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Published: September 24th 2009
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Burjuman Mall
Burj Al Arab "Sail" Hotel, taken from the beachfront Kia Ora Trendsetters,
And Congrats to the All Blacks on their success against the Aussies - better late than never and Henry lives another day! There is quite a following of Kiwi’s who get together apparently, to watch the games in a nearby bar. It doubles as a great reason to have a beer for morning tea - we would have joined them, but took the opportunity of the long weekend here to zip down to Dubai, - just an hour away by jet. We had heard so much about this place and it’s so handy, and with a 3 nights for 2 deal we couldn’t resist!
Staying at a 4 star hotel - Regent Palace, we were right across the road from one of the dozens of amazing Malls, this one the Burjuman Mall. We were well impressed with the range of what is available - we zeroed in on the Book Shops, grabbing a Thailand Guide and some Middle East Maps and birthday cards - they are virtually unobtainable in Bahrain. (In fact some Bahrain Malls have dedicated Hallmark card shops but only a few Birthday cards - it can’t be something they celebrate).
We also
Burjuman Mall
Jude horsing around on the dinner cruise took the opportunity to both get our hair cut here - it’s a big no-no for men and women to share a salon, so I went in one salon, Jude went next door - after wishing each other luck!
I entered the “Hollywood Salon - hairdressers to the stars - come in and feel like one ” with trepidation. My “Barber”, Mel, looked like the Guy off the “Get a Perm” advert LOL (
&feature=related ) but did a good job cutting. The shoulder massage was good too, but the slicked back Steven Seagal look took a bit of rectification in the Hotel basin LOL.
Jude’s was another case altogether! Describing herself as the ‘schoolboy’ look, she clearly had more of a challenge communicating with her hairdresser and rectification included several gin and tonics and lots of laughing! After a day or 2 though, it settled down nicely and looks as sexy as usual!
The actual Malls are quite an entertainment with impressive architecture, fountains shooting jets of water over the (dry) shoppers etc! After the Mall visit it was back to the Hotel for a swim on the rooftop pool and to dry off in the sun.
Having Googled the “Top 10 things to do in Dubai” we had our eyes on a Dinner Cruise, and after a stroll a few blocks from the Hotel, we were at “The Creek” which divides the old part of the City with the new, with water taxi’s zipping across everywhere, for a fare of just 1 Dirham - that’s about NZ 40 cents - for which you get a seat alongside 20 others and your feet sit on the boats edge!
Our cruise was brilliant - and a good deal - discounted from 280 to 180 dirhams each because of their religious holiday (180 Dubai dirhams = 18 Bahraini Dinar = $NZ72 - it keeps this Kiwi’s brain working!) for which we enjoyed a 2 hour cruise on an elaborately fashioned boat, beautiful buffet, and entertainment. We expected the entertainment to be a yawn but were well impressed by the traditional whirling Dervish dancers - WOW. They spun at breakneck speed performing for near on 15 minutes non stop - goodness knows how, - after 9 or 10 rev’s I’d be whirling toward the wall! Jude had “henna” applied too, which is a traditional temporary decorative tattoo - it is
applied like icing, then as it dries and flakes off, leaves a decorative pattern. Some ladies have it applied in all sorts of areas I’m told - inquiries are continuing! A great night out.
You may have heard in the news that Dubai recently opened their Metro system, - a monorail which goes both overhead and in subways to link up the City and outlying destinations - Airport, hotels etc http://dubaimetro.eu/ This is really impressive, constructing in just 5 years a 75 km track with 47 Stations (9 underground) achieved by working 24/7! Something we could learn from. We took one of the 87 Driverless trains out to another Mall for a look-see just a couple of NZ$ for a 20 minute ride each way - this mall was attached to the Ski Dubai complex where you can ski and toboggan inside! Fun to see, but all the shops were “Designer” shops like Cartier, Rolex etc with no apparent sales in progress, so after a good look around, we headed back to the hotel pool!
Our next adventure, kicking off at 3pm was a Sundowner Desert Safari we had booked. Joining 14 other Chevy Tahoe (5.3L V8’s Boys)
4X4’s we went “sand dune bashing” in the beautiful Dubai desert, stopping for photo’s and cold drinks and ending up in a well set up Bedouin Camp for Camel Rides, dinner, drinks and entertainment. This was SO well run, we had a blast. Being in the desert - then seeing the sun set behind the dunes, then enjoying a fabulous dinner on carpet under the stars was fantastic. Free beer and wine topped it off! - Boy, they’ll be re doing their calculations now LOL.
Making the most of our time here, next day we took a “City Tour” with another couple in a Previa - so got a great look around, including the Worlds Tallest Building (818 metres, still under construction), the worlds largest shopping mall - 1200 plus shops, incorporating a water-park, performing waterfalls and all, and including around 40 jewellers! (Bling and watches are BIG here).We also saw the worlds largest hotel incorporating a massive aquarium and 1550 rooms, - see a pattern developing? Plus a beach front hotel which has rooms built over a man made lake! Evidently another building is underway to supersede the present ‘worlds tallest’ - with plans to reach 1 kilometre
high! Crazy.
Then it was back to Bahrain via the Dutyfree Gin counter and back to our Hotel.
A short week here - just 2 work days for Jude this week - plenty of meetings I’m told, and Students arriving in a week or 2. Jude has 13 hours classroom time a week which is pretty light compared to NZ, and has received her weekly timetable which is also a good one.
We are both hanging out to move from the Hotel to our Apartment, so our next entry should have some pics of that. Next comes the housewarming! With 64 new staff here, we should be able to have around 50 housewarmings! I’ll have to get them organised!!
Anyway - enjoy the photo’s - and keep in touch!!
Love Pete and Jude
PS see also:
http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://palscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/atlantis-hotel-in-dubai-water-bed.jpg&imgrefurl=http://palscience.com/2009/04/05/the-atlantis-hotel-in-dubai-is-the-world-most-beatuful-hotel/&usg=__oUngATp8HDhl7JRGohFRhZEj3uQ=&h=350&w=500&sz=20&hl=en&start=1&sig2=GYycIPEl7-PPIWl_RrQkVg&um=1&tbnid=0Ju_7z5LukjqdM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddubai%2Bwater%2Bhotel%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLR_enNZ309NZ202%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1&ei=xiC7Sr7DKNCSjAfL5-W6Cw
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Bill & Marg
non-member comment
Brilliant
You both look as though you're pretty damn happy with your tripping around and seeing all those wonderful things. What an experience and it doesn't seem to matter where you go in the world there are always some Kiwis. I should think that watching the All Blacks (but only if they win of course, rather embarrasing if they don't) in such a foreign land with some Kiwis would be even more exciting that usual. The news here is all about the earthquake and tsunami in Samoa - pretty tragic stuff. With all the wonderful food and drink you are partaking of have you managed to lose that weight you were hoping to Jude? The photo's are really good. After close scrutiny I have decided you haven't managed to lose anything yet, but of course there's still plenty of time, wait till you start work it looks like you'll be really run off your feet, such a lot of hours. Anyway thanks for the fantastic travelog - look forward to it. Must take a bit of time to write it. Are u getting used to the heat or is it still pretty intense or maybe even cooling down a little bit. Everyone's good here. Bye for now.