counter. GASP. Ok lor... Even tho I just wanted to get lozenges or medication for soon-to-be flu... Haha... Oops. Daniel Hap, if you are reading, don't you tell mama (but i know when I tell you not to tell, you will tell de lor)!! Throat hasn't been good, phglem acting up, slight running nose... Gah.

5.30pm - Back home. Told Eugene about my Dubai adventures and evil him had a good laugh...

Tomorrow shall be shopping and chilling out day. :)

Btw, just for records, today, I've been mistaken for a Filipino, Malay, Japanese (Twice leh, SO HAPPY. hahaha...), Hong Konger... Erm... Ok lor. Accepted. And when I tell them proudly, "I'm from Singapore", they say, "Singapore, good place." Whee... I feel good to be Singaporean suddenly.

Very lengthy entry I know, but all's good. Dubai's good, trip's enriching, I've great company here and I think I will dread to go home in days to come... :(

Dubai Day Two

Hm, day two is effectively the first DAY of my trip here. After all, day one was simply evening: arrival; night: dinner, late night talk with dearest Eugene... Anyway, we woke up and slacked indoors. You see, Dubai is really warm in summer so all you want is to stay indoors where there is air conditioning. 'sides, there's cable anyway, can keep us pretty entertained. :D

And so we headed out for lunch + look-see-shop (skipped breakie) in Eugene's housemate's car (company car). Well, temperature is blazing hot out there but not as bad as I thought. Maybe it's 'coz I am lucky enough to be chauffeured around by Eugene larh. Haha...

Went looking for Karama Shopping Mall (in Karama), but we were lost. Asked for directions but still didn't find the mall. In the end we approached an Ang Moh couple who said they were walking to a Karama open market where they sell souvenirs. Though they provided a general direction, we were basically still LOST. And so we 'spied' on them and followed them (us in car, them on foot) behind. Haha...

Guess what? We spotted a Karama Market and happily parked outside. Not long after we got off the car, Eugene said, "Wrong. I smell fish." Ta-da. And so it was. A REAL market. wtf... It was in the afternoon so the stores were basically closed, vege / fish / meat etc... it was rather hilarious landing in a market of such and Eugene made me take a picture outside market. -.-"""

Walked further to see only a few pathetic shops opened, then again, it's a Friday. In Dubai, Fridays are official off-days. So while we get weekends off in SG, in Dubai, they get their weekends on Friday and Saturday, starting work on Sunday. As such, many shops are closed on Friday mornings til late afternoon. Anyway, we ended up at... where is that... ERM... (forgot its name), pseudo Lucky Plaza kind of complex and had lunch. The boys were excited, seeing chilli finally, tasting green tea and lemon tea after so long... Haha... poor souls, haven't had sg food for long. While the Chinese food tasted good at first, it dawned on us that they were prepared the same way... (various dishes - only the mains are changed... all other sides and gravy and stuff were the same) And it was kinda overkill larh. Prolly returning to this complex coz we found a shop that sells relatively cheap souvenirs. (:

Then we went down to Wafi, the really grand shopping mall here. Seriously it's all up-class I doubt you will shop there, unless you've pockets deep enough for the major big names. Still, it's worth going for pictures taking coz the architecture + interior designs are gratifying. Pretty stuff. Pix to be shared soon. Speaking of pictures... Flickr is banned here!!! For God knows what reason... Flickr got porn meh? HMM... And several movies streaming sites are not available here too!! tsk tsk tsk... All blocked for some reasons. :(

Came back home after that for afternoon nap. Haha, ya, this is so un-touristy a trip, but I like it. It's really relaxing, even in oh-so-blardy-hot Dubai. I should just say, the apartment is comfortable larh. (:

Had late dinner at 8+/ 9, the boys went to buy takeaways from Pizza Hut. Dubai isn't exactly a cheap place to be in. Food easily reaches 10 plus per head. Taxi is comparable to Singapore. Buses are atrocious coz they don't follow the schedule and you're expected to wait until the 50 degrees Celsius sun for up to ONE hour. There is no MRT yet. *drop jaw* So this city is basically under construction. Everywhere you go is construction and more construction. Buildings popping out one after another along the main highway that stretches through the city, MRT line building. So it's a city of sand, haze and construction. And did I say, it's so much 'fun' on Dubai highway coz people are travelling beyond 100km/h at any one time. Eugene was driving at say... 120-130+km/hr... Ya, and it doesn't feel fast coz everyone's at the same speed loh.

After dinner, I watched late night movies with Eugene and housemates, Irwan + Chris. Luckily I didn't watch Indiana Jones in Singapore... Eh, actually I don't think it's ALL that exciting. Iron Man was more appealing to me. At least, it kept me thrilled throughout whereby Indiana Jones was sleep-inducing at times. Maybe it was past midnight that's why all of us were tired too la. Btw, movies ain't cheap here. AED30 per ticket. That is... around... 12 per tic?

And so... it's Day three now... and again I'm slacking indoors thus updating... Will write bt it soon!

Sorry peeps, no pictures coz flickr is banned here larh. til then... (:

blospot's crazed

stop eating up my posts!!! :(