Times have been a little stressful recently at Foreigner Towers recently.
It’s complicated, and boring unless you’re in the middle of it, but there was a period of about three months where O and I weren’t sure if we were going to be able to stay in Abu Dhabi or if we were going to be told to pack-up and ship-out without too much warning. I should clarify at this point that the push would come from work sources and no other.
To be waiting, powerlessly, to hear a final decision that is always promised tomorrow but never comes leads to a great deal of tension and I, for one, felt an awful lot of anger.
The decision finally came. It wasn’t the one we hoped for, so there is still a lot of anger on my part, but at least we are no longer living with a weight dangling over our heads. And we are staying, which is brilliant.
After such a stressful time, O and I needed a bit of a break from it all, so he booked us into a hotel and we spent the weekend before last in Dubai.
It was just the two of us, we needed a little time just with each other, and we had a simple plan: Check out the Dubai Mall. Conveniently, there is a lot to do in and around Dubai Mall so we were well entertained. The Burj Khalifa (nee Dubai) elegantly dominates the surroundings, which includes a handful of hotels, the Souk Al Bahr (one of the new-old “souks” that seem to be cropping up everywhere) and a waterway out of which a fabulous water-show is propelled every evening after the sun goes down.
Having driven up on Thursday night we were able to get an early-ish start on Friday. Early enough for brunch anyway. There are a myriad of places to eat in Dubai Mall and unfortunately we decided to have dim sum at Ping Pong. I’ve heard less than amazing things about Ping Pong in the UK, and the branch in Dubai lived up to the low reputation. The service shuttled from obnoxious to surly and from non-existent to intrusive. The food was strictly ok.
After eating we strolled around outside, enjoying the sun and the water and the view of the Burj before taking the plunge and entering the mecca of consumerism that is the Dubai Mall.
What is so good about this particular mall is not only the size (which is immense) but the organisation. After you have solved the mystery of the dual floor-numbering system for the mall and car park (FAR more complicated than anything in this world needs to be, brain surgery has to be easier) and are able to actually get in to the mall it is particularly easy to find your way around and find what you’re looking for. All of the high end designer shops are in one section, the accessories are in another. Jewellery has its own area, as does electronics, and near by is the book shop of wonder – Kinokuniya. A Japanese book shop it is the largest I have come across in the UAE and, so far, the best anywhere. So well organised, and intuitively so, it was a joy to browse and I can only imagine that if you are after something specific it will be easy to find. While there is a food court, there are far more interesting places to eat or stop for a coffee dotted around and amongst the shops.
Needless to say, we killed a lot of time there.
After resting our weary legs for only a short hour back at the hotel, we donned our gladrags and headed out for dinner at Asado in The Palace hotel. An Argentinean restaurant, it gets its name from the open fire that the speciality is cooked over. That speciality? Spit roast baby goat. There was really no option for me and I had to have the goat, while O went for a steak. The steak was good, but the goat was amazing. We’d ordered sides but barely touched them and I whole heartedly recommend the empanadas for a starter, O had a beef and onion one that tasted like the most perfect Cornish pasty in the world. We were both too full for desert.
It was still early so we headed around the Souk and across the bridge to one of the Arabic restaurant/cafes that had a lot of pleasantly cramped seating outside the ground floor of the mall for coffee and shisha, both very nice. While we were there we were able to get a much better view of the fountain display.
There is a very shallow waterway separating the Burj Khalifa from the mall, souk and hotels. Once the sun goes down the water show begins! Every 20 minutes or so there is a flurry of water shooting up into the air in a delightful manner, accompanied by some rhythmically and atmospherically appropriate music. Every hour or so there is an extra long, extra delightful show and everything stops for a short while to watch.
Having had our fill of watching water being projectiled into the atmosphere, we moseyed back over to the souk and settled on Karma Kafe (yes, I absolutely HATE the name being spelled that way) for a couple of beverages, primarily because is by the same people as Buddha Bar. It was nice, the music a little on the loud side though and appeared to be mostly geared up for eating. The décor was fun in that red Zen way but the best bit was, just as we were deciding to go, the floor show started!
There was a buzz of activity behind the bar and then the music was cranked up even higher while the bar staff indulged in a little fire play for the benefit of the customers still remaining. There was the spinning and throwing (and dropping) of Molotov cocktails, fire breathing and a little touch of fire poi. All good fun, though I fear the performers needed a lot more practice since O and I slipped off our bar stools and took a couple of steps back to a slightly safer distance!
Brunch on Saturday morning and another brief spin around the mall (where I may or may not have finally maxed out my credit card) before we headed back to Abu Dhabi and reality.
It was a lovely weekend. I had a great time exploring a part of Dubai that I didn’t know at all before, and shopping is always fun.
Dubai is a fun city to visit, but for me, I wouldn’t want to live there. While I’m not a restrictivist, there seems to be a distinct air of Anything Goes in Dubai, which I can’t really get behind. Without going into specifics, there were a few moments when O and I looked at each other and said “you wouldn’t see that in Abu Dhabi” and I certainly felt glad of it.
Dubai moves a lot faster, is a lot more hedonistic and has a lot more westerners. Which is fine, absolutely, but I’m so glad that I live in Abu Dhabi.
It’s complicated, and boring unless you’re in the middle of it, but there was a period of about three months where O and I weren’t sure if we were going to be able to stay in Abu Dhabi or if we were going to be told to pack-up and ship-out without too much warning. I should clarify at this point that the push would come from work sources and no other.
To be waiting, powerlessly, to hear a final decision that is always promised tomorrow but never comes leads to a great deal of tension and I, for one, felt an awful lot of anger.
The decision finally came. It wasn’t the one we hoped for, so there is still a lot of anger on my part, but at least we are no longer living with a weight dangling over our heads. And we are staying, which is brilliant.
After such a stressful time, O and I needed a bit of a break from it all, so he booked us into a hotel and we spent the weekend before last in Dubai.
It was just the two of us, we needed a little time just with each other, and we had a simple plan: Check out the Dubai Mall. Conveniently, there is a lot to do in and around Dubai Mall so we were well entertained. The Burj Khalifa (nee Dubai) elegantly dominates the surroundings, which includes a handful of hotels, the Souk Al Bahr (one of the new-old “souks” that seem to be cropping up everywhere) and a waterway out of which a fabulous water-show is propelled every evening after the sun goes down.
Having driven up on Thursday night we were able to get an early-ish start on Friday. Early enough for brunch anyway. There are a myriad of places to eat in Dubai Mall and unfortunately we decided to have dim sum at Ping Pong. I’ve heard less than amazing things about Ping Pong in the UK, and the branch in Dubai lived up to the low reputation. The service shuttled from obnoxious to surly and from non-existent to intrusive. The food was strictly ok.
After eating we strolled around outside, enjoying the sun and the water and the view of the Burj before taking the plunge and entering the mecca of consumerism that is the Dubai Mall.
What is so good about this particular mall is not only the size (which is immense) but the organisation. After you have solved the mystery of the dual floor-numbering system for the mall and car park (FAR more complicated than anything in this world needs to be, brain surgery has to be easier) and are able to actually get in to the mall it is particularly easy to find your way around and find what you’re looking for. All of the high end designer shops are in one section, the accessories are in another. Jewellery has its own area, as does electronics, and near by is the book shop of wonder – Kinokuniya. A Japanese book shop it is the largest I have come across in the UAE and, so far, the best anywhere. So well organised, and intuitively so, it was a joy to browse and I can only imagine that if you are after something specific it will be easy to find. While there is a food court, there are far more interesting places to eat or stop for a coffee dotted around and amongst the shops.
Needless to say, we killed a lot of time there.
After resting our weary legs for only a short hour back at the hotel, we donned our gladrags and headed out for dinner at Asado in The Palace hotel. An Argentinean restaurant, it gets its name from the open fire that the speciality is cooked over. That speciality? Spit roast baby goat. There was really no option for me and I had to have the goat, while O went for a steak. The steak was good, but the goat was amazing. We’d ordered sides but barely touched them and I whole heartedly recommend the empanadas for a starter, O had a beef and onion one that tasted like the most perfect Cornish pasty in the world. We were both too full for desert.
It was still early so we headed around the Souk and across the bridge to one of the Arabic restaurant/cafes that had a lot of pleasantly cramped seating outside the ground floor of the mall for coffee and shisha, both very nice. While we were there we were able to get a much better view of the fountain display.
There is a very shallow waterway separating the Burj Khalifa from the mall, souk and hotels. Once the sun goes down the water show begins! Every 20 minutes or so there is a flurry of water shooting up into the air in a delightful manner, accompanied by some rhythmically and atmospherically appropriate music. Every hour or so there is an extra long, extra delightful show and everything stops for a short while to watch.
Having had our fill of watching water being projectiled into the atmosphere, we moseyed back over to the souk and settled on Karma Kafe (yes, I absolutely HATE the name being spelled that way) for a couple of beverages, primarily because is by the same people as Buddha Bar. It was nice, the music a little on the loud side though and appeared to be mostly geared up for eating. The décor was fun in that red Zen way but the best bit was, just as we were deciding to go, the floor show started!
There was a buzz of activity behind the bar and then the music was cranked up even higher while the bar staff indulged in a little fire play for the benefit of the customers still remaining. There was the spinning and throwing (and dropping) of Molotov cocktails, fire breathing and a little touch of fire poi. All good fun, though I fear the performers needed a lot more practice since O and I slipped off our bar stools and took a couple of steps back to a slightly safer distance!
Brunch on Saturday morning and another brief spin around the mall (where I may or may not have finally maxed out my credit card) before we headed back to Abu Dhabi and reality.
It was a lovely weekend. I had a great time exploring a part of Dubai that I didn’t know at all before, and shopping is always fun.
Dubai is a fun city to visit, but for me, I wouldn’t want to live there. While I’m not a restrictivist, there seems to be a distinct air of Anything Goes in Dubai, which I can’t really get behind. Without going into specifics, there were a few moments when O and I looked at each other and said “you wouldn’t see that in Abu Dhabi” and I certainly felt glad of it.
Dubai moves a lot faster, is a lot more hedonistic and has a lot more westerners. Which is fine, absolutely, but I’m so glad that I live in Abu Dhabi.
1 comment:
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