On 24 December 2009, we finally experienced her life for the past two years. Our flight was delayed during takeoff and when we arrived, due to congestion, we had to wait 10 minutes before allowing to leave the plane. The attempt to exit the airport took almost an hour. We were very much behind schedule. Trip to Madinat was off :(
We hailed a cab to the hotel. Trip was less than 30 minutes. Cab driver was very friendly. He started acting like a tour guide, introducing the various attractions in Dubai. However, that came with a price. When I handed him AED100, he returned only AED30. The meter read about AED67.50.
Dinner was at the Mall of the Emirates, which house 800 shops. We had chinese food at chop chop. From the restaurant, we could see the indoor ski. It was truly amazing. What was not amazing was the price of food. I couldn't help scanning the menu for dishes below AED20. Not very successful. Sis warned never to look at prices or we will never be able to order anything.
25 December
Our day began with breakfast at Coffee Bean. Cost? AED16-18 per person, based on our order of the set menu available. The plan of the day was a tour of the Lost Chamber and finally Christmas dinner at Saffron, Atlantis Hotel. We drove into Palm Jumeirah amid a nice sunny weather. Pity we couldn't see the palm shape of the island.
After a tour of the hotel, we purchased the AED100 per person ticket into the Lost Chamber. Not only did we saw many kinds of underwater life, we were also allowed to touch the starfish (felt hard but sis had fun picking them up and "dumping" them back) and sea cucumber (slimy!). One of the workers informed us that the feeding time is at 10am, 2pm and 4pm. We just had to wait about half an hour for the 2pm feeding! This info was not published anywhere as the management wanted to prevent over-crowding at those periods.
We spent the next few hours waiting for 6pm, thanks to sis' brilliant scheduling. The buffet dinner in Saffron was most lavish - lobsters, prawns, scallops, sushi, tuna, dim sums, and all kind of desserts. We stuffed ourselves within an hour and a half and decided to leave. The waiter, whom we strike up a conversation with, offered "buy 4 free 1" to us. So in the end, the bill only came up to a little more than AED700.
Our last stop was at the Madinat. Unfortunately, the stage for Christmas was already dismantled. There was nothing much left to see.
26 December
Mom decided to save and cooked instant noodles for breakfast. The day was spent travelling on metro. One may ask what's so interesting bout metro stations. Well, aside from the fact that sis was involved in the project, the designs of the stations were really something to marvel about.
There are a total of 4 themes - water, fire, air and earth. Under the water theme, the selected stations were decorated in blue tiles and bluish lighting, creating an underwater feeling. Fire theme is red in colour with ceiling light shaped like the sun. Green becomes the main colour for air and flying carpet-shaped lamp decorated the ceiling. Earth is brown in colour. We stopped in several stations just to look at the decorations.
At about 5pm, we left for the Global Village, an annual funfair. Stalls from various countries were set up, selling handicrafts and food - Yemen, Jordan, UAE, KSA, Europe, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Sweden, Sri Lanka etc. We spent more than 3 hours there. Mom ended buying some decorative items from a Kenya stall.
27 December
The day began with finding a parking lot at Deira. Took us more than half an hour to get one. Our morning was to be spent shopping in Bur Dubai, a traditional district. But first, we need to cross the creek via an abra. Abra is a traditional small boats costing AED1 per trip. It's much cheaper than the modern water bus (AED2 +) and more exciting.
The shopping did not take long as there was only one or two rows of shops. It felt like visiting Masjid Jamek area in KL. We bought souvenirs made in Pakistan, India, USA and of course, UAE (not easy to find though). An important thing a tourist must do is haggle over the price. Sis was very good at it.
Next, we decided to have steamboat at Xiao Wei Yang, the restaurant which told us they have no change when my sis first went in to get some coins for parking. We were curious to know if they will eventually magically produce some change for their customers. Food was OK. Nothing fantastic. Dealing with the waitress was a pain as she could only speak minimal english and not a single word in mandarin. Wonder where she's from. Billing time came and wow! They have coins!
Having taken the abra, we decided to try the water bus and tour the creek. Based on the brochure, the whole hour trip will cost AED4. Pretty good bargain. Unfortunately, we were at the wrong side of the creek and had to cross back to Bur Dubai for the station. Having caught the water bus, we settled down comfortably and began to doze off.
At Baniyas, we were told to leave the water bus! We had caught the wrong water bus. We gave up and decided to leave for the next stop, Mercato. Mercato was another interesting shopping mall, built based on the Italian concept. The interior design wowed us. While sis and I did a short tour of the whole mall (it's not very big), mom and dad found a stall selling some very nice nuts.
Having left the mall, we went in search of the closest spot to view the Burj Al Arab. It took us awhile as we kept finding even nearer spots. After a few shots of the 7-star hotel, we left before the sky turned dark. Couldn't wait for the lights on the building to be turned on as we had to catch the dancing fountain at the Dubai Mall.
Dubai Mall is reportedly the world's largest shopping mall, housing 1,800 shops. The tagline is "Where everything is". Unfortunately, the show had to be cancelled due to technical errors. So, we left. Sis drove us to her apartment in Marina Bay to search for food. We dined at Da Shi Dai, a restaurant located on The Walk.
28 December
We spent the morning driving around sis' previous rented villa and apartment. Then we lunched at a restaurant in the Battuta Mall. Did some last minute shopping for souvenirs at Geant.
Flight was at 7.30pm. We took a cab and this time, it's only AED62. Well, that's the end of my Dubai trip. Wish it was longer.
Likes:
1. Winter in Dubai is surprisingly pleasant.
2. No parking fees in any of the shopping malls we have visited!
3. No traffic jam!
4. The many, many variety of shops. No wonder sis can't buy anything in Malaysia.
Dislikes:
1. The lengthy walk in the airport. Too big.
2. Rude cab drivers.
3. Pricey food and services.
4. Nothing is really within walking distance. Hardly see backpackers despite the pleasant weather.
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