Dune Bashing, Burj Khalifa and Rain!

Its been a while since we’ve updated this blog but we have been really busy the past few days … and here is a recap of the last week … with lots of photos to accompany it … Enjoy!

So after finishing my first week at work I must say I was quite knackered … but surprised by how much more alert I was in the mornings here compared to when I had been working in London … possibly something to do with it being warm and sunny when I leave home rather than grey and miserable! … But I have found that the afternoon’s do lag quite a bit … especially as I have to work till 6pm! But first week is over and we have an extended weekend coming up due to the Eid Al Adha celebrations … so we get the Sunday and Monday off work … which is perfect timing as my cousin Mehran came to visit us this weekend!

Mehran arrived on Friday afternoon so Perry and I headed down to the airport to pick him up … it was a lot quicker getting there than we had anticipated but that was good and meant we know how long to allow for it from now on … so when Mehran got there we headed back to the car and headed back home … pointing out all the different sites and buildings to Mehran from the car as we drove down the Sheikh Zayed road! … the only downside with Mehran’s visit is that Dubai is dry (as in no alcohol) for 24hrs from 6pm friday night till 6pm on Saturday … which was a bit of a bummer as I had planned on taking him out that friday night.

Once back at the flat and after having given Mehran the grand tour … he got himself settled and we all freshened up before heading down to the Walk along JBR (Jumeirah Beach Residence) … which is the beach front promenade down the road from our flat … its a lovely stretch along the beach with lots of restaurants, cafe’s, stores and at weekends there is an open air market area …

So we went for a stroll around there and even went down to the waters edge and dipped our toes into the water … which was surprisingly warm after being heated up by the sun all day … so we wandered down along the beach amongst all the tourists sunbathing and swimming enjoying the sun set and surroundings … we even came across a couple of rather grumpy camels along our walk!

We decided to head on over to the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm for some food … and made a reservation at the poolside restaurant for their Buffet BBQ Dinner … which was actually really quite yummy … food was good and we spent ages sat there talking about our lives … both here in Dubai and back in London … talking about friends, family and all sorts …

It was a good evening … after that we headed down to one of Dubai’s famous night spots … which is the Beach Bar Club at the Atlantis called Nasimi Beach … however as Dubai was dry for 24hrs there were no drinks being served … and the bar was more of a jazzy shisha lounge … but it was nice to see it and then we just wandered round the hotel taking in all the elaborate and over the top decor, before calling it a night and heading home.

On Saturday morning we headed down to the Dubai Mall to show Mehran the largest shopping mall in the world … which surprise surprise is like any other mall … only bigger! … but he seemed to enjoy it and the Aquarium is always impressive to see!

After strolling round the stores and grabbing some DimSum for lunch we went out by the Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa to catch the Dubai Fountain show … which was brilliant and always well choreographed to the music that is played with it …

After posing to take pictures of the Burj Khalifa at all sorts of funny angles we started to head back towards the car … as we needed to get back to the flat in time to get ready to go out for our Desert Safari session in the afternoon … although trying to get Mehran back to the car was a challenge … he was like a magpie drawn to anything shiny …

We got picked up by our driver for the Desert Safari later in the afternoon and headed out of the city … stopping only to pick up another group of people and to get petrol … once out near to where we were going to drive over the dunes our driver Farouq stopped for a toilet break and to join up with some other cars to convoy the beginning of our session …

Driving up and down over the dunes was great fun … and Im glad we hadn’t eaten to soon beforehand … it was very jumpy and bumpy … and at some points felt quite perilous … as the Land Cruiser straddled the ridge of a dune and then suddenly plummeted down or where it was going over the side of a dune and we were practically going sideways … when I looked out of the windows at some points all I could see was a sheer drop … which was quite terrifying at times …

We even pulled over at one point to check on another group of people who’s car had gotten stuck on the Dunes to make sure they were ok … and then we saw another car from that same tour group go past so we took off on a high speed chase over the dunes to chase them down at let them know one of their car’s was in trouble so they could go and help! … that was quite a moment … but soon after we pulled over on a high dune to watch the sunset and take photos out on the sand …

By the time it had gotten dark outside we were well on our way to the Arabian Bedouin Style Camp for our BBQ dinner … once there we found our table and grabbed some beers from the bar … sat back and relaxed enjoying the atmosphere … Mehran went for a walk around some of the gift shops and Perry and I walked around abit going up one of the nearby dunes to get a view back down towards the camps … it was a nice cool evening but not too cold … the food was quite good too and filling … and the entertainment involved some Arabic dancing and Belly Dancing before meeting up with our group and driver to head back to the city …

By the time we got back we were all shattered … but Mehran and I headed back out again down to the Walk to check out the night life abit and so he can see what its like along the promenade at night … we were walking along and counting all the ridiculously expensive cars we could see … its quite amazing actually … and some of the cars are just massive … I mean a Range Rover looked like a Mini compared to some of the cars on the road that night!

Anyway so we got up yesterday morning and Mehran went down to the beach to catch some sun before leaving … I spent the morning in bed having caught something the day before and felt really rough with a sore throat and headache … but after some painkillers finally kicked in I was feeling better and soon everyone was ready to head to the airport … we decided to leave a little bit earlier than we needed to in order to drive through some of the old parts of Dubai … Mehran had spent most of his trip looking at and seeing the new shiny parts of the city and I thought it would be a good experience to see where the city came from … so we took a detour on our drive through the old parts of town down by the Creek on our way to the Airport … and Mehran seemed to enjoy that too which was good!

Soon we were at the airport and saying our goodbyes … it was a shame Mehran could not stay longer … but I’m still glad he made the trip … it was great to have him stay and it was good for us too as it gave us the chance to do some of the more touristy things we hadn’t had a chance to do yet.

So after dropping off Mehran we headed off to the Dubai Mall as there were a couple things we needed to get on our way home … while we were there I got an ice cream as we left … and on the drive back home and while I was eating my ice cream I heard and felt a crack and the next thing I knew I was spitting out a piece of my tooth which had decided to just come off! …

I am seriously just having no luck with my teeth at the moment and in the last month I’ve made more trips to the dentist than I would ever have wanted to! … So after having a little freak out moment in the car while Perry drove … I finally calmed down enough to get my wits about me and call the dentist to see if he could see me tomorrow morning to get this all sorted … so after appointment was made and since I was not in any pain I tried to put the whole thing behind me and get on with the rest of the day … hoping (rather naively) that it was going to be as simple as just putting the bit that fell off back onto the tooth!

This morning on my way to the dentist I noticed that it was really quite grey and cloudy outside and then the radio said that there was a chance of some rain … and almost as if on cue the clouds opened up and it started raining … it was quite amazing really … I didn’t realise it but I quite missed the rain and it helped keep the temperature down which is always welcome!

On the other hand once I got to the dentist it wasn’t quite such good news … as I had imagined my idea of just sticking the bit of tooth that came off back on wasn’t exactly an option … and turns out I had a hidden cavity between an old filling and the tooth on the inside … which would not have been possible to see in a check up … so he did some stuff to the tooth, cleaned it up and put a temporary filling in place with some antibacterial stuff to kill any infection until I go back next week to finish it off … urgh … sometimes I feel like I’m living at the dentists surgery!

Got home in the early afternoon and have been having a well deserved lazy afternoon … back to work tomorrow and even though its a short week its set to be a busy one!

Hopefully this sore throat will go away soon and that this latest issue with my teeth will be my last for a while!

Till next time …

Mina X