Aquaventure

Today I wake up up with the wow of going out to the magnificent Palm that I saw on my way in on the flight. This palm is basically a massive prong of sand and beaches that stretches out from Dubai. Sensational Villas, Hotels and Apartments line every inch of this thing with incredible private beaches. However at the end of the massive street you see the giant Atlantis. This is a structure that claims to replicate the lost city of Atlantis and hey! i’d believe it. It is insane and once again due to our agenda i only say but a tiny part of its magnificent.

We rock up to the carpark which looks like it is ready for 5 billion people to arrive any moment but alas it is summer and it is too hot to go to the water park so there is only a couple of cars parked in the corner – how strange! but definitely true. Luckily today we were once again greeted with some slight breezes to get us through… I digress… This water park is crazy huge and we catch the air conditioned shuttle bus from the carpark to the entry.

My pointer for anyone entering this place is to get a map – it gets to a point where it is all just a maze of beaches and rapids and it is hard to tell if you have been around the whole place or not. But let me tell you this… we did.. probably more than once haha. It is very hot to go round but you hit awesome shady bits that you bask in delight. The rides are filled with intense excitement and i found myself in a fit of giggles at the end of them due to how much i squealed through out them.

Lunch was yummy fries and chicken burgers looking out over the beach, i could have stayed there all day it was so relaxing. I found all the staff around the place really fun and nice – constantly wanting to make sure you were having a good time – wicked.

Lastly what day could be complete without a young phillipino singing you the classics like ‘price tag’ and rhiannas ‘umbrella’ and ‘whats your name’…no day could be…

Brillant day took it out of me, i had my taste of Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Ice cream (amazing!) and was asleep by 830 haha. Tomorrow we are doing the famous brunch… looking very forward to doing myself up!

Jumeirah Beach & Harry…

Wake up to discover it is actually a nice day in Dubai. Slight breeze and not as hot as it was when i arrived. Good day for the beach! Jen and I head to Jumeirah Beach Residences which is basically a section off ‘ The Palm’ where a heap of people live looking out on the beach. Not bad I say.

The sand is red-hot but once we get into the lovely flat crystal blue water we are all good. The water is probably about 27/28 degrees and the breeze makes it cooler on top of the water than in it. The saltiness of the ocean makes it incredibly easy to float and lay back and enjoy the sprites that we decided to take in with us. I could have stayed in there all day but alas the sun is likely to burn and we needed to get to the mall to purchase HARRY POTTER TICKETS!

We have decided to go to the Mall of the Emirates to see Harry Potter so in we go to pre-purchase out tickets. This mall is insanely massive and I still till this day have only seen a miniscule portion of it. So many shops – so many choices of Ice Cream i am glad I don’t have any need to go shopping! We have a look at this insanely huge ski field that is in the middle of this shopping centre and i get slightly excited at the fact that we are going in there in a couple of days.

We return home and just decide a nice relaxing afternoon in the cool is on the cards, I attempt to get my blog on but fail miserably then get my taco on… DELICIOUS they were, despite the fact of a failing oven ha. Off we head to harry potter and get these insane Marble Slab Tasty Creations.

*Insert Picture here – when i get it off joes phone*

It is this big punnet of ice cream which i had mixed with oreos and toffee, topped with caramel & choc topping and toffee topped with cream, topped with caramel & choc topping an toffee haha INSANELY delicious… made even better by the fact that Tim will be incredibly jealous to find out that I have had these and he hasn’t.

Brilliant night and day – tomorrow brings a trip out to Atlantis on the palm and Aquaventure… im excited.

Dubai…Duuuu-bai.

My flight into Dubai was one of awe…what a vast area all with the same beige/camel/caramel colour. My first impression was “wow… they all have flat rooves” haha…and other such remarks that stem from way too many conversations with my stepdad John.

My good friend Jen on picking me up from the airport had to bear the need for conversation that I had after the 14 hr flight which mainly consisted of “whats that” and “isn’t that interesting” to which she could only reply “unsure” and “suuurre jess”. The roads of Dubai from the sky looked like well thought out patterns and whirls, however when on the ground it was pure mayhem. There are only roundabouts and veers off to the right and no one seems to know what street they are supposed to take but that looks to mean that they should only drive faster to get in the right one whether that is cutting across 5 lanes or not. Crazy!

All of the buildings look the same and the suburbs are just these man made huge estates with a billion of the same villa on them, with lakes and such in the middle. These are actually quite nice, although everything looks dry so you really appreciate the patches of greenery and ducks that may readily inhabit the lakes. As for the weather it really hasnt been THAT bad… some days it is pretty nice and others it is this muggy wall of heat, but I was expecting worse!

First day was decidedly chilled out. Went to a bulk shopping centre which if you knew what to expect from the Dirhams and what food you wanted it would be spectacular. You can buy varieties of meat and vegetables from the different parts of the world its fantastic! and not  good place to go if you are hungry. Blocks of cheese 500g for a couple of dollars is hard to pass up!

We were contemplating going to a ladies night that seem to happen every tuesday and various other days in the week but decided to pass it up for drinks and pizza. The pizza was a different style on flatbreads and not enough topping but still pretty delicious – 25 bucks for two family size is a pretty decent price.

Culturally Dubai is incredibly diverse, yeah there are a lot more women in full head to toe birkhas but there are a lot of nationalities here. Looking forward to getting out there and seeing a little more.