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Published: February 23rd 2008
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Me & Ronnie
No matter where you go you can always get a Big Mac..! Dubai - 23/02/2008
Now been in Dubai for nearly a week………..
Apart from turning into cooked lobsters with high temperatures in excess of 78 degrees, we have managed not to get heat stroke or lose any weight by going to the gym here, although we have passed it on the way once or twice whilst stuffing our faces with even more food.
The food here is plentiful, and starting with breakfast (A full international buffet), in the hotel is a must…….
Choices are from all five corners of the world, five because there seem to be some food on offer from continents which we obviously have never been to.
You can eat as much as you like from sushi to good old full English (beans an’all), omelet’s to order, pastries, cereal with choice of cow milk, goat milk or even good old camel milk. Various other options include unpronounceable foreign stuff which look like poop, smell like poop and even taste like poop, but you just gotta try ‘em…….
Lunch , well we have managed to skip this more often than not, but have managed to fit it in every other day, such as eating kebabs at a
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A little bit of hubbly bubbly.. Carli tried it too!! lunchtime barbeque affair, or from a choice of various fast food establishments (for which there are zillions to choose from).
Dinner, has been consumed whilst out shopping through various offerings.
We recommend Medinat Souk (Around the corner from the hotel) Great outdoor Arabian food place, with lots of unrecognizable types of meat dishes, but tasty and filling all the same. Also Ravi’s restaurant in Bur Dubai, which is cheap as chips, and bountiful in all things chickeny’ especially hot, and plenty of it.
They have a Toni Romas here, which have grown to enjoy since first going to in Bangkok and various other countries. Where you get more food than you could possibly eat but still eat it anyway, and then wish you hadn’t.
The hotel food is fantastic but pretty expensive, and you get a great choice. But it is good to get out and about, with the Rag Heads mano a mano……
Shopping:
You can buy anything here a great deal cheaper than UK, and enjoy the haggling in the process.
Ang managed to get some 1.49 carrot diamond earrings on white gold, as a gift for being Ang, and I (Oggy) managed to get
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Bit more crowded than the average boat some new shoes and a cheap watch (Errrr… well enough on that one).
To tell the truth we don’t actually have a great deal of room in our stretched to capacity luggage anyway, as we are already 4 times over our baggage limit, but look forward to haggling with Emirates again when we try to board on our way to Perth.
Carli (Ang’s daughter) came out with us thus far and is heading back to good ole’ Blighty tomorrow with a suitcase full of clothes and goodies she has acquired whilst being here over this week. We will be sorry to see her go, but at least we can get through the day once more without having to queue for the toilet. (And I personally won’t miss the smell or having to change the empty toilet roll).
Out of all the Malls in Dubai, we can recommend Festival City Mall, as it has everything and the locals seem to shop there the most (actually its packed with them). A word of warning to anyone going to the Emirates Mall though. It is aimed at tourists and the prices are fixed and 20-30% dearer, and it’s full of Yanks who
Boat ride..
Taking the Abra across the creek really get on yer nerves………..
All the Malls are OK, but getting a Taxi from some is nigh on impossible with queues of over 300 people waiting in a not very organized line.
Al Karama is an area to go to if you want the best bargains.
It is not a Mall, but a collection of individual shops selling copy merchandise, from Armani undies to Mont Blanc brief cases.
It’s in a typical arabesque old part of Dubai which is not mentioned by most guides, as it is a bit seedy, but worth going if for nothing else but the challenge. You do get dodgy Lebanese characters asking if you want a copy watch or DVD, but ignore them (unless you want any), but they soon back off when you take their picture…………
Average tee-shirts or jeans with various logos (Vicky Beckham or Prada) go for around £10, but will start off anywhere from £80 just to see if you are daft enough to pay it.
Just haggle and generally lark around with them (I sold Ang many times, but she manages to escape each time without too much of a problem).
Gold Souk is great if again
Chevy's
There were approx 40 cars on the trail across the dunes, you are able to haggle and get a price that suits you, so make sure you take the time to visit that area (Get a Taxi), then make your way down to the spice market.
Taking the Abra (a small local boat) across from the Spice market in Deira is a must, and you end up in Bur Dubai, where you can get all sorts of linen or electrical goodies at around 70% of the cost in UK. They even sell 103inch Plasma screens there, which I was tempted, but couldn’t afford the carriage price to Perth (nor the import duty)
Today we went on an excursion (around £25 per head) which was real value for money.
You get picked up from your hotel in a big Chevy 4x4 luxurious off road vehicle and go Dune bashing (driving over the dunes in the conservation area). Pleanty of photo opportunities and the chance to meet the camels and goats. I was in my element catching them for Ang and Carli to hold, but became over active by catching a few more for anyone else who cared to caress a little kid, of which it seemed like every youngster on the
Flip & Flop 2?
After having to leave our 2 goats in UK, Ang was desperate to keep these ones..! journey fancied a photo opportunity with one. From there we carried on further to the oasis in the desert where we were fed and watered with copious amounts of booze and non identifiable food stuffs (But all very tasty - well I thought so anyway).
Ang managed find a rather large dung beetle in the entrance to the ladies, so I just had to go and catch it and bring it out into the throng. Not many people wanted to get anywhere near it, as a matter of fact they all dispersed from around us. So we had unhindered passage to get to the free camel rides and enjoyed a brief jaunt around the oasis in the dark hours. The funniest thing was the lady who came on at half time - The Belly dancer…….
I am sure she was once a lovely, slim provocative dancing little thing, but now before us was this tired looking, pot bellied, half naked, shimmery old trollop - strutting away like a lame flamingo on acid.
She even managed to get hoards of other tourists up to dance with her, in some insane free for all dance extravaganza which looked like they all needed
Belly wobble..
As per the description.. she had a belly to dance with..! to lay off the Shisha (Hubbly Bubbly thing they offer out here absolutely everywhere).
She eventually made a bee-line for me (sat quietly under our tent laughing at everyone else), and held out her leathery looking claw, beckoning me to join. I have to tell you that up close it was gruesome and even unbelievably more saggy around the gut that I had previously judged. I did think to say that “I don’t normally dance with fat ugly birds until the end of the night, and only then if blind drunk”. But decided to play the bad leg card and cling onto Ang with vice like grip until the thing went away.
The whole evening was great and we left with the satisfaction that it was well worth the money and was over when the FAT lady sang……..
Next installment on arrival in Perth…………………………………
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Woody's Dad and Caz
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The big eyebrows .....
Helllllooooo ..... Well guys, its great to see you having a fabulous time in Dubai .... and that you have even had time to do some shopping (now who'd of thought that!!) Its been strange without you ... we even had to spend the weekend looking for some new pals to go on Friday night mystery tours ... so far the success rate has been low - infact no one will have us!! Little Fergie is doing well (the cat for those of you who dont know) and has even learnt a new trick this week ... chasing after the mouse up the stairs and playing fetch ... and yes she does bring it back!! There is one important fact that we must bring to everyones attention .... Oggy's one wish in life ... to be Bert Reynolds ! Those of you looking through the blog will notice Oggy has been for his eyebrows, tash and landing strip darkened in order to acheive this one wish in life! Oggs - Keep trying !!!! Thats it from us for tonight .... take care and talk soon. Woodys dad and Caz xxx