Whilst Mark and I have managed to keep ourselves quite busy since arriving in Dubai, the past 2 weeks have got to have been the busiest weeks we have had so far! We had a special visitor, who took time out of her very busy travels in Europe to stop over in Dubai before continuing on her European adventure, and before finally making her way down south, leaving the big smoke (on my birthday, which marks her 9th anniverary since arriving in the UK) to head back to her roots on sunnier shores.
Where to start... after a day of chilling at the pool and recovering from the flight over, Shona came to meet me at work, before we headed to the Dubai Mall/Souk Al Bahar area, where Mark and Carol joined us for drinks at Margeaux, followed by dinner at the Mango Tree (yes again...). For the first time, since we have taken anyone there, I can finally say we maximised our views of the fountain shows...although that might also have had something to do with the fact that we sat outside in the heat of the evening!
The weekend was fantastic...partly because I knew I had a short week ahead, with both Sunday and Thursday off...and there is something about having two 3 day weekends in a row that makes the weekend even better! We went to Jumeriah beach for a swim in the sea, with views of the Burj Al Arab (or as Shona calls it 'The Boat'), followed by lunch at the Lakes Club and yet another swim, this time in the clubhouse pool...where a swim up to the bar in order.
Later that afternoon we headed to Barasti where we proceeded to stay until closing time. Shona being on top form, made friends...2 American guys who were on their way to Iraq (no, not war veterans, they were heading there on business, which ultimately had something to do with the war). They were very interesting guys, who landed up inviting us all (Mark included before you think it's anything dodgy) up to the penthouse where the one was staying in the nearby Le Meridien hotel.
The next morning we made a trip to the Mall of the Emirates for a skiing session...yes...Shona's first skiing experience was in Dubai of all places! We took her to the more difficult of the baby slopes (mainly because I hadn't realised the other baby slope was actually easier and it turned out the travelator wasn't working as yet). I proceeded to give her a couple of tips, before going down the slope myself in the hope that a 'show and tell' lesson may make things easier. At this point a Ski Dubai employee came to her rescue, taking her skis and holding them as she slowly started to make her way down the slope. A couple of forward tip overs and subsequent rolls to the side in order to get back up, not to mention a couple of frantic arm moves and squeals...she was snow ploughing her way down the slope in no time at all (albeit with one lazy leg, which meant she went across the slope sideways, as opposed to straight down). As the morning rolled on, the sloped started to fill up a bit more and a couple of ski schools started up, leaving Shona outnumbered about 15 - 1 (15 kids - 1 adult) trying their hand on the medium level baby slope.
As luck would have it, the easier of the baby slopes opened up and at this point only had 1 kiddie and their instructor currently on the slope...so quick off the draw we headed to that slope instead. After a successfull mount onto the new travellator and ride up the slope...Sho's dismount was not so spectacular! :) Which resulted in a fall onto a bit of a hard platform. But not letting that stop her, we made one successful ski down the slope before the other kiddies joined us on this slope, thereby leaving the other slope wide open for Shona to have free reign of again.
Mark, myself and Gareth had all been up and down the 'big' slopes by this point and before our 2 hours was up, we collected Shona for a ride on the chair lift to the mid level of the 'big' slope for a nice hot chocolate at the Avalanche cafe. Mark, Gareth and myself skied down the rest of the slope leaving Shona to ride the chairlift to the very top of the slope and snow plough the rest of the way down the slope...just kidding...to ride the chairlift all the way back to the bottom of the slope.
The next day was back to work for Mark and my first day off! Shona and I made our way to Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah Island to try out their Water Park, AquaVenture. So much fun! Having a quick look at the Water Park map, and watching some of the rides in order to decide what to do first...Shona decided she was not going to do very many! I on the other hand, having been to Wild Wadi and loved it, was keener to try them all. So we compromised and started with a level 1 ride. We took our separate tubes and made our way up the steps to the first ride. Since I was the braver one, I went first...once the travellator started moving and the tube made it's way over the edge I screamed as it made the drop and I think I continued to scream the rest of the way down. One good thing is that there isn't too much time waiting between one persons go and the next, so Shona had no time to back out of it and I was long gone. Once out the other end, I couldn't stop laughing...merely because I couldn't believe it was over and because I could hear Shona coming for miles.
Lets just say Shona was not best pleased, but yet somehow I managed to convince her to try another ride. A bit more of a gentle ride this time, which didn't entail climbing stairs and being dropped down a steep-ish slope at the start of the ride. So once the nerves were a little less frazzled we made our way to another ride, this time on a double tube, so we could go together. The ride was called Shark Attack, as near the end of the ride you ended up in a see-through tunnel which passed through the acquarium, where you could see the sharks, rays and fish swimming over your head as you passed through it. Shark Attack was a level 2 ride, so without leaving Shona too much time to change her mind, we were off again and this time were pleasantly surprised at how much less scary the ride had been. It was then that we realised that the levels only meant which level they were on in terms of the number of flights of stairs you had to climb to get to it and not because of the level of scariness of the ride, which opened up a whole new level literally (level 3) of rides to try throughout the rest of the day...and I am pleased to say we made it to level 3 twice...whilst the first ride (on level 1) was never tried again!
The next day was back to work for me, which left Shona another lazy day to sun herself at the pool. That evening however we went on the Capitain Jack Dhow cruise around the Dubai Marina, taking in the views of Dubai's great skyline.
Shona made her way to the Dubai Mall the next day, for a day of sightseeing and shopping. Making her way up to the top of the Burj Khalifa (which I have since been told is still the highest building in the world and not the second as I put down in a previous post), watching some more of the Dubai Fountain shows and successfully shopping in the Dubai Summer Sales. Meeting me after work, we both headed home to get ready for our first Dubai Ladies night. We went to a bar called Voda on the Palm, where we met up with Kim (one of Shona's friends, who is also living in Dubai) for a couple of cocktails, which were free because it was Ladies night. Awesome!
The next night, we headed to another Ladies Night (some places have their Ladies night on different nights), this time heading to Left Bank at the Madinat, where the deal was 5 cocktails for AED 5. Carol joined and we had dinner there too. Once we had finished our 5 cocktails, we headed out to try somewhere else in the Madinat. However as it goes we landed up meeting 3 Palestinian guys, who we chatted to until closing time.
Thursday, I had another day off work and Carol was off too, so the 3 of us had a lazy afternoon at the pool. We tried our luck at the Lakes Club, however security was out in full force...not having realised that since I was the only member, Shona and Carol would actually have to pay to use the pool. Not very impressed, since we had planned to eat at the restaurant too, we headed to our pool closest to our villa instead.
That evening we headed to Mai Tai for cocktails and dinner, before making another trip to Barasti.
The next day was another lazy day at the pool, before heading to Nasimi Beach on the Palm for their pool party. Carol and Mark were the only brave swimmers, whilst Shona and I looked longingly from afar...since it was absolutely boiling! There were some interesting sights to see in terms of peoples attire in what is generally quite a conservative place...
Unfortunately I started to feel a bit sick quite early on in the evening (maybe this sight had something to do with it), so once Mark and Carol had finished their swim Mark and I headed home early, leaving Shona and Carol to party the night away...which they did until the very early hours of the morning, having met yet another bunch of guys (a mixture of nationalities this time).
Mark and I had Elmarie's 2nd birthday party the next day, leaving Shona and Carol to chill at home, before Shona and I headed off on the Desert Safari for the evening. Some quality dune bashing, followed by dinner, henna tattoos, trying on the local dress, and a belly dancing and spinning (I forget what it's called) show.
The next day was Shona's last day...and leaving her to chill at the pool one last time, whilst I was at work, before heading to the airport later that evening, which would bring an end to what had been an awesome, but exhausting and action packed 2 weeks!
Now it's back to reality for me...with the next assignment looming and back to travelling around Europe for the lucky Shona!
