We went to Dubai the other week as a break before the baby comes. We decided to go there as we thought: -
a) It would be sunny
b) It would be fairly cheap as we could stay with Terry
Of course, what we didn't count on was Thunderstorms for three or four days, the roads constantly flooding due to lack of drainage and the fact the pound has dropped in value against the Dhirum and so everything is more expensive.....bah
Anyway, here's a quick rundown on what we did, sort of in chronological order
1) Terry suggested we go and try firing a gun. This seemed like a good idea, though I was a bit worried about Tina an dthe baby with the loud noise, and so it proved when we got there so she didn't join us, but simply watched from outside the glass. Apparently it is illegal in Dubai, but legal in Sharjah (which is the next emirate) so we just drove there. I don't really know what else to say about it. It was loud, my first shot was my best, the kickback from the shot was pretty strong, and, er, yeah.
2) So every Sunday in
Bur Dubai they have what is called the 'Movies under the stars', whereby they put on two movies for free and you can sit and watch them on M&M beanbags, mmmmm,
M&Ms. Each week has a theme actor, and the week we were there was Johnny Depp. This would have been fine, expect it was Johnny Depp drugs films, so we had
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and
Blow. Now seeing as neither Tina or Terry liked the first film, we didn't stay for the second (which we had all seen anyway), which was unfortunate as it was a nice night and the bean bags were comfortable.
3) So there is a new mall opened in Dubai called, rather uninspiringly,
Dubai Mall. Now apparently it is the largest in the region, and four times the size of Westfield. This might well be true, however it is pretty difficult to tell what with most of the shops not even being open, and a whole wing still to open as well. We spent ages walking by boards saying "xxxxxxx coming soon" and not much shopping. I did have a
'Fatburger' for lunch, which must be a nightmare place to work seeing as the staff have to all repeat every order (so the till operator will say "one fatburger" and the rest of the staff will repeat, and then "one fat fries" etc.). There is a full size ice rink in the mall though so that might give you an idea of the size. When I was standing at the end of it it was like I was playing NHL hockey, I just needed some men to control (I hadn't seen an ice rink in real life before). Tina was really hoping to see some fully clad women skating but it wasn't to be.
4) Terry had seen a balloon go up in the air several times and had been meaning to give it a try, so we agreed that it would be a good idea, which it would have been, had the balloon been in a decent position and not overlooking a power station. You couldn't even really see the palm from where we were so it was just like being in a tall builing, pah! By the way, apparently there is just one guy working on that tall building in Dubai as he is the only one who can breathe up there or something. Here are some pictures though: -
5) Terry had booked us tickets to see the Indian/Canadian comedian
Russell Peters. He's a bit racist, we knew that, but he has still been funny what we have seen of him. This time, though, he appeared to mostly be trying to make fun of whatever nationalities were in the crowd for the whole set, which got a bit tiresome. It was funny in parts, but wasn't great overall.
6) We went to the
Mall of the Emirates again on a cloudy day (we did want to go to the beach one day, but no days were nice enough). Was pretty much the same as before, except we went into the freezing cold cinema to watch a film to kill some time.....
Madagascar 2, it wasn't bad, and the seats were very comfartable and spacious
7) We went to the 'sports bar' at the
Hilton for a drink, well, as we were passing. Just one drink mind you seeing as, due to exchange rates and overpricing, my beer cost me £7. Also, it had three TVs up, that doesn't make it a sports bar in my opinion
8) Terry lives right next door to a horse racing track, and luck would have it there was a meet on the day before we were due to come home, so we though we would wander over there (I say wander, I mean drive as it would have been a whole 15 minute walk). Now, when I have been racing before (once in england, once in America) there is obviously stuff to do in between races, like getting a beer or making a bet, but what with drinking and gambling not allowed, it actually made it quite boring, just sitting there waiting for the next race, so we only lasted three (or maybe four) races before we left. Also they appeared to be gicing out free yellow caps and t-shirts, but we obviously didn't get there early enoug to get ones, not that we really wanted some anyway. Here's a picture of the finishing post and parade area: -
9) Two cab rides of note to mention. One, from Dubai Mall to Terry's. Now Terry lives in 'The Greens', on 7 street. Now, I told the driver this, and yet he still struggled ot know where he had to go until I drew him a map with the number 7 on it. Second, I wanted to go to
'The Marina' but ended up at
'The Madinat', must be my accent. Luckily it wa sonly about 10 minutes or so difference in journey time.
10) And here's a picture of me by a big TV: -
