Lost my sunglasses :(
OMG sooo tired.... drained... :(
sorry for the delay in updates, been too tired the last few times to write anything coherent.
.Friday Night.
So after my last update, I went to Khane (Mosque), it's a really nice one they have here. A little small, and there were LOTS of people, but still it was very welcoming. I guess I've been really lucky that I have been able to go to quite a few different ones in my travels (Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, London, Nairobi, Mombasa, Dubai) and it's interesting to see the differences, but at the same time, the similarities. It really makes you feel like part of a much larger community, but makes you realize that you all have lots in common.
After Khane I met up with Shaheed, got his number from one of my dad's partners. Really cool guy, studied at one of the top tourism schools in Switzerland, and is now working for one of the top 5 star hotel/restaurant chains in Dubai. We went over to the York hotel near my hotel and just chilled out there.. the bar offers free internet access if you buy a drink..not a bad deal eh? just chilled there and got filled in on all the nitty gritty details of how Dubai operates...not the utopia I thought it was. I'll have to detail the information once I leave... you never know who might be listening!
Left there, laughed at the hookers again, played some pool, and went to the Mujjrah's to chill out.
.Saturday.
Woke up and found myself watching some twisted animated cartoon /cgi show on TV, it was actually kind of intriguing. That reminds me... the funniest show was on the plane (but I didn't understand it) it was the Middle East version of South Park..LOL..cartman and Kenny and all the fools were portrayed in this version..
Took the bus (yes public transit) to the Wild Wadi park
http://www.wildwadi.com
OMG this place is AMAZING.. spent most of the day chillin in the water, going on slides.. they have waterslides that take you up to the top, and then bring you back down.. no walking up stairs anymore... it's all done with water pressure..., they have the 2nd tallest and fastest waterslide (no tube) outside of North America.. this thing gives you a rush...!!!!
Took in some sun, looking at all the tourists (no americans :D ) lots of Russians though, almost the whole place was full of them.. the place wasn't very crowded which was really good.
Had lunch there.. managed to get a discount on admissions and food (Thanks Shaheed!) so instead of the $40 entrance fee, it was $4
that's what I call a discount. Lost my sunglasses on the lazy river... I was sad for about... 30 seconds.. I'll grab another pair in town... these ones were only 5 Dhirams.. so USD$1.35.
We then headed over to the Jumeirah Madinat Souk which is one hell of a market... you feel like you are in paradise.. the place makes you feel like you need to be a millionaire to even set foot there.
http://www.madinatjumeirah.com/
Marble, wood, excellent and exquisite decorations. They have a river that runs in between the different hotels and hotel guests can take a boat ride across and inbetween the different resorts. Great place.. a must visit if you're ever in Dubai. Took some pics of the
Burj al Arab hotel... the ONLY 7 star hotel in the WORLD
http://www.burj-al-arab.com/
Managed to get reservations there for dinner on Monday nite!! so pumped... it's bloody expensive, but you only live once..right??
left the area and jumped on the bus back to the hotel...I was so drained.. so tired..fell asleep on the bus and thought I missed my stop... :( didn't, so I was ok
get back to the hotel and I have like 3 messages waiting for me.. it's my dad. Turns out there is going to be a religious celebration (Deedar) and our spiritual leader (Aga Khan) is coming to visit Nairobi on what is New Years for us (Navroz) so i'll be headed back to Nairobi!!
I'm just 100% drained and it's time for bed... but I end up going out for chinese food with some more people that I met here. The Hotel GM's sons take me out with their friends..food was good, they had this really good chicken dish..mmm... I seem to be having lots and lots of good food on this trip. :)
Chilled out at a gas station drinkin hot chocolate for a bit, then headed back to the hotel. Checked fares for flights to Nairobi ($1400) then passed out and went to sleep.
.Sunday.
Woke up early, called around for fares... found one with Emirates for USD$550, so I booked it... all the flights were almost sold out.. managed to get the last seat on Friday's flight out.. had lunch and took a taxi to the Emirates office to pick up and pay for the tickets...you'd think E-ticketing would be readily available..get there, sit in the queue (thats what they use out here to refer to a LINE UP). Finally get to see the rep at the counter. Tell her I need to make an amendment to a ticket and purchase a reserved ticket... so she starts hassling me about a change fee, and I don't think we can change your ticket b/c it was issued by an agency..blah blah blah.. I'm like I already spoke to the people on the phone and everything is done, I just need to pay for the ticket. She calls this person and that person and finally says that there is a $50 change fee.. I got her to ask her supervisor...why is it that one office can change the ticket no problems.. but she can't? she checks... the change is free.. done.. whew.. got my ticket and booked it out of there to get back to the hotel in time for my Desert Safari. Wait until 4:30, the driver didn't show up... so I went to sleep :)
Woke up around 8:30 or so, wandered around town, found a nice place to eat... I can't beleive how Cheap food is in this part of town.. a whole meal (Butter chicken, Naan, Masala Chai) for 13 Dhirams... US$3.51 .. you can't even get a meal at Rotten Ronnies for that much... unless you're a child....
Spoke the the boys again about the plan for partying... they'll call me later, so I went over to the internet cafe and attempted to catch up on emails.. got a little ways through the list, got to chat with a few people before heading back to the hotel. Metup with the boys... enjoyed some laughs... one of the guys finally came around and realizes how important a girl he likes is to him... but of course she likes someone else.. gotta hate when that happens. So we attempted to help him out with what to do...
We headed out to a club called Carter's...WOW so much better than the last place.. music was good, packed with all sorts of people.. good times for sure. Left there and headed over to a Dance Bar... turned out to be another Mujjrah place, but the girls at this one wear western clothes.. not too bad... had this really good Chilli Chicken...mmm...mm... and the 7up here tastes so good. We went upstairs to check out the other Dance Bar that they had.. chilled there for a while.. this one had a few cute girls at least... there was one that had the right attitude and was a great dancer... I'll have to go back ;) came back to the hotel.. one of the guys was so drunk he tried to pass out in the hallway with only his boxers and t shirt... lol, too funny...
sorry for the delay in updates, been too tired the last few times to write anything coherent.
.Friday Night.
So after my last update, I went to Khane (Mosque), it's a really nice one they have here. A little small, and there were LOTS of people, but still it was very welcoming. I guess I've been really lucky that I have been able to go to quite a few different ones in my travels (Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, London, Nairobi, Mombasa, Dubai) and it's interesting to see the differences, but at the same time, the similarities. It really makes you feel like part of a much larger community, but makes you realize that you all have lots in common.
After Khane I met up with Shaheed, got his number from one of my dad's partners. Really cool guy, studied at one of the top tourism schools in Switzerland, and is now working for one of the top 5 star hotel/restaurant chains in Dubai. We went over to the York hotel near my hotel and just chilled out there.. the bar offers free internet access if you buy a drink..not a bad deal eh? just chilled there and got filled in on all the nitty gritty details of how Dubai operates...not the utopia I thought it was. I'll have to detail the information once I leave... you never know who might be listening!
Left there, laughed at the hookers again, played some pool, and went to the Mujjrah's to chill out.
.Saturday.
Woke up and found myself watching some twisted animated cartoon /cgi show on TV, it was actually kind of intriguing. That reminds me... the funniest show was on the plane (but I didn't understand it) it was the Middle East version of South Park..LOL..cartman and Kenny and all the fools were portrayed in this version..
Took the bus (yes public transit) to the Wild Wadi park
http://www.wildwadi.com
OMG this place is AMAZING.. spent most of the day chillin in the water, going on slides.. they have waterslides that take you up to the top, and then bring you back down.. no walking up stairs anymore... it's all done with water pressure..., they have the 2nd tallest and fastest waterslide (no tube) outside of North America.. this thing gives you a rush...!!!!
Took in some sun, looking at all the tourists (no americans :D ) lots of Russians though, almost the whole place was full of them.. the place wasn't very crowded which was really good.
Had lunch there.. managed to get a discount on admissions and food (Thanks Shaheed!) so instead of the $40 entrance fee, it was $4
that's what I call a discount. Lost my sunglasses on the lazy river... I was sad for about... 30 seconds.. I'll grab another pair in town... these ones were only 5 Dhirams.. so USD$1.35.
We then headed over to the Jumeirah Madinat Souk which is one hell of a market... you feel like you are in paradise.. the place makes you feel like you need to be a millionaire to even set foot there.
http://www.madinatjumeirah.com/
Marble, wood, excellent and exquisite decorations. They have a river that runs in between the different hotels and hotel guests can take a boat ride across and inbetween the different resorts. Great place.. a must visit if you're ever in Dubai. Took some pics of the
Burj al Arab hotel... the ONLY 7 star hotel in the WORLD
http://www.burj-al-arab.com/
Managed to get reservations there for dinner on Monday nite!! so pumped... it's bloody expensive, but you only live once..right??
left the area and jumped on the bus back to the hotel...I was so drained.. so tired..fell asleep on the bus and thought I missed my stop... :( didn't, so I was ok
get back to the hotel and I have like 3 messages waiting for me.. it's my dad. Turns out there is going to be a religious celebration (Deedar) and our spiritual leader (Aga Khan) is coming to visit Nairobi on what is New Years for us (Navroz) so i'll be headed back to Nairobi!!
I'm just 100% drained and it's time for bed... but I end up going out for chinese food with some more people that I met here. The Hotel GM's sons take me out with their friends..food was good, they had this really good chicken dish..mmm... I seem to be having lots and lots of good food on this trip. :)
Chilled out at a gas station drinkin hot chocolate for a bit, then headed back to the hotel. Checked fares for flights to Nairobi ($1400) then passed out and went to sleep.
.Sunday.
Woke up early, called around for fares... found one with Emirates for USD$550, so I booked it... all the flights were almost sold out.. managed to get the last seat on Friday's flight out.. had lunch and took a taxi to the Emirates office to pick up and pay for the tickets...you'd think E-ticketing would be readily available..get there, sit in the queue (thats what they use out here to refer to a LINE UP). Finally get to see the rep at the counter. Tell her I need to make an amendment to a ticket and purchase a reserved ticket... so she starts hassling me about a change fee, and I don't think we can change your ticket b/c it was issued by an agency..blah blah blah.. I'm like I already spoke to the people on the phone and everything is done, I just need to pay for the ticket. She calls this person and that person and finally says that there is a $50 change fee.. I got her to ask her supervisor...why is it that one office can change the ticket no problems.. but she can't? she checks... the change is free.. done.. whew.. got my ticket and booked it out of there to get back to the hotel in time for my Desert Safari. Wait until 4:30, the driver didn't show up... so I went to sleep :)
Woke up around 8:30 or so, wandered around town, found a nice place to eat... I can't beleive how Cheap food is in this part of town.. a whole meal (Butter chicken, Naan, Masala Chai) for 13 Dhirams... US$3.51 .. you can't even get a meal at Rotten Ronnies for that much... unless you're a child....
Spoke the the boys again about the plan for partying... they'll call me later, so I went over to the internet cafe and attempted to catch up on emails.. got a little ways through the list, got to chat with a few people before heading back to the hotel. Metup with the boys... enjoyed some laughs... one of the guys finally came around and realizes how important a girl he likes is to him... but of course she likes someone else.. gotta hate when that happens. So we attempted to help him out with what to do...
We headed out to a club called Carter's...WOW so much better than the last place.. music was good, packed with all sorts of people.. good times for sure. Left there and headed over to a Dance Bar... turned out to be another Mujjrah place, but the girls at this one wear western clothes.. not too bad... had this really good Chilli Chicken...mmm...mm... and the 7up here tastes so good. We went upstairs to check out the other Dance Bar that they had.. chilled there for a while.. this one had a few cute girls at least... there was one that had the right attitude and was a great dancer... I'll have to go back ;) came back to the hotel.. one of the guys was so drunk he tried to pass out in the hallway with only his boxers and t shirt... lol, too funny...
posted by Fez at
11:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home