As I've been recounting in my last two blog posts, I spent a week this January partying in Dubai with one of my best friends and also my sister. As you can tell, it was quite the eventful week, and I've only gone over the first four days so far! But I promise to try and keep this post a bit shorter, and finish off the adventures of the week.
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| Atlantis, the Palm |
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| Rocking the shades |
The final Wednesday in January dawned bright and hot, and I planned to meet Springah and Pele (both slightly hungover from their adventures at the Yacht Club) at Atlantis Waterpark on the Palm. It was quite a long taxi ride there, so I was surprised to arrive before them, but eventually we bought our tickets and headed in. You have to understand that Atlantis the Palm is absolutely massive, so naturally we had a golf cart take us over to the part of the waterpark which was open to the public (they were undergoing several renovations so not all the slides were open *sad face*).
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| Excited for the aqua park |
After getting changed and donning our sun cream (some more than others Pele), we left Springah napping while we went to adventure on the slides. I'll tell you - it was a massive climb to the top of each one and felt like the first exercise we had gotten all week! There were four slides in all, and Pele and I quickly agreed that the two slides in the raft were our favourite. One was a bit tamer than the other - my favourite was definitely the one where we had a massive vertical drop in the slide. Later on the day, we were amazed to see this Chinese guy do the whole ride while holding a camera in one hand! Madness!
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| Twisty long slides |
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| Crazy vertical drop! |
The other two slides weren't my favourite - they were shoot slides which inevitably result in a whole bunch of water up your nose, which I absolutely hate. In fact, we didn't do one of them, which was basically a very long vertical drop which just looked plain uncomfortable.
What we did do however, was spend a lot of time in the sea. It was quite cold but once you got in felt amazing. Just imagine floating in that salty sea with the Palm behind you, the Burj Al-Arab ahead, and the whole wealth and beauty of Dubai surrounding you. Amazing.
The sun went down all too soon but luckily we were ready for our next adventure: Nasimi Beach. This is a beach bar and restaurant that's super flash, and handily also located on the Palm. We convinced a lovely pool boy to drive us there in his golf cart, which saved a bit of a walk. Also, we got there just in time for Happy Hour, so my Long Island Ice Teas were half price, and it was just the most chillaxed evening. To top it off, we enjoyed a massive sashimi starter platter and I had a beautiful steak for my main course. Incredible.
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| Super Sushi |
Evening was approaching by this point, so I picked sister up and we jetted over to Le Meridien to meet Springah and all her friends who were arriving from Kabul. They were drifting in slowly, so we hung out on Springah balcony for a while, drinking in vodka and the sights and sounds of the harbour. Then back to Barasti Beach for more drinks and some dinner (those calamari featured heavily again). And finally onto the beach proper, to lounge on the giant sofa-like sunbeams, drink, dance and greet new friends.
Friday dawned all too soon (in fact I accidentally slept in - epic fail!). This was Springah's big birthday bash, and the pressure was on to get our slap on, do our hair and dawn our classiest (although also suitable slutty) outfits. Sister was going to a birthday brunch in the same restaurant, so we headed off together and got there for 12.30 - just in time for the all-inclusive Sheraton Brunch to start.
Brunching is a big way of life in Dubai - it's an all-inclusive, all-you-can-eat, super-classy kinda event and I'd been looking forward to it all week. Needless to say, the food was superb, the company incredible, and the constant topping up of Prosecco was the icing on the cake. Which reminds me....there was also cake. Check out the piccies.
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| A selection of seafood from the buffet |
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| More fish! |
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| Amazing fresh scampi |
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| Blowing out the candles |
Saturday was my last day in Dubai and I was eager to work on my tan until the last possible moment. Sister had a flight so I said goodbye and taxied back to Le Meridien where everyone was already lying on the hotel beach, soaking up the sun on possibly the hottest day so far. Imagine it - ten hours of lying in the sun, being brought my lunch on my lounge chair, occasionally shifting to jump in the sea or pool, sipping wine at the pool bar and also on my sunbed. Absolutely magical, and my tan came out pretty well too.
We decided to head over to Nasimi Beach afterwards for dinner ( we were all pretty intent on getting more sushi and sampling their amazing seafood pizza). In retrospect, when everyone went back to Le Meridien afterwards, I probably should have headed home, but what happened instead was a lot of drinking, dancing and partying until about 2am. So I didn't get home until 3am. I also hadn't packed and my flight was at 9am the next day. OOPSies!! But it was totes worth it, and although I only got three hours sleep that night, I still caught my plane and left Dubai pretty happy.
So that's the end of my Dubai holiday. It was a fantastic time and so much fun hanging out with sister, her friends and my friends. I don't think any other visit could possibly top this one, but I'm happy to give it a go!
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