January Blues? Not in Dubai

My sister has been working as an air stewardess for Emirates airlines for a year and a half now, and she has been living in Dubai that whole time. I'd never actually been to Dubai before, other than for layovers on the way to what I thought were more exciting destinations (not that they weren't). Anyway, when my sister suggested that I go spend a week out there visiting, and when that week happened to coincide with my friend's birthday celebrations, also in Dubai, I jumped at the chance.

Which means that this January, I had only been back at work for three weeks before I took a week off to jet over to a city (country?) that is never cold, never rainy, and never stops partying!

Since the sister was actually on a flight to Seattle the day I arrived in Dubai, I dropped my stuff off at her flat in al Satwa, jumped in a taxi and got going to le Meridien Mina Seyahi in Dubai Marina, where my friend (let's call her Springah) was staying. Springah actually works for a charity in Kabul, Afghanistan, so she frequently gets to go on holiday to Dubai (lucky sod). Happily for me, the other friend coming down from the UK wasn't arriving until Monday (I got there early Saturday morning) so I decided to spend my first weekend in Dubai living it up at Springah's five star resort.

One of many pools at the Mina Seyahi

Before I get all descriptive about living the fine life, a few words about my initial impressions of Dubai. As it was January, I wasn't overwhelmed with the rush of heat and humidity one might expect when arriving in the depths of summer. It was instead a balmy 25-30 degrees during my stay there - simply perfect. Dubai is literally just one massive highway, and given the low oil prices, travelling by taxi is very cheap and was my only choice of transport during my stay there. It gave me plenty of opportunity to drink in all the sites, which are essentially a myriad of tall and taller buildings, which get gradually more impressive as you move further away from the airport and surrounding residential areas close to the desert, and as you move towards the marina and the Palm (more on the Palm to come later - it's bloody fascinating!). Dubai is clearly a city that functions on advertising, modern media and modern architecture, and all of this really appealed to my geeky appreciation of the beauty of technology.

So many tall buildings!

Anyway, back to my adventures. I spent that first Saturday sitting by the lazy river pool at le Meridien. Springah abandoned the spa around lunchtime and we went and shared some fish tacos and chicken quesadillas, and a couple of beers. And that is when I had realised that when people told me that Dubai is expensive, they were NOT KIDDING!! A pint of beer at this hotel was twelve pounds!! The sheer horror! Good thing I had been saving all of January for this exact reason!

Classic Springah

The rest of that afternoon was spent further luxuriating by the pool. We dabbled in the pool bar, enjoying a glass of wine whilst floating lazily. I did pass out for a couple of hours in the deckchair - after all, I didn't sleep at all the night before on the plane. No problem though, as Springah woke me up with a glass of wine and then we adjourned to our room to get ready for dinner and drinks at Barasti Beach, a nightclub slash restaurant slash bar right next to the hotel.

Initial drinks at Barasti

Veal ribs with a bubble and squeak side - sticky & delish!

This next paragraph is all about food, because that dinner we had that first night was absolutely divine, and representative of the sort of fine dinning we were about to experience on the rest of that vacation. Springah and I shared a plate of calamari as starter, and they were stellar. Super fresh, crisp and the tastiest calamari I have ever sampled (needless to say we ordered calamari starters four or five times more on that trip). I then had veal ribs for my main, and Springah made the optimal choice of getting a king prawn Thai curry, which was not only delicious but so beautifully presented. Frankly, I was astounded by both the quality and the presentation (also the quantity) of the food we had that night. While we expected good food at Barasti, it is after all an outdoor beach bar that people enjoy drinking and dancing at, so it was a pleasant surprise to realise that the food was also exemplary. But I've come to realise that that's the norm in Dubai - anywhere that serves sub-par food would never survive. Shame that's not also the case in the UK...

Amazing Prawn Curry!

The view from our hotel room

We spent our second day in much the same way as the first - Springah went to the spa in the morning whilse I soaked in the sun and absorbed a trilogy of books that she had introduced me to (seriously, read them: Angelfall Series by Susan EE- I only finished them the other day but I'm considering starting again. The third book is coming out in May - I can't wait!). This time we didn't even bother to walk over to the restaurant for lunch - we just got our pool boy to fetch us food (medium-rare burger with curly fries - calories don't count on holiday!). And wine of course. And then we sunbathed and drank some more by the pool bar

A little bit of Belgium in Dubai

Since that night I was planning to head back to my sister's pad, we decided to venture out of the hotel and hit a Belgian bar at Festival City for dinner (it's not too far from the airport and only about ten minutes from sister's flat). Once again, a great night was had. They had enormous beer mugs (it comes in pints??) and they had a calamari starter!!! Springah also got the most enormous steak for her main, and I had a brilliant fish stew, filled with super fresh mussels, prawns, and all kinds of white fish. Not the sort of thing I usually order, but it was divine. And after all that banter we went for a stroll around the shops at Festival City, and I'm pretty envious of the sandals that Springah bought there (Another plus for Dubai - shops are open until 11pm, so why do they close at 5/6pm here in the UK? Shocking!!)

My fish stew

So that was the end of my fancy weekend at le Meridien, but there were still good times ahead. I spent the rest of the week in my sister's spare room and I have to say, I would have killed to live in such a pretty place when I shared with random strangers in the past. Sister has a cleaner, a huge living and dining, and a pretty big en suite bedroom. But more of that to come next time.