Saturday 7th March
I had the feeling that Bhavni was getting the itch to go to visit Meera in Dubai as she had the week off. To that end I was looking at flights out for Sunday first thing in the morning. Around 11am Bhavni phoned up saying she wanted to go (did I also) but she was going to speak to others as she was meant to be going to an event or two in the week. Before 1pm she phoned saying she had cleared her schedule and that she was going to look for flights. Within the hour I saw an email for the e-ticket – for tonight ! I would just have to leave a little earlier to drop her.
Going downstairs I let everyone know – then the next thing was that I was being told off by everyone why I was not going (Meena, Shelina, Arun and Parents). So I phoned up Bhavni gingerly asking to book another ticket. Surprised she managed to book one as the travel agent was open a bit later for some reason. Soon I had another e-ticket and I online checked in, leaving the shop by 4pm (With Aruns lounge access card). I got back home before Bhavni and started the packing. She came a little later and we were just ready for the pickup at 5.30. We got to T3 and checked in. Birjus requested 18year Japanese whiskey was not available, so we went and sat in the Airport lounge, until out 9pm flight.
Sunday
After the long flight, we landed in the morning, in Dubai. Disembarking we followed the crowed and got through immigration, then picked up our one bag. We got a taxi and gave the directions that Meera had provided (Umm Suqeim 3) near Jumerai Beach. There was a bit of traffic around so it took a bit of time to get there with us directing as best as we could. It was sunny with quite blue skies, but we could not really see much of the famous skyline as the whole place was hazy due to massive sandstorms that had happened. It was so hazy that we got our first view of the Burj Khalifa when we were only a couple of miles away. All the other tall building seemed to loom out of the murk all the way to Meeras house. Arriving at what we assumed to be her house we paid the taxi and walked up the drive; it was her house – she heard us and opened the door.
We had a bit of breakfast catching up, then went for a shower and a bit of sleep whilst Meera finished her errands. After a couple of hours of rest we all caught a taxi and headed to Meena Bazzar. Meera asked the taxi driver to drop us to a certain area, but he dropped us to a different place, so it took a bit to orient our selves. We went to a pure veg Indian fast food restaurant and had a couple of dishes – quite cheap and not bad. From here we then went to a jewellers – 3 hours later….. Bhavni had bought a wedding present for Bijal. The only plus point is I had a massala Chai.
By now it was dark outside so we went to Dubai Mall where we would meet Birju for dinner. We had a bit of an explore looking at some of the shops and the indoor aquarium. We then went outside to see the dancing water show in front of the Burj. Well if you have seen the ones in Vegas, there is not much difference. After some dodgy photo shooting, we went to Waffi Express, where we met Birju. We enjoyed the Lebanese food. After we all walked into the other shopping Bazzar having an ice cream before going home, where we chilled for a bit before retiring got the night.
Monday
I was up quite early, but no-one was up in the morning so I went back to bed for a bit – which meant that inevitably I missed saying morning to Birju. Bhavni and I had a nice breakfast with Meera – I got to poach eggs. We then all bundled in Meeras car and drove towards the Palm.
It was actually an easy drive to get onto the palm. We wanted to go right to the end near Atlantis, as the monorail terminus that we were going to ride was near there. The roads are really badly marked so we ended going the wrong way and in a bid to get back we ended up on the spine driving back again and looking for a turning. A weird round about later we managed to get there and park on the road outside the hotel (Valet parking was £50). We boarded the monorail and went up and down the palm. You get a better view of the palm and the sheer scale of it but its still a little hard to appreciate it still. Lots and lots of accommodation.
After the monorail, we wondered into the Altantis hotel, looking at the different areas and aquarium before having afternoon tea there. We ordered 2 afternoon teas (which came with 4 different teas) and a club sandwich. We were pleasantly surprised by the food and enjoyed the different teas.
After we had our fill we drove back, stopping at a supermarket for buying a cake. We then just relaxed at the house for a while. We then went to Biju’s aunts house for dinner, where we had a pau baji and chips. Birju met us there. They had a good view of the Burj from the house. After dinner we went back to Meeras house and went to bed soon after.
Tuesday
I actually got up at the right time to meet Birju on the table before he had to go to work. After Bhavni was up, we had a lazy breakfast before Meera drove us to the Hall of the Emirates. We parked on a side that Meera had never parked at before, so it took a bit to get her bearings, but soon enough we were at the Thrifty car hire counter. Now instead of the cheapest car, we ended up hiring a VW Passat. So saying bye to Meera I drove out slowly – obviously the first problem was that there was no exit ticket – so a few minutes of annoying the cars behind us.
So even after discussing what we were doing, we were soon going the wrong way on the moterway, so we had to turn around. We got off and went round the block, but this would only allow us back in the wrong direction. So another try around the block, but we tried to follow the signs for a petrol station; we ended up stuck in a MOT test center – a few Ferrari’s and other nice cars were there, but it took us a while to get out. Bhavni is not that relaxed in these situations. So after going round 4 blocks, we were finally able to get on the moterway the correct way. Petrol was getting a bit low for our liking, so we kept a lookout for a fuel station, but only found one as we were leaving Dubai – Cheap. It was then a nice hour drive to Abu Dhabi.
At the end we still took a few wrong turn before finding our selves at the famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. We parked and then approached. Bhavni was not wearing her shawl so we got directed to the fitting rooms for Bhavni to put on a black costume. We then were able to go in. The structure outside is really nice and white, with the blue pools around. As we went inside (taking our shoes off), we found out the inside is almost an immense hall, carpeted with chandeliers hanging. We followed the tour route looking at the opulent surroundings before leaving and returning Bhavnis costume.
We then drove right into town to the Etihad Towers, where we valeted the car around 3pm. Going to reception we called Sonali and were soon met by her, where we got shown around the hotel and the observation level on some high floor. We could see the vast complex that will be the Sheiks new extra home.
Getting back to the room, we had coffee and soon after Kalpesh arrived. They had planned on taking us for a bit of food, so we soon were walking to a nearby Hilton hotel to the Waffi Express there for a bit of a full late lunch. We then had a walk down the Corniche (relaxed as Bhavni and Sonali took a leisurely pace). Soon it was dark, but we got to the end point of the walk (with a few shops and ice cream parlours), which normally is quite crowded, but was empty today.
Walking back all of us were a bit dehydrated, but our next stop was the Palace hotel, were we took the obligatory phtotos and then went to Hakkasan for dinner (even more food but nice). By the time we had finished it was nearly 11pm, so we quickly went to their hotel to get our stuff before starting the drive back to Dubai.
The drive back was easy and we manged to get all the way back to Meeras house without getting lost. Birju luckily was awake and opened the door for us.
Wednesday
Today we took our time getting up, having a late start. We had breakfast with Meera, before leaving her (as she had cleaners coming) to drive to the Mall of the Emirates as we had to return the rental car. Getting there was not that hard and we were soon parked and approaching the Thrifty shop. “Sorry Mr Shah, we tried to get in contact with you” – it turned out that they should have not rented us the car as it was not clean enough. But by the time they realised we must have been stuck in the Dubai motorway madness. Anyway I left Bhavni to sort out the paperwork whist I showed the car to the person. By the time I got back (nothing wrong with the car), Bhavni had finished. 20 Dhirums discount for the dirty car.
So we went shopping in the Mall of the Emitrates, first to Patchi, to get some chocolates, then a wonder around all the way to see the indoor ski slope. We then took the Metro (helpful guard) to downtown and the Dubai Mall. Getting off, it was around a km walk in the raised walkways to get to the mall. We did a little wondering around the mall, taking pictures of the waterfall and the paper butterflies in the fashion area, before we had some food – wraps and Nandos chips. After a bit more wondering around we went out and caught a taxi – took us a while to find where the taxi rank was.
Getting back to Meeras place, we found that some of her cleaners had not come, so we chilled for a bit until it was confirmed that the cleaner was not coming. We then went for a walk down to the beach and also to the Park that was there.
Back at Meeras house we had a little wait until Birju came come, then we were off the Jamies Kitchen in the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. I really enjoyed my Expresso Martini with the food. Though was a bit annoyed that the waiter thought we were fresh indians who would not like Polenta Chips… Bhavni tried to pay for the dinner – and would have succeeded, but gave Birju his credit card back before the waiter had actually taken the cash.
Well we all just went back to the house and after a bit all hit the hay as we had an early start the next day.
Thursday
So we were up well before 6am as our taxi pickup was for 7am, though it came by 6.40am. The taxi driver dropped Bhavni and I first (instead of Meera and Birju to the other terminal), but we were all early so it was not much of a problem. After checking in, we went through security – Bhavni was not on the system. So we had to go and get our passports stamped especially in a different office – not hard just wierd.
We had plenty of time, so we just headed to the Airport Lounge and realaxed for the best part of 1.5 hours, before getting on the plane. It was much an uneventful trip to London – a few fims, a bit of dozing.
They let us of the plane at 2.15pm, so after going through the immigration and getting our bag as fast as we could, we then made a dash for the heathrow express, getting the 2.45 train. (The tiket guy asked if we wanted a reurn as it was valid for 30 days – I made him laugh by saying no way – too many holidays). Bhavni did some repacking on the way to padington, after which we took a taxi to Marble Arch. We walked into the Montcalm Hotel at 3.15pm.
We had a really nice afternoon tea, followed by a couple of hours in the spa – hardly anyone else was there. Refreshed we headed home at 7pm (ringing my parents as they were on their way to the airport by now). We got picked up by Rajvi who dropped us home.
