Dubai-The final chapter!

Chloe and I were completely exhausted on our second day in Dubai. We wanted to take a day trip to Abu Dhabi but it was very difficult to even get out of bed. Our friend, Tina was not as tired because she missed the last two weeks with us on the tour. She woke up early and hounded us until we got ready to step out and explore. Our Abu Dhabi dreams did not seem like a reality as we got dressed too late so we just planned to visit a souk and the famous Dubai mall. We took the train to the souk first. The train station was less than 10 minute walk from our hotel. Although the walk was not bad, the weather was unbearable. Let me tell you when I say this place is hotter than hell. Everyone kept telling us that we came at the right time because the weather was perfect but it did not seem perfect to us. It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and these people are telling us that it’s their winter. I would hate to visit during their summer weather. lol We visited the gold souk where we purchased some souvenirs and traditional Arabian outfits. Haggling at the souks is a must in order to get items at a good price. Overall, Dubai has really cheap gold and other merchandise but if you are not smart enough to haggle on prices, the locals will trick you into spending more than you need to.

The Dubai mall is nothing like I have ever seen in this world. It is by far the largest, busiest and most activities in any mall. The mall has an aquarium, an underwater zoo, ice rink, an indoor themed park, mosque, souks, every store you can think of, restaurants etc. It would literally take a couple of days for one to visit the entire mall. After visiting a couple of stores, we were tired. The place is ENORMOUS! Even the food court inside the mall is big with plenty of options. It has all American restaurants and fast food restaurant plus European and Middle Eastern restaurants. Now you know how much we love food, we sampled several restaurants. This is a definite must do in Dubai. Anyone that has been there can agree that it could possibly be any child, man and woman’s Disney world. The mall is also known for its nightly water fountain show. It is very similar to the water show at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas except the one in Dubai had Mediterranean music. That is the only difference I noted. It was beautiful to watch though but boy was it packed. I would suggest going early to secure a spot or risk being blocked and pushed by tall ass people. We ended our night at one of the night clubs in our hotel for ladies night, free drinks until 11pm I believe. I have never drunk this fast in my life before. We made it a point to drink the most before 11pm. The drinks were delicious and luckily we did not have to drive. I cannot recall how we made it to our rooms.

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The next day, we still were not up to waking up early to make our Abu Dhabi dreams come true so we decided to spend the day at the Dubai Marina. We were now pros at taking the train so we took the train straight to Marina. It was a very short walk to the marina from the train station. The Marina is situated on the shoreline of Persian Gulf. There are plenty of restaurants and a mall along the 1 mile shoreline. After a very scrumptious Lebanese lunch, we went to a nearby spa for foot massages. Our feet were crying for some TLC after all the walking we had been doing. Chloe and Tina were upset because my masseuse was the best gave my feet more attention than they received. Oh well! Lol We hopped on the water taxi to see the rest of the Marina because we were tired of walking. The water taxi was fun but too packed all because it was a holiday in Dubai and on holidays public transportation is free. Why can’t we have this in America?? We made it back to the hotel on our free train ride without any issues. We got all dolled up and headed to one of the exclusive night clubs in the hotel. On top floor of the hotel, it took several different elevators and security guards before we arrived. Inside of the club was nothing too extraordinary. It was a bunch of uptight rich Arab men with PYTs that did not appear to be their wives. After a drink, we headed back downstairs to our usual “ladies night” spot, a more relaxed environment. This was our last night in Dubai together. Tina’s flight was early the next morning but Chloe and I had some more time, our flight was at 11pm the next day.

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With our last day upon us, we had mixed emotions. We did not want to leave because we absolutely LOVE Dubai but on the other hand I missed my boo and wanted to get back home to him. Check-out was at 11am so we packed all our belongings and checked out early and left our things with the bell boys. Chloe found a cultural museum online that we could sample various Mediterranean foods so we headed there afterwards. After a damn near 40 minute taxi-ride to the museum, we were told they were closed for the day. I wanted to kill Chloe as I was very hungry and it was almost 1pm. We were very far away from any public transportation station. This side of Dubai was completely different from where we had been on our tour so far. We then asked the man who told us it was closed if there were any restaurants nearby. He directed us to walk around the corner and we will find a restaurant called, local house. Local house is known for its camel burgers. The restaurant is small with arabesque atmosphere. The service is a bit slow and they ask that you sit yourself. Chloe and I ordered the lemon mint juice (best ever), two biryani meals and later the camel burger. The biryani was delicious. The camel burger tasted just like beef but just a bit dry. Anyone could easily mistaken this for a beef burger any day. We were very happy with the experience at the local house. It was now time to head back to our part of town.

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Chloe and I hailed a taxi back to take us to the mall of emirates. Before we even got into the taxi, we asked the driver how much it would cost because we had now spent all our dirhams. We only had enough for taxi to the mall and taxi to the airport. This man quoted us a price that was reasonable and within our budget but since the taxi fare is contingent on a meter, he chose to drive like a snail. He decided to sweet talk Chloe about how much he was in love with her and how he wanted to marry her while taking his sweet time on the road. The 25 minute ride took over an hour. I was heated to say the least. After causing a delay with his intentional slow driving, he wanted to charge us the price on the meter. No sir I told him! We ain’t got it! We gave him all the dirhams we had but he wanted more. Luckily Chloe had some pounds on her but he would not take it. He said he wanted US dollars instead. This man is so dumb he did not know pounds were greater than dollars. After explaining this to him, he took the damn pounds. Never again! After walking around yet another big mall in Dubai, we got on a train and headed back to the hotel. We relaxed on the rooftop poolside with some drinks and appetizers before heading out to the airport. We had an amazing time in Dubai. We wished our stay was longer.

We have a trip coming up, Stay tuned for those travel tales.

#DUBAI #UAE