Whoever said that Dubai was fake got it so wrong! After spending 4 days there over the long weekend (Thursday was the Prophet’s birthday by the way – not a long weekend because of Easter!) I realized Dubai is as fake or as fabulous as you make it!
We arrived at 3.30am on Thursday morning, and caught a taxi straight to Ryan’s flat. Ryan was in Mauritius (the life of a pilot – pretty damn amazing if you ask me), so he just left his keys at the desk down stairs, and we picked it up from a sleepy looking guy, who didn’t think twice as to whether we were really the people who were meant to be picking the key up.
Ryan had organized special flowers from Bangkok for us (in the living room, next to our bed etc), had bought magazines (girls ones for my side of the bed, boys ones for Luke), put hotel shampoos and creams in our bathroom, and stocked his fridge with lots of bacon. Still can’t get over how spoilt we were (and how my hosting skills leave a lot to be desired!)
We had a kip for a couple of hours (post a bacon sarmie – we just couldn’t resist, even at that awful hour!), and then headed for the most monumental shopping trip of my life! The Mall of the Emirates has some really cool shops (and restaurants and a ski slope!). After an entire day, 10 pairs of shoes, a new laptop, a new wardrobe for Luke and a hair straightener (I have finally succumbed) we made our way home to drop off the takings for the day…
Then we headed to Barasti and hooked up with Sammy-Jo and Ronnie for dinner. I can’t even begin to explain how excited I was to catch up with them – and proceeded to drink far too much and let out all my frustrations and have a good giggle!
The next day we went to a really cool restaurant called More for breaky, and then spent the day on the beach with them (Ronnie is an avid kite-surfer) – which was just so great! Honestly, it reminded me of Cape Town days. A whole bunch of boys made friends and played touch on the beach, and we swam – absolutely blissful and so far away from life in Cairo – it was good to get out!
We had a dinner at The Meat Company in a place called Madinat, which was fairly similar to Monte Casino. I even ate South African cow J Then we headed to 360 for a drink (absolutely awesome outdoor night club over the sea, with an incredible view of the Burje hotel).
The next day we had a late breaky at The Lime Tree (very similar to Melissa’s) and headed to the beach again. A spot more shopping in the evening, and dinner at Carters in Wafi City, then bed!
Our flight home was delayed from 3pm to 6.30pm to 8pm (have to love Egypt Air) so we only managed to get home at midnight last night (although it did mean we had some time for lunch and to pop into Marks + Spencer and a cool bookshop at Festival City).
What a great weekend! So good to get a slice of normality, and especially great to catch up with mates (Ryan came home on Saturday morning). Think a trip to Dubai may be on the cards at more regular intervals going forwards…
We also found out that Egypt is a kite surfing hot spot – so we now plan to head to Moon Beach on weekends to check out that scene (apparently it’s only 4 hours from Cairo)…
So watch this space – bring on the kite surfing!
