Dubai pt. 2

Tara Larkai
Nov 24, 2015
5 min read

The penthouse apartment was beyond our imaginations. It was beautiful! It was on the 18th floor and had many different views of the city. The best view was the view of the palm and you could even see Atlantis on the other side. The apartment was large and each bedroom had a bathroom and 2 other bathrooms not attached to bedrooms. There were 3 different living areas, a game room, a large eat-in kitchen, dining room and a very sexy entryway. The décor was very Hollywood regency and Omg…I was very impressed. It was more than we expected.

Last time we were in Dubai, it was only 3 of us, Chloe, our friend Aheni and I and we were only there for 3 nights to celebrate Chloe’s birthday so we did not get to do a lot of things. We also stayed in the business center area so we didn’t get to explore other areas of the city. This time around, we were there longer and had an actual itinerary. Although, not all of the 13 people were on the same page regarding activities, we still managed to do to the things we wanted. The first thing on our agenda as we waited for the rest of the crew was to find food. We were starving! The food on the plane was a bust so we were in the mood for something very good like Lebanese. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant in the marina last time we were there so we decided to go back there. Well, we couldn’t find that particular restaurant mainly because we forgot the name of it but we did find another Lebanese restaurant which ended up being our favorite spot. In the entire Dubai, Chandelier restaurant is by far my favorite place to eat…Trust me you would agree if ate there too. We ordered the mixed grill, lamb stew and some other stuff that I can’t quite remember now and they all hit the spot. Even their Naan bread was on point. The Naan bread with the lamb stew….the best thing ever in the whole world!!! It’s one of the best things I have ever had. The restaurant has a sexy ambience and outside seating with lounge chairs and of course it wouldn’t be Dubai without hookahs. Their hookahs are so strong... Omg! I don’t know what they put in them but they definitely did the job. Lol We enjoyed chandelier so much that when the rest of the crew arrived, we took them there to eat too. They also fell in love with the food and ambience. I am sure the servers were tired of us after a while. I mean imagine a group of 13 people at a restaurant talking and laughing very loudly for 3 hours.

Next morning, we headed to the gold and spice souk. Man, was it a hot day! It was hot and packed! Lots of tourists mainly from USA too. It seemed like the entire USA purchased this glitch fare. Every corner we turned, we saw at least a couple of Americans. It was quite funny and they were all in large groups too. We thought we were a large group until we saw one that was over 100 people deep. I was like Whoa! How did they plan that? I later found out that they all belonged to an exclusive facebook group.

We took a boat ride to the other side of the water after spending a few hours shopping at the souks. Chloe and I had a camel burger at Local House restaurant last time we were there and wanted to introduce our friends to it so we made them walk all the way there after we got off the boat. We actually misjudged the walk. We thought it was only a half mile walk but ended up being about 3 miles. Our poor friends were hungry and angry at us for lying to them. The camel burger and biryani at Local house made up for it though. (I hope)

We ended our night at Barasti beach club at the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi hotel. It was only a walk cross the bridge from where we were staying. So this place is a bit exclusive. The rule is “couples only”. They do not allow single men or women in. A lot of men hang out in the front waiting for single women to show up so that they will walk with them in. I am not sure why its couples only but we didn’t encounter any issues even though we weren’t all coupled up. I think we may have confused them because we all walked in together as a group so they didn’t get to count. Lol The place is huge and has different areas or sections. We first walked into a huge open space which had a bar, chairs and a few people. It looked more like a dancing area but no one was dancing. We continued walking downstairs into where it seemed everyone was hanging out. There were several bars in this area. Cabanas and lounges chairs arranged in the sandy area and another large dance floor in the sandy area. It was packed and there was house and techno music playing very loudly. People were lounged out in chairs smoking hookah and drinking. There is a beach there but since it was dark, security didn’t allow anyone into the water. It got popping for us once we were able to secure a cabana (they are free by the way). The drinks and hookahs started flowing and we took over the dance floor. We actually got the party popping with our infamous circle dance. Everyone wanted to dance with us. Just reminiscing about it brings a huge smile to my face. It was a good time and quickly became another favorite spot.

Some of us spent the next day at the Wild Wadi water park and the rest went to the beach. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a huge fan of rollercoasters or water parks in fact I’m terrified of the big rides. I know what you are thinking, “how are you adventurous if you don’t like rollercoaster’s?” I had a scare when I was 13 that’s why. Not going to get into details but that’s why. I’ve always been the bag holder at theme parks with my friends. I only went to the wild wadi just to see what it was all about. I had no intentions on getting on the rides or so I thought. I got on a couple of small rides which was totally fine but my friends and hubby convinced me to get on the scariest ride ever…Burj Surj and not once but twice. I don’t know how I fell for that. I truly saw my life flash right in front of my eyes. Not exaggerating, I really thought that was it for me but it does make for a great story. lol Anyway, Wild Wadi was fun. It was packed with people and they have many rides for everyone with different adventurous levels. They even have a private beach which isn’t cheap at all. Lol There is a free beach around the corner if you really need to visit a beach. People actually gather in front of the wild waldi so that they can take pictures of the Burj Al Arab. That place is very secure. You cannot even go close to the gates if you do not have an appointment there. We wanted to go there for their high tea but the one we wanted was sold out.