rmorrison100
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 26, 2011
Nice! I really like it.
Arabian Adventures
- Thread starter dolphingirl47
- Start date
dgbg100106
Missing the Tag Fiary
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2008
Sounds like a great experience, I am jealous of all the pampering.... Maybe one of these days I will be able to try something like this. 
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
I really need to start on the next installment, but I am busy with my vow renewal planning journal at the moment.
Corinna
Corinna
dgbg100106
Missing the Tag Fiary
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2008
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Dubai is very hot during the summer months, but is gorgeous in autumn and winter. When I went for my interview last year in November, it was in the high 20s and when we went for Christmas in 2009 it was in the low to mid 20s.
Corinna
jockey
Runs for Wine!
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2004
That sounds more bearable! My friend was saying its in the high 40's at the moment I would melt!
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Day 5
We had an early start that morning. The alarm clock went off at 7:00 AM. We got dressed, packed what we needed for the day and went to breakfast. On the evening of the day that we had checked in, a notice had gone up that they pool deck would be closed that day due to a private function. As we wanted to spend a day at Aquaventure at the Atlantis anyway, we decided that this would be the perfect day for this.
We had a nice big breakfast as we were hoping to avoid having to eat at lunch time. I found out that I can eat rice and dhal and hummous and bread at any time of the day or night. Graham was slightly bemused by this. He went for a slightly more conservative breakfast of fruit, yoghurt, toast and marmalade.
Once we had our breakfast we headed downstairs to get a taxi. By that time it was only about 8:45. When we had gone to the Atlantis Christmas 2009, it had opened at 9:00 AM. I have to say, I did not even think to check if the opening times were still the same. We still decided to go and figured we could have a look around. It took only about 15 minutes to get to the Atlantis. When we got there, we headed straight to the area with the ticket counters. I really wanted to do a dolphin swim, but I had one purpose not prebooked this as I did not want to be tied down to a particular day. This was a wise decision as I doubt that I woulod have chosen the day that we ended up going. When we got there, the ticket counters were still closed. I was quite surprised by this. I would have expected that they would be open an hour before park opening. I suppose this was an indication on what to expect for the day.
We headed back towards the entrance and enjoyed the theming of the place. There are beautiful murals on the ceilings and dolphin light fittings. We took some photos and then found a seat near the entrance and sat down.
At just before 9:30, we decided to try our luck once more. A couple of ticket counters had opened and I checked if they availability for a dolphin swim. They offer three different packages. One is just a shallow water interaction. One is a dolphin swim that includes a belly ride and the Royal Swim that include a dorsal tow and a foot push. There was availability for all of them. I decided to go for the Royal Swim as I prefer the dorsal tow over the belly ride. The price included admission to Aquaventure as well. I asked if I could get a ticket for Graham just for Aquaventure as well, but they initially told me that I would need to go to a different counter. He then offered me the observer pass for Graham, which was slightly more expensive than the admission to Aquaventure, but it allowed Graham access to the beach area and also included a free towel rental. So we decided to go for this.
Once we had paid and had all our wristbands and a locker key, I noticed that they were letting people in even though it was not 10:00 yet. So we went up to the entrance. Initially they turned us a way, but shortly afterwards a member of staff came up to us to check our wristbands and told us to come back. I think this had something to do with the fact that we had the Dolphin Bay wristbands. I most certainly was not going to argue and we headed inside the park to get changed.
We had an early start that morning. The alarm clock went off at 7:00 AM. We got dressed, packed what we needed for the day and went to breakfast. On the evening of the day that we had checked in, a notice had gone up that they pool deck would be closed that day due to a private function. As we wanted to spend a day at Aquaventure at the Atlantis anyway, we decided that this would be the perfect day for this.
We had a nice big breakfast as we were hoping to avoid having to eat at lunch time. I found out that I can eat rice and dhal and hummous and bread at any time of the day or night. Graham was slightly bemused by this. He went for a slightly more conservative breakfast of fruit, yoghurt, toast and marmalade.
Once we had our breakfast we headed downstairs to get a taxi. By that time it was only about 8:45. When we had gone to the Atlantis Christmas 2009, it had opened at 9:00 AM. I have to say, I did not even think to check if the opening times were still the same. We still decided to go and figured we could have a look around. It took only about 15 minutes to get to the Atlantis. When we got there, we headed straight to the area with the ticket counters. I really wanted to do a dolphin swim, but I had one purpose not prebooked this as I did not want to be tied down to a particular day. This was a wise decision as I doubt that I woulod have chosen the day that we ended up going. When we got there, the ticket counters were still closed. I was quite surprised by this. I would have expected that they would be open an hour before park opening. I suppose this was an indication on what to expect for the day.
We headed back towards the entrance and enjoyed the theming of the place. There are beautiful murals on the ceilings and dolphin light fittings. We took some photos and then found a seat near the entrance and sat down.
At just before 9:30, we decided to try our luck once more. A couple of ticket counters had opened and I checked if they availability for a dolphin swim. They offer three different packages. One is just a shallow water interaction. One is a dolphin swim that includes a belly ride and the Royal Swim that include a dorsal tow and a foot push. There was availability for all of them. I decided to go for the Royal Swim as I prefer the dorsal tow over the belly ride. The price included admission to Aquaventure as well. I asked if I could get a ticket for Graham just for Aquaventure as well, but they initially told me that I would need to go to a different counter. He then offered me the observer pass for Graham, which was slightly more expensive than the admission to Aquaventure, but it allowed Graham access to the beach area and also included a free towel rental. So we decided to go for this.
Once we had paid and had all our wristbands and a locker key, I noticed that they were letting people in even though it was not 10:00 yet. So we went up to the entrance. Initially they turned us a way, but shortly afterwards a member of staff came up to us to check our wristbands and told us to come back. I think this had something to do with the fact that we had the Dolphin Bay wristbands. I most certainly was not going to argue and we headed inside the park to get changed.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Once we were ready we headed to one of the areas from which you can access the Rapids and we got a double inner tube. We headed down the river, but were soon redirected as this particular part of the Rapids was not open yet. Instead we got a few goes around the Torrent, which is another river, but this one is powered by a wave machine. This was great fun. When we were ready to go and give the Rapids another try, we changed to two individual inner tubes. The Torrent is more fun in the double tubes, but I prefer to do the Rapids on my own. That part of the Rapids was open and we enjoyed our trip around the Rapids. When we got back to our starting point, we were again redirected towards the Torrent, but were advised that the second half of the Rapids would open at midday. So we took another couple of trips on the Torrent and then rejoined the Rapids. This time we could go all the way round. This also meant using the conveyer belts, which is not the most comfortable experience. Aquaventure is designed so that you never have to leave the water unless you want to. Even the access to the slides is via a network of rivers and conveyer belts.
Once we had done three complete laps around the Rapids, we thought it was time to make our way over to Dolphin Bay, which is a bit of a walk. I went back to the locker to get my confirmation and my normal swimsuit as I had been wearing my full length swimsuit during the morning. In the end, as soon as we reached the beach road, a golf cart pulled up and offered us a ride to Dolphin Bay. So we got there way too early. Still, they have a nice patio overlooking the dolphin lagoons and we settled down there and watched the world, and the odd dolphin, go by.
My dolphin interaction was supposed to start at 14:10 and just before 14:00 they called my name. I went inside the building to check in and was told that Graham should come to. Once we were checked in, we sat down while we were waiting for the rest of the people to check in. We were then told what would happen next. Shortly afterwards, we walked along the beach to the changing area. There everybody participating in the dolphin swim was given a wetsuit plus a vest and we were sent to change. I decided to try if the wetsuit would fit over my full swimsuit as I did not much fancy changing out of this and then having to change back into the damp swimsuit afterwards. To my surprise, I was not only able to put the wetsuit over the full swimsuit, but it was actually easier to put the wetsuit on as well. Once we were all changed, we were taken to another room where we had a quick induction. The observers were also invited to join us for this. This was a bit of a waste of time. I had of course heard it all before and at least half of the people in that room did not understand English.
Once we had done three complete laps around the Rapids, we thought it was time to make our way over to Dolphin Bay, which is a bit of a walk. I went back to the locker to get my confirmation and my normal swimsuit as I had been wearing my full length swimsuit during the morning. In the end, as soon as we reached the beach road, a golf cart pulled up and offered us a ride to Dolphin Bay. So we got there way too early. Still, they have a nice patio overlooking the dolphin lagoons and we settled down there and watched the world, and the odd dolphin, go by.
My dolphin interaction was supposed to start at 14:10 and just before 14:00 they called my name. I went inside the building to check in and was told that Graham should come to. Once we were checked in, we sat down while we were waiting for the rest of the people to check in. We were then told what would happen next. Shortly afterwards, we walked along the beach to the changing area. There everybody participating in the dolphin swim was given a wetsuit plus a vest and we were sent to change. I decided to try if the wetsuit would fit over my full swimsuit as I did not much fancy changing out of this and then having to change back into the damp swimsuit afterwards. To my surprise, I was not only able to put the wetsuit over the full swimsuit, but it was actually easier to put the wetsuit on as well. Once we were all changed, we were taken to another room where we had a quick induction. The observers were also invited to join us for this. This was a bit of a waste of time. I had of course heard it all before and at least half of the people in that room did not understand English.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
At the end of this talk, we were divided into groups and one of the two trainers that we would be with collected us. We walked over to the lagoon where we met the second trainer and our dolphin. We were a group of 6 and I was the only person in our group who spoke English. The rest of the group only spoke Russian. This turned out to be an interesting experience. Our trainers were Lauren from the UK and Monica from Mexico and our dolphin was called Alice.
To start off with, we all lined up near the edge of the lagoon and Alice swam by so that we could touch her. Then we waded a bit deeper into the water and paired off. We were asked to kneel down facing the person that we had been partnered with.we then linked arms. Alice swam on top of our arms and we gently lifted her out of the water. It is amazing just how heavy a dolphin is.
After this, it was time to swim out for our dorsal tow. The combined two groups for this as we needed two dolphins for this. I was supposed to go first. Now, this is a behaviour I have experienced a few times before and never had a problem. I was told to get into position facing the beach, stretch my hands out beside be with the palms facing backward and wait for a signal to hold on to the dorsal fins. Well, the signal never came and I just saw two dolphins moving past me at speed. We had two more attempts with the same effect. I was asked to swim back to the wall while some others in the group had their go. There were no problems with any of the others. Once about half of the group had their go, I was asked to swim out again and we had another two attempts that ended in the first way as the first attempts. So I was asked to swim back to the wall again, while the rest of the group had their dorsal tow. The trainers were at a bit of a loss. One suggested that they dolphins might get spooked by my long sleeves. So when everybody was done, I swam back out to the starting position, but this time I had rolled up the sleeves. This time round everything happened as planned.
Once I was back at the beach end, the split us back into our original groups. Then they asked each person in turn to swim out with a boogie board for the footpush. I had done this twice before and did not enjoy it on either occasion. I am very sensitive to anything touching my feet. So I said that I would pass on this. It was really the dorsal tow that I had wanted to do. So I stayed behind at the beach end with one of the trainers and she brought Alice over whenever she came back to the beach so that I could touch her before being sent out again.
Once everybody had their go, we then took turns swimming out a little way to get a kiss and a hug. With the hug, I had the same problem that I had with the dorsal tow. Alice just would not come close enough. I noticed that my sleeves had rolled down again. So I rolled them up and everything was fine. Once everybody had their go, we were asked who has come with whom so that we could pose for family photos. I got Alice all to myself for my photos. To finish off, we were giving Alice a couple of hand signals which made her do a tail walk and some flips. After this it was time to say goodbye. She gave us a wave with her tail as we headed back towards the changing rooms.
I changed out of the vest and the wetsuit and retrieved my stuff from the locker. When we handed the wetsuits back, we were offered some soft drinks and were asked to fill out a customer satisfaction survey. We chatted for a while with the member of staff in that area and then headed off to look at the photos. We had been told that we needed to choose the photos at the Dolphin Bay gift shop, but that we could pick them up and pay for them at the Aquaventure gift shop later in the day. So we went to choose the photos. I was not overly impressed by the quality of the photos, but there were a couple of nice ones. When we mentioned that we wanted to pick them up at the Aquaventure gift shop on our way out, we were then told that we should just quote the interaction time and the name of the dolphin and they would sort out everything for us when we were ready to leave.
To start off with, we all lined up near the edge of the lagoon and Alice swam by so that we could touch her. Then we waded a bit deeper into the water and paired off. We were asked to kneel down facing the person that we had been partnered with.we then linked arms. Alice swam on top of our arms and we gently lifted her out of the water. It is amazing just how heavy a dolphin is.
After this, it was time to swim out for our dorsal tow. The combined two groups for this as we needed two dolphins for this. I was supposed to go first. Now, this is a behaviour I have experienced a few times before and never had a problem. I was told to get into position facing the beach, stretch my hands out beside be with the palms facing backward and wait for a signal to hold on to the dorsal fins. Well, the signal never came and I just saw two dolphins moving past me at speed. We had two more attempts with the same effect. I was asked to swim back to the wall while some others in the group had their go. There were no problems with any of the others. Once about half of the group had their go, I was asked to swim out again and we had another two attempts that ended in the first way as the first attempts. So I was asked to swim back to the wall again, while the rest of the group had their dorsal tow. The trainers were at a bit of a loss. One suggested that they dolphins might get spooked by my long sleeves. So when everybody was done, I swam back out to the starting position, but this time I had rolled up the sleeves. This time round everything happened as planned.
Once I was back at the beach end, the split us back into our original groups. Then they asked each person in turn to swim out with a boogie board for the footpush. I had done this twice before and did not enjoy it on either occasion. I am very sensitive to anything touching my feet. So I said that I would pass on this. It was really the dorsal tow that I had wanted to do. So I stayed behind at the beach end with one of the trainers and she brought Alice over whenever she came back to the beach so that I could touch her before being sent out again.
Once everybody had their go, we then took turns swimming out a little way to get a kiss and a hug. With the hug, I had the same problem that I had with the dorsal tow. Alice just would not come close enough. I noticed that my sleeves had rolled down again. So I rolled them up and everything was fine. Once everybody had their go, we were asked who has come with whom so that we could pose for family photos. I got Alice all to myself for my photos. To finish off, we were giving Alice a couple of hand signals which made her do a tail walk and some flips. After this it was time to say goodbye. She gave us a wave with her tail as we headed back towards the changing rooms.
I changed out of the vest and the wetsuit and retrieved my stuff from the locker. When we handed the wetsuits back, we were offered some soft drinks and were asked to fill out a customer satisfaction survey. We chatted for a while with the member of staff in that area and then headed off to look at the photos. We had been told that we needed to choose the photos at the Dolphin Bay gift shop, but that we could pick them up and pay for them at the Aquaventure gift shop later in the day. So we went to choose the photos. I was not overly impressed by the quality of the photos, but there were a couple of nice ones. When we mentioned that we wanted to pick them up at the Aquaventure gift shop on our way out, we were then told that we should just quote the interaction time and the name of the dolphin and they would sort out everything for us when we were ready to leave.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Graham had brought our snorkelling stuff and we decided to give this a trial run on the beach that is opposite Aquaventure. I was struggling considerably with the flippers and pretty much have made up my mind that I wont bother with flippers again. I was OK swimming with them, but trying to get into and out of the water was a real pain. For my troubles, I did not even see anything apart from some shells. Graham was struggling with his snorkel as this kept coming loose from the mask. I managed to fix the problem later on during the holiday, but for this day we decided that we had enough of snorkelling.
We headed back to Aquaventure and chilled out on some loungers in the shade for a while. All day we had noticed that things seemed to be rather quiet, but this was taking things to the extreme. We were the only people in this area the whole time we were there. A little while later, we decided to take to the Rapids again and it was pretty much the same story. There was hardly anybody around there either. So we got ourselves an innertube each and set off again.
http://youtu.be/ZedjmnmTsqg
The only innertubes that they had at this particular stretch of the beach were ones that a hat a bottom. This turned out to be a disaster. The first of the Rapids was fine, but on the second, I got turned around just before I entered the slide leading down to the Rapid. The water than hit me in a funny way and I ended up being turned upside down and hit the back of my head very hard on the bottom. Unfortunately it was also at the point were the current was the strongest so it took me a few seconds to right myself again. The irony was that there are lifeguards every few yards, but none of them had noticed what had happened. They only became aware when I was already upright again and then only because the people who were coming up behind be were concerned about me. At that stage they offered to call the paramedics. This was totally unnecessary and I politely refused. Yes, my head smarted where I had hit it and I had bitten the inside of my cheek when making impact, but everything was localized. In the meantime Graham had caught up with me. After a bit of back and forth and once they realized that I was not by myself, they radioed for a double innertube and then we were released for some more watery fun. We took another two laps round the Rapids with no ill effects and then we decided that we had enough. The sun was lower by them and it was actually pretty windy. So we called it a day.
We got changed and went to look at the photos. Initially they had a little bit of trouble finding the photos for my dolphin swim, but eventually they did fine them. Photographers had also taken photos while we were going around the Rapids and we looked at those photos, too. I actually liked some of those photos better then the ones from the dolphin swim. I still ended up getting the two photos that I had picked out earlier in the day and also got one of the photos that were taken at Aquaventure.
On our way out, we did a little pit stop at Coldstone Creamery. We had not eaten anything since breakfast and I was definitely ready for a snack. Graham had Cheesecake and Coffee ice cream again, but this time he decided to have it in a waffle. I had Sweet Cream and Chocolate and also had a plain waffle. Once we had our ice cream, we headed out in search of a taxi. The last time that we had been to the Atlantis, there was a huge line for taxis and we ended up making alternative arrangements. This time there was no line and a number of taxis waiting. As we were pulling away from the Atlantis, we saw a beautiful sunset.
When we got back to the hotel, we had a shower and got changed. We then spent a bit of time catching up with our emails and our online chess games before heading out for a bite to eat. We decided that we wanted to try the oriental restaurant that I had eaten at in 2008. We had to think long and hard if we were going to brave walking or if we would take a taxi. It is amazing how tiring floating around in an innertube for most of the day is. In the end we decided to walk.
We had a wonderful meal. As soon as we had sat down, we were brought Prawn Crackers with various dips. I was only brave enough to try the Sweet Chilli Sauce and that was pretty hot. I then went with Chicken Satay with a gorgeous peanut sauce for my starter followed by Thai Red Curry with Steamed Rice. The curry was seriously spicy, but very tasty. Graham had gone for Sesame Prawns for his starter and had Singapore Noodles for his main course. He had a Virgin Pina Colada and I had an ice tea. After dinner, there was no chance that we would walk back to the hotel. The restaurant is pretty much right across from the the hotel, but the marina is in the way. To walk from one to the other takes a fair while and we were just too stuffed and tired. So we took a taxi.
When we got back to the hotel, I seriously doubted that we would get any sleep any time soon. The wedding reception that was taking place on the pool deck was still in full swing and the music was rather loud. In fact, we had heard it on the other side of the marina. I settled down with my newspaper. Graham fell asleep very quickly and once I had finished my newspaper, I fell asleep as well despite the noise.
We headed back to Aquaventure and chilled out on some loungers in the shade for a while. All day we had noticed that things seemed to be rather quiet, but this was taking things to the extreme. We were the only people in this area the whole time we were there. A little while later, we decided to take to the Rapids again and it was pretty much the same story. There was hardly anybody around there either. So we got ourselves an innertube each and set off again.
http://youtu.be/ZedjmnmTsqg
The only innertubes that they had at this particular stretch of the beach were ones that a hat a bottom. This turned out to be a disaster. The first of the Rapids was fine, but on the second, I got turned around just before I entered the slide leading down to the Rapid. The water than hit me in a funny way and I ended up being turned upside down and hit the back of my head very hard on the bottom. Unfortunately it was also at the point were the current was the strongest so it took me a few seconds to right myself again. The irony was that there are lifeguards every few yards, but none of them had noticed what had happened. They only became aware when I was already upright again and then only because the people who were coming up behind be were concerned about me. At that stage they offered to call the paramedics. This was totally unnecessary and I politely refused. Yes, my head smarted where I had hit it and I had bitten the inside of my cheek when making impact, but everything was localized. In the meantime Graham had caught up with me. After a bit of back and forth and once they realized that I was not by myself, they radioed for a double innertube and then we were released for some more watery fun. We took another two laps round the Rapids with no ill effects and then we decided that we had enough. The sun was lower by them and it was actually pretty windy. So we called it a day.
We got changed and went to look at the photos. Initially they had a little bit of trouble finding the photos for my dolphin swim, but eventually they did fine them. Photographers had also taken photos while we were going around the Rapids and we looked at those photos, too. I actually liked some of those photos better then the ones from the dolphin swim. I still ended up getting the two photos that I had picked out earlier in the day and also got one of the photos that were taken at Aquaventure.
On our way out, we did a little pit stop at Coldstone Creamery. We had not eaten anything since breakfast and I was definitely ready for a snack. Graham had Cheesecake and Coffee ice cream again, but this time he decided to have it in a waffle. I had Sweet Cream and Chocolate and also had a plain waffle. Once we had our ice cream, we headed out in search of a taxi. The last time that we had been to the Atlantis, there was a huge line for taxis and we ended up making alternative arrangements. This time there was no line and a number of taxis waiting. As we were pulling away from the Atlantis, we saw a beautiful sunset.
When we got back to the hotel, we had a shower and got changed. We then spent a bit of time catching up with our emails and our online chess games before heading out for a bite to eat. We decided that we wanted to try the oriental restaurant that I had eaten at in 2008. We had to think long and hard if we were going to brave walking or if we would take a taxi. It is amazing how tiring floating around in an innertube for most of the day is. In the end we decided to walk.
We had a wonderful meal. As soon as we had sat down, we were brought Prawn Crackers with various dips. I was only brave enough to try the Sweet Chilli Sauce and that was pretty hot. I then went with Chicken Satay with a gorgeous peanut sauce for my starter followed by Thai Red Curry with Steamed Rice. The curry was seriously spicy, but very tasty. Graham had gone for Sesame Prawns for his starter and had Singapore Noodles for his main course. He had a Virgin Pina Colada and I had an ice tea. After dinner, there was no chance that we would walk back to the hotel. The restaurant is pretty much right across from the the hotel, but the marina is in the way. To walk from one to the other takes a fair while and we were just too stuffed and tired. So we took a taxi.
When we got back to the hotel, I seriously doubted that we would get any sleep any time soon. The wedding reception that was taking place on the pool deck was still in full swing and the music was rather loud. In fact, we had heard it on the other side of the marina. I settled down with my newspaper. Graham fell asleep very quickly and once I had finished my newspaper, I fell asleep as well despite the noise.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Day 6
We had a bit of a leisurely morning and I had not set the alarm. We only just made it downstairs while breakfast was still being served. I decided that I did not feel like hot food that morning so I had some fruit and nuts, orange juice, an almond croissant and some mini muffins. Graham had fresh fruit, yoghurt, juice, coffee and toast with marmalade. After breakfast we got our stuff and headed out. I noticed that the flower arrangement in the lobby had changed so I took a photo of this. They also have a gorgeous falcon ornament in the lobby that is totally encrusted with Swarovski crystals. All the colour comes from the crystals.
We had decided that we probably owed our skin a day off from the sun and headed back to the Dubai Mall. I had been there a few times now, but only had seen a fraction as I usually had a specific reason for being there. This time round, I wanted to just explore. We also had planned to finally visit the Dubai Aquarium and the Underwater Zoo. We headed to our local metro station around lunchtime and when we got to the closest metro station to the Dubai Mall, we took the feeder bus to the Dubai Mall.
We started to explore on the lower ground floor and started off at Arabian Court again. I will never get enough of this area. Once we got to the main area of the Dubai Mall, we turned the opposite way from the food court and the access to the Burj Khalifa. There are a number of restaurants and chocolate shops in this area plus some shops selling souvenirs. At the end of this area is the waterfall, which is stunning. I had never seen this before. The first time I heard about this was as directions to the shop at the Dubai Mall that sells the full length swimsuits. Graham had seen this before when he went off to explore by himself in 2009. I was totally in awe of this.
http://youtu.be/pRnK-K15LoA
http://youtu.be/ob3H60Qu4O8
http://youtu.be/c7nYjxulBUk
Once we had enjoyed the waterfall for a while, we went up to the ground floor. There I found the other shop that I new was selling the traditional swimsuits. I decided to have a look. I was glad that I had bought mine at the Mall of the Emirates. The swimsuits they had there were lovely and the prices were not over the top either, but they were rather fanciful with crystals, pearls and sequins. I dont think one of those would have survived a day at a waterpark.
On the ground floor, it became very obvious that the Dubai Mall is of limited use for shopping for most of us. Apart from the Gold Soukh, the ice rink and the Dubai Aquarium, the entire ground floor consisted of designer stores and expensive jewellery stores like Tiffany. The first floor was not much better. There was a Mac concession and a sign that a Lush shop will open soon, but apart from this, there was nothing of interest. The ice rink was mildly amusing. They were preparing this for the next session and we spend a few minutes watching the Zamboni. We also took some photos of the Dubai Mall as the theming is quite stunning in places.
We decided to give the second floor a miss. I knew that there is a Bath and Body Works shop up there and also a Sanrio shop, but I had enough of designer shops. I visited Bath and Body Works at the Mall of the Emirates and although I like browsing in Sanrio shops, I did not want to do it that much. We also had walked enough in one day. We probably will come to the Dubai Mall again on future visits because of the good choice of restaurants and for the attractions. Apart from the icerink, the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, the Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa At The Top Experience, they also have a Sega Republic Indoor Theme Park and a childrens museum there, which might both be worth a look on a future trip.
We decided that we we were both hungry and headed for the Rainforest Café. This is another restaurant that we normally only get to eat at when we are on holiday. This was the first time ever that we had eaten at a Rainforest Café and there was absolutely no wait for a table. We were shown to a table facing the aquarium so we had a fantastic view. We both had ice tea. I chose Vanilla-flavoured ice tea, which was a bit unusual, but very tasty. Graham had a t bone steak with chips and vegetables and I had chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The menu was not as extensive as I am used to from other Rainforest Cafes that we had eaten at, but the food was tasty and the prices seemed to be a bit lower than at other locations as well. Even though the aquarium looked very tempting, we decided that this had to wait for another day as we had walked enough in one day and were tired. We decided to go to see a show of the Dubai Fountain and then we could call it a day.
We managed to catch the second show of the Dubai Fountain that evening. It was still daylight, but it was still stunning. The Dubai Fountain was designed by the same company that is behind the fountain at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. The fountain is illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (490 ft) into the air. The beam of light from the fountain can be seen from over 20 miles away. There are two shows during the lunch hour and then every 30 minutes starting at 18:00 until 22:00 on weekdays and until 23:00 on weekends.
There is a wide range of music to which he show can be set ranging from traditional Arabic music, World Music, pop music, classical music to the national anthem of the UAE. They do not publish a schedule of the pieces that are used for any given show. The only thing that you can take as given is that the last show of the day is always accompanied by the national anthem. With 23 possible pieces of music and 13 possible shows in a day, it is really pot luck what you are going to get.
I had read up on this before we went to Dubai and noticed that one of the pieces of music was Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. This piece of music has had a special significance for me ever since it was first released in Germany as this was released at around the same time as I left Germany. All along I was hoping that this would be played during the show that we were going to watch, but I knew that the chance of this was actually fairly remote. I had a bit of a lump in my throat when I heard the first bars of Time to Say Goodbye. This made the whole experience even more special. It was absolutely amazing, but it is impossible to describe, so I will let the video do the talking for me:
http://youtu.be/63Gl9Q5Gmps
Just so you get an impression what it is like after dark, here is another video I found on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/jD69C0y6_J0
Once the show was over, we decided to call it a day. We headed back to the bus stop to get the feeder bus back to the metro station. The bus pulled up just as soon as we got to the bus stop. The bus was absolutely packed. It also was taking rather a scenic route on the way back. I was glad when we were finally at the metro station. True to form, we did not have to wait long for the metro. When we got to our destination, we walked back to the hotel. I took a few more photos of the flower arrangements in the hotel lobby before heading up to our room. We both sorted out a few things online and I was reading for a short while and then we settled down and went to sleep.
We had a bit of a leisurely morning and I had not set the alarm. We only just made it downstairs while breakfast was still being served. I decided that I did not feel like hot food that morning so I had some fruit and nuts, orange juice, an almond croissant and some mini muffins. Graham had fresh fruit, yoghurt, juice, coffee and toast with marmalade. After breakfast we got our stuff and headed out. I noticed that the flower arrangement in the lobby had changed so I took a photo of this. They also have a gorgeous falcon ornament in the lobby that is totally encrusted with Swarovski crystals. All the colour comes from the crystals.
We had decided that we probably owed our skin a day off from the sun and headed back to the Dubai Mall. I had been there a few times now, but only had seen a fraction as I usually had a specific reason for being there. This time round, I wanted to just explore. We also had planned to finally visit the Dubai Aquarium and the Underwater Zoo. We headed to our local metro station around lunchtime and when we got to the closest metro station to the Dubai Mall, we took the feeder bus to the Dubai Mall.
We started to explore on the lower ground floor and started off at Arabian Court again. I will never get enough of this area. Once we got to the main area of the Dubai Mall, we turned the opposite way from the food court and the access to the Burj Khalifa. There are a number of restaurants and chocolate shops in this area plus some shops selling souvenirs. At the end of this area is the waterfall, which is stunning. I had never seen this before. The first time I heard about this was as directions to the shop at the Dubai Mall that sells the full length swimsuits. Graham had seen this before when he went off to explore by himself in 2009. I was totally in awe of this.
http://youtu.be/pRnK-K15LoA
http://youtu.be/ob3H60Qu4O8
http://youtu.be/c7nYjxulBUk
Once we had enjoyed the waterfall for a while, we went up to the ground floor. There I found the other shop that I new was selling the traditional swimsuits. I decided to have a look. I was glad that I had bought mine at the Mall of the Emirates. The swimsuits they had there were lovely and the prices were not over the top either, but they were rather fanciful with crystals, pearls and sequins. I dont think one of those would have survived a day at a waterpark.
On the ground floor, it became very obvious that the Dubai Mall is of limited use for shopping for most of us. Apart from the Gold Soukh, the ice rink and the Dubai Aquarium, the entire ground floor consisted of designer stores and expensive jewellery stores like Tiffany. The first floor was not much better. There was a Mac concession and a sign that a Lush shop will open soon, but apart from this, there was nothing of interest. The ice rink was mildly amusing. They were preparing this for the next session and we spend a few minutes watching the Zamboni. We also took some photos of the Dubai Mall as the theming is quite stunning in places.
We decided to give the second floor a miss. I knew that there is a Bath and Body Works shop up there and also a Sanrio shop, but I had enough of designer shops. I visited Bath and Body Works at the Mall of the Emirates and although I like browsing in Sanrio shops, I did not want to do it that much. We also had walked enough in one day. We probably will come to the Dubai Mall again on future visits because of the good choice of restaurants and for the attractions. Apart from the icerink, the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, the Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa At The Top Experience, they also have a Sega Republic Indoor Theme Park and a childrens museum there, which might both be worth a look on a future trip.
We decided that we we were both hungry and headed for the Rainforest Café. This is another restaurant that we normally only get to eat at when we are on holiday. This was the first time ever that we had eaten at a Rainforest Café and there was absolutely no wait for a table. We were shown to a table facing the aquarium so we had a fantastic view. We both had ice tea. I chose Vanilla-flavoured ice tea, which was a bit unusual, but very tasty. Graham had a t bone steak with chips and vegetables and I had chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The menu was not as extensive as I am used to from other Rainforest Cafes that we had eaten at, but the food was tasty and the prices seemed to be a bit lower than at other locations as well. Even though the aquarium looked very tempting, we decided that this had to wait for another day as we had walked enough in one day and were tired. We decided to go to see a show of the Dubai Fountain and then we could call it a day.
We managed to catch the second show of the Dubai Fountain that evening. It was still daylight, but it was still stunning. The Dubai Fountain was designed by the same company that is behind the fountain at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. The fountain is illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (490 ft) into the air. The beam of light from the fountain can be seen from over 20 miles away. There are two shows during the lunch hour and then every 30 minutes starting at 18:00 until 22:00 on weekdays and until 23:00 on weekends.
There is a wide range of music to which he show can be set ranging from traditional Arabic music, World Music, pop music, classical music to the national anthem of the UAE. They do not publish a schedule of the pieces that are used for any given show. The only thing that you can take as given is that the last show of the day is always accompanied by the national anthem. With 23 possible pieces of music and 13 possible shows in a day, it is really pot luck what you are going to get.
I had read up on this before we went to Dubai and noticed that one of the pieces of music was Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. This piece of music has had a special significance for me ever since it was first released in Germany as this was released at around the same time as I left Germany. All along I was hoping that this would be played during the show that we were going to watch, but I knew that the chance of this was actually fairly remote. I had a bit of a lump in my throat when I heard the first bars of Time to Say Goodbye. This made the whole experience even more special. It was absolutely amazing, but it is impossible to describe, so I will let the video do the talking for me:
http://youtu.be/63Gl9Q5Gmps
Just so you get an impression what it is like after dark, here is another video I found on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/jD69C0y6_J0
Once the show was over, we decided to call it a day. We headed back to the bus stop to get the feeder bus back to the metro station. The bus pulled up just as soon as we got to the bus stop. The bus was absolutely packed. It also was taking rather a scenic route on the way back. I was glad when we were finally at the metro station. True to form, we did not have to wait long for the metro. When we got to our destination, we walked back to the hotel. I took a few more photos of the flower arrangements in the hotel lobby before heading up to our room. We both sorted out a few things online and I was reading for a short while and then we settled down and went to sleep.
Tammy Stringer
<font color=red>I love babies - all milky and baby
- Joined
- May 5, 2002
Really enjoying your trip report Corinna. Will have to watch the fountain clips when I get home - but it sounds amazing.
Tammy
Tammy
John's Mom
Jambo Wildbunch Gang
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2004
Great updates and beautiful pictures! 
Andrea Bocelli is one of my favorite singers and I love to hear him sing "Time to Say Goodbye."
The song went beautifully with the fountains.
Kathy
Andrea Bocelli is one of my favorite singers and I love to hear him sing "Time to Say Goodbye."
The song went beautifully with the fountains.Kathy
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Day 7
We had another relatively slow morning. I had not set the alarm, but we woke up at about 9:30. We got up and dressed and headed down for breakfast. We had a fairly leisurely breakfast and then we headed once more to the Dubai Mall to finally visit the Dubai Aquarium.
Once we got there, we headed straight to the aquarium. The ticket desks and the viewing tunnel are on the ground floor and the Underwater Zoo plus the gift shop are on the second floor. There are a number of different packages available, but they are all very good value. We decided to go for the top package, which included admission to both the viewing tunnel and the Underwater Zoo, a glass-bottom boat ride in the aquarium and a AED25 voucher for the gift voucher. The price for this was AED100 per person, which is about £16.
When we had our tickets, we walked past the big viewing area that is accessible to anybody at the Dubai Mall. Before we were allowed to enter the viewing tunnel, we had our tickets checked and the obligatory photo taken. Then we were finally left to enjoy the viewing tunnel. We took our time. There is a staggering amount of fish in there including at least a dozen species of sharks. It was absolutely fascinating. A lot of the sharks enjoyed resting on top of the tunnel roof, which made for a very close up view. The only criticism that I have is that they do not have any kind of guide so that you know what you are looking at. Just a laminated two-sided sheet like they give you for the snorkelling reef at Discovery Cove would have done the trick.
Once we had enjoyed the tunnel for long enough, we decided to head upstairs to the Underwater Zoo. Before we were able to head to the escalator, we were herded past and area where they were displaying the photos that they had taken earlier on. We walked straight past this and headed upstairs.
When we got upstairs, we had our tickets checked again and then were directed to another desk to get a time slot assigned for the glass-bottom boat ride. We were assigned a slot just under an hour later and decided to have a look around the Underwater Zoo in the meantime. The Underwater Zoo is very well done. The whole area looks landscaped reflecting the various habitats of the animals from the rainforest to the Antarctic. Most of the animals are fish and they have a special focus on sharks at the moment, but they also have turtles, otters, nutria (water rats) and two species of penguin plus a Creepy Crawly area that I passed on. Every habitat has signs next to it explaining what is in it and a bit more information about the animals.
We had managed to walk all the way through when it was time to turn around and head back to the entrance for our glass-bottom boat ride. Once again we had our ticket inspected and stamped and then we were directed to a waiting area. A few minutes later, we were equipped with life vests and escorted down some stairs to the boat. When we were about half-way, we were stopped to have the obligatory photo taken. Then we were allowed to go down the remaining stairs and onto the boat. We have done glass-bottom boat rides before and usually you get a relatively small viewing window. On this boat the whole of the bottom was glass and the view was spectacular. At times, they feed the fish from the boat so the fish associate the boat with food and we were surrounded by fish. That in itself was fascinating, but it was also fun watching our captain power the boat. I had wondered how the boats are powered considering that this is all indoors. The answer is that there are ropes suspended above the aquarium and the captain pulls the boat by moving his hands along the rope.
Once we had our ride, they tried to sell us the photos, but we politely declined. Graham wanted to have a look at the Creepy Crawly area and I opted to have another look at the penguins. I was lucky enough to catch feeding time. Graham came back shortly after the feeding time was over. Apart from the Creepy Crawly area, he had also discovered some rope bridges that gave a different perspective of the habitats.
We decided that we had seen enough. We stopped by the gift shop to redeem our gift vouchers. I managed to get a fridge magnet and a domed paperweight with a dolphin with my vouchers. Once I had done my shopping, we went back downstairs to get the feeder bus back to the metro station. This time round the feeder bus was relatively empty so we did not mind that it took a slightly scenic route.
We had another relatively slow morning. I had not set the alarm, but we woke up at about 9:30. We got up and dressed and headed down for breakfast. We had a fairly leisurely breakfast and then we headed once more to the Dubai Mall to finally visit the Dubai Aquarium.
Once we got there, we headed straight to the aquarium. The ticket desks and the viewing tunnel are on the ground floor and the Underwater Zoo plus the gift shop are on the second floor. There are a number of different packages available, but they are all very good value. We decided to go for the top package, which included admission to both the viewing tunnel and the Underwater Zoo, a glass-bottom boat ride in the aquarium and a AED25 voucher for the gift voucher. The price for this was AED100 per person, which is about £16.
When we had our tickets, we walked past the big viewing area that is accessible to anybody at the Dubai Mall. Before we were allowed to enter the viewing tunnel, we had our tickets checked and the obligatory photo taken. Then we were finally left to enjoy the viewing tunnel. We took our time. There is a staggering amount of fish in there including at least a dozen species of sharks. It was absolutely fascinating. A lot of the sharks enjoyed resting on top of the tunnel roof, which made for a very close up view. The only criticism that I have is that they do not have any kind of guide so that you know what you are looking at. Just a laminated two-sided sheet like they give you for the snorkelling reef at Discovery Cove would have done the trick.
Once we had enjoyed the tunnel for long enough, we decided to head upstairs to the Underwater Zoo. Before we were able to head to the escalator, we were herded past and area where they were displaying the photos that they had taken earlier on. We walked straight past this and headed upstairs.
When we got upstairs, we had our tickets checked again and then were directed to another desk to get a time slot assigned for the glass-bottom boat ride. We were assigned a slot just under an hour later and decided to have a look around the Underwater Zoo in the meantime. The Underwater Zoo is very well done. The whole area looks landscaped reflecting the various habitats of the animals from the rainforest to the Antarctic. Most of the animals are fish and they have a special focus on sharks at the moment, but they also have turtles, otters, nutria (water rats) and two species of penguin plus a Creepy Crawly area that I passed on. Every habitat has signs next to it explaining what is in it and a bit more information about the animals.
We had managed to walk all the way through when it was time to turn around and head back to the entrance for our glass-bottom boat ride. Once again we had our ticket inspected and stamped and then we were directed to a waiting area. A few minutes later, we were equipped with life vests and escorted down some stairs to the boat. When we were about half-way, we were stopped to have the obligatory photo taken. Then we were allowed to go down the remaining stairs and onto the boat. We have done glass-bottom boat rides before and usually you get a relatively small viewing window. On this boat the whole of the bottom was glass and the view was spectacular. At times, they feed the fish from the boat so the fish associate the boat with food and we were surrounded by fish. That in itself was fascinating, but it was also fun watching our captain power the boat. I had wondered how the boats are powered considering that this is all indoors. The answer is that there are ropes suspended above the aquarium and the captain pulls the boat by moving his hands along the rope.
Once we had our ride, they tried to sell us the photos, but we politely declined. Graham wanted to have a look at the Creepy Crawly area and I opted to have another look at the penguins. I was lucky enough to catch feeding time. Graham came back shortly after the feeding time was over. Apart from the Creepy Crawly area, he had also discovered some rope bridges that gave a different perspective of the habitats.
We decided that we had seen enough. We stopped by the gift shop to redeem our gift vouchers. I managed to get a fridge magnet and a domed paperweight with a dolphin with my vouchers. Once I had done my shopping, we went back downstairs to get the feeder bus back to the metro station. This time round the feeder bus was relatively empty so we did not mind that it took a slightly scenic route.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
When we got to the metro station, we headed for another shopping centre, Deira City Centre. We had explored this extensively in 2009. It is a little bit more down to earth then the Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates, but not by much. However, it has one thing going for it. It has a Lush shop. I wanted to get some ballistics as the bath tub at the hotel was rather tempting.
When we got there, we decided that it was time for a coffee and a cake. There is a Starbucks near the entrance closest to the metro station. We both had a Dulce de Leche Frappuccino. Graham had a slice of Dulce de Leche cheesecake and I had a slice of Tiramisu cake. I wish those things were available at Starbucks in the UK.
Graham was still enjoying his Frappuccino when I had finished mine. He suggested that I should head over to Lush and he would stay at Starbucks until I was back. This sounded like a good idea, especially as Lush was only a few shops further down. I browsed for a bit and then chose too ballistics that I had not tried before. They cost more than twice what I would pay for them in the UK, but I figured that I was on holiday and had deserved a special treat.
With my loot in my hand, I headed back to Starbucks to find Graham. He was just in the process of finishing his Frappuccino. We decided what to do next. When we had been to Dubai in 2009, I introduced Graham to the Abras. An Abra is a traditional wooden water taxi that crosses the Dubai Creek and takes people backwards and forwards between Deira and Bur Dubai. The one-way fare is only AED1, which is only about 17 Pence. We ended up chartering an Abra for an hour and had great fun.
Originally Graham had said that he wanted to charter an Abra again, but he had kind of come around to the thought that this was too much hassle from where we were staying this time round. The other metro line that will go through the older parts of Dubai is not open yet and getting there by bus is a bit of a nightmare. Still, it is not too far from Deira City Centre and the day was still young. So we decided to get a taxi to the Gold Soukh Abra Station.
Last time round they were only offering the Abra charters on the Bur Dubai side of the Creek. So our plan was to cross the Creek on an Abra and then try to get a charter there. The advantage of that was that the Old Soukh is right next to the Bur Dubai Abra Station and I wanted to have a wander around there anyway. Well, as soon as we got to the Gold Soukh Abra Station, we were asked if we wanted to charter an Abra for an hour. The price was still the same and with AED for the two of us, it was a bargain. So we decided to go for it.
The Creek just embodies what Dubai is all about. There is a mixture of old and traditional buildings around there and modern office buildings and hotels. There are also a lot of government buildings in that area. On the Creek itself, there is a mixture of Abras, Dhows (the traditional wooden cargo ships), yachts, excursion boats and the ultra- modern water bus. We even encountered an amphibious vehicle.
When we got there, we decided that it was time for a coffee and a cake. There is a Starbucks near the entrance closest to the metro station. We both had a Dulce de Leche Frappuccino. Graham had a slice of Dulce de Leche cheesecake and I had a slice of Tiramisu cake. I wish those things were available at Starbucks in the UK.
Graham was still enjoying his Frappuccino when I had finished mine. He suggested that I should head over to Lush and he would stay at Starbucks until I was back. This sounded like a good idea, especially as Lush was only a few shops further down. I browsed for a bit and then chose too ballistics that I had not tried before. They cost more than twice what I would pay for them in the UK, but I figured that I was on holiday and had deserved a special treat.
With my loot in my hand, I headed back to Starbucks to find Graham. He was just in the process of finishing his Frappuccino. We decided what to do next. When we had been to Dubai in 2009, I introduced Graham to the Abras. An Abra is a traditional wooden water taxi that crosses the Dubai Creek and takes people backwards and forwards between Deira and Bur Dubai. The one-way fare is only AED1, which is only about 17 Pence. We ended up chartering an Abra for an hour and had great fun.
Originally Graham had said that he wanted to charter an Abra again, but he had kind of come around to the thought that this was too much hassle from where we were staying this time round. The other metro line that will go through the older parts of Dubai is not open yet and getting there by bus is a bit of a nightmare. Still, it is not too far from Deira City Centre and the day was still young. So we decided to get a taxi to the Gold Soukh Abra Station.
Last time round they were only offering the Abra charters on the Bur Dubai side of the Creek. So our plan was to cross the Creek on an Abra and then try to get a charter there. The advantage of that was that the Old Soukh is right next to the Bur Dubai Abra Station and I wanted to have a wander around there anyway. Well, as soon as we got to the Gold Soukh Abra Station, we were asked if we wanted to charter an Abra for an hour. The price was still the same and with AED for the two of us, it was a bargain. So we decided to go for it.
The Creek just embodies what Dubai is all about. There is a mixture of old and traditional buildings around there and modern office buildings and hotels. There are also a lot of government buildings in that area. On the Creek itself, there is a mixture of Abras, Dhows (the traditional wooden cargo ships), yachts, excursion boats and the ultra- modern water bus. We even encountered an amphibious vehicle.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
On our way down the Creek, our captain had to refuel the Abra. This was quite amusing to watch. Once the Abra had been filled up, we continued our journey as far as the floating bridge and then we turned around. As we were approaching the Abra stations, our captain asked us if we wanted to be dropped off on the Deira or the Bur Dubai side. This was a nice surprise and we asked to be dropped off at the Bur Dubai side.
From the Abra station, we just had to walk up the hill and cross the street and we were at the Old Soukh. I had bought some pashminas there in 2009 and wondered if I would be able to find a traditional dress there. I was in luck. In the first shop I looked at, I found a gorgeous turquoise long-sleeved Cashmere dress with intricate embroidery. A little bit of bargaining commenced, but Graham thought that I have lost my touch and that I could have got the price down further. I thought I paid a fair price and was happy with my purchase.
This turned out to be a bit of an adventure though. I had asked if they take credit card and they said they did. However, when they realised that my card was a debit card, they asked if I could use this card to get money out of a cash point. When I confirmed this, one of the members of staff there took me of to the closest bank. This was closed for refurbishment. However, we did manage to find a cash point machine nearby. To my surprise, it even worked. We have found that our debit cards only work in the machines of one bank. Now I had found a second.
Once I had the cash, the guy from the shop handed me my dress. We headed back to the shop, where I found Graham drinking tea. I was offered some refreshment as well and I was grateful for some cold water. We chatted with the people in the shop for a bit and then headed of. Before we left, we were given a couple of embroidered purses as a present.
We continued exploring and there were plenty of people trying to sell us their goods. Pashminas seemed to be the most popular. I politely declined. I had managed to get what I came for. I noticed that the sellers of fake designer goods had unfortunately made it across the Creek, too. This is a real problem at the Soukhs on the Deira side. Some of those salesmen are pretty aggressive, too. There were not many of them, but it was a shame that they are now trying to sell their goods at the Old Soukh as well.
When we left Old Soukh, we happened upon the Textile Soukh. This was fascinating. There was just about any fabric imaginable. I particularly loved the raw silk in every colour under the sky and the intricate lace. I so wished that I could sew. I could just see how some of this would make a gorgeous evening gown.
Just as we were coming out of the Textile Soukh, I saw a jewellery shop that was doing the traditional jewellery in Sterling Silver. I decided to go in to have a closer look. There was one set in particular that I loved. I was not brave enough to ask for the price. I knew that this would result in bargaining and the jewellery was too tempting. So I decided to leave. When we got back to the main road, we managed to flag down a taxi and headed back to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, I did some research online. I had a graving for Indian food, but was not really willing to pay the prices that the Indian restaurant at the hotel was charging. There were surprisingly few Indian restaurants in the Marina area. One looked a strong possible, but this had neither directions nor a map with it. In the end, we decided to just walk down to the Marina Walk and see if we could find something.
We were in luck. We found an Indian restaurant that was offering an all you can eat buffet at a very good price. The choice was not huge and consisted of about half a dozen starters and about the same number of main courses plus rice, but this was more than enough for us and it was rather tasty. They also brought roti to the table and they kept offering to bring more. So I feasted on Butter Chicken, Dhal Makhani and another chicken dish. The whole meal was washed down with mango juice. We also were brought another drink to try. I am still not quite sure what it was, but it contained lemon and mint and was yummy. Graham was a bit more adventurous and had some of the lamb and fish dishes, which he also enjoyed. He had a pineapple juice with his meal.
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel enjoying the cosmopolitan atmosphere along the marina. It was now the beginning of the weekend and just about every nationality on this planet must have been represented there. It was just nice to walk and soak up the atmosphere. When we got back to the hotel, we called it a day and headed to bed.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
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