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... (: