The Palm Atlantis

We stayed at The Palm, Atlantis whilst in Dubai. We chose this hotel based on our stay in the Bahamas if you remember from this post. There we were lucky enough to stay in The Cove, which had a separate adults only area and beach. This time, however, it was definitely not the same.

It's not to say that I don't like children, because I do - especially the ones of my loved ones, but when they are everywhere at any time of day / night running loose without parental guidance / supervision, I get a little miffed. Atlantis was the main resort for children and families so no meal was eaten without kids, no beach was relaxed on without kids, and no pool was swam in without, you guessed it, kids.

The next time I return, I will have children in tow.

Mass had to leave to London a few days early from our trip, leaving me to explore Dubai alone / with my trusty gf (which, thank goodness for her or else I would still be wandering around the gold souk!). The night before he left we had dinner at our hotel, which admittedly boasts some of Dubai's best restaurants. We had heard about the romantic setting of Ossiano and decided to give it a whirl.

Patiently waiting for our table. Just a warning to future tourists of Dubai: service is not their best quality.

They say your meal is inside the aquarium, but in reality it is just situated beside it. The meal was altogether decent. Similar par to the rest of the restaurants we tried. A few quirks were cute, i.e. if its your birthday a guy will swim in the tank with a birthday sign. However, it was not cheap and if we're comparing strictly value for money, it definitely is worth a miss.

Just a quick shot of the shoes...the new shoes to be exact!

The aquarium is worth a visit, especially if you're into that stuff.

Altogether, had a great time in the Emirates and would return to the Middle East. I find their culture, religious appreciation, and operations, absolutely fascinating.

I'm in Toronto for the weekend so won't be back in London until Tuesday...ta ta until then!

Erdem dress, Topshop purse, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes

Dubai Shopping

They say you must try the shopping in Dubai. Not least because of the largest mall in the world, but because of the attractions inside the mall will blow your mind. I'm not much of a stranger to malls, but even the Dubai Mall was daunting. I went there twice, once with Mass and once with my gf, Erin. With both of them, I took home a pair of shoes. Dubai Mall is sectioned off into areas of interest. So, for example, if you are looking for athletic wear, they will have an arm dedicated to various brands (both Western brands and their own local brands) or if you are into the high end fashion, there is a branch (or two) dedicated to the likes of Alexander McQueen, Giuseppe, and Tom Ford. Safe to say that if you're looking, you will find.

I bought this Balenciaga dress at a local boutique for 70% off. In fact, the entire store was 70% off (they were closing down because a Prada was going to take its place). Mass, being the valued shopper he is, loves a good bargain. So we searched high and low trying on every dress in the store in my size - I always complain I don't have enough dresses for weddings etc. This is from the '09 / '10 f/w collection I believe.

We tasted some of the different restaurants while there and to be honest, none of them blew me away. All very decent, but nothing to boast about. The arabic food, of course, was a totally different story.

What I did enjoy and differentiated from say Hong Kong, was that the consumerism wasn't completely in your face. In many Asian countries, i.e. Japan / China, you can turn left or right and there will be something for you to buy. In Dubai (& Abu Dhabi for that matter) the consumerism was segregated to the malls and the specific shopping areas. Basically, you're not forced to buy if you aren't searching for it. Which, I like.

Mass is so used to my elevator antics now.

Balenciaga dress, Zara heels, Chanel bag

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Before we left Abu Dhabi for Dubai, we had to see the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It is the third largest mosque, equipping over 40 000 worshippers in the space of 5 football fields. It really is a sight to see.

There are many religious beliefs to respect whilst visiting the mosque. One of them is appropriate dress. Male and females must wear long trousers and shirts so as not to see any skin aside from hands and feet. Females are asked to dress in a traditional Jilbāb and Hijabs as it is believed that females should be modest.

I didn't know how to wrap the hijab, so a lovely girl showed me.

Ah, much better.

Can't even tell it's me. Women cannot take photos in front of the mosque without being dressed in their religious cloth. Men, on the hand, can be photographed.

Houses the grandest chandelier in the world.

...On my way to Dubai!

Equipment shirt, Whistles trousers, Stella McCartney espadrilles, Balenciaga bag

Desert Dune Bashing

On the 2nd day in Abu Dhabi, we went on a Desert Dune Bashing trip. Basically it allows all the tourists to go in one big group to experience the desert. There were variations of this trip, for example you could stay overnight in the desert, but we decided to do the half day. First stop was the camel farm. Camels in the middle of desert, eating and poo-ing while they ate. Notice I didn't get too close because I was wearing open toed sandals and didn't want to step in the mounds of camel poop laying around. Thankfully it is very different from horse manure and tiny in size. Following that, we set out with the 20-some SUVs to go dune bashing. I was particularly scared of this portion as I had youtubed dune bashing the night before and saw jeeps turning over. Apparently dune bashing is more regulated now so you must follow each SUV rather than before, where all the SUVs were chaotically bashing into one another causing a multitude of car accidents. I sat in the front, which was probably more scary but I was very afraid of getting motion sickness so it helped loads! I think almost a third of our car got a little queasy! It went on for about 45 minutes altogether and there's no stopping. You can't go out to watch because you're in the middle of the desert, there's no other way to get out. Not sure how the front guy knew where he was going as there is no navigation system and the dunes are constantly changing. I recommend it but not if you get motion sickness easily.

After about a 10 minute stop and another 20 minutes of bashing, we arrived at a huge BBQ in the desert where tourists could try their hand at camel riding, 4-wheeling in the dunes, sand-boarding, henna, belly dancing, and of course an arabic meal (which almost no one was tempted to eat after all that bashing!).

Definitely a fun experience but I would say it is a one-time thing. Been there, had fun, done that.

Giordano linen shirt (highly recommend this high street brand to petite asians! always fits like a charm), Club Monaco shorts, Hermes belt, Tods sandals (which broke in Dubai Mall - thankfully my trusty tour guide, Erin, helped me get a new pair), Balenciaga bag, Wayfarers

Wasabi in Al Diar Mina

That same evening we went to Wasabi for Japanese. I had heard great things about the Emirates having fresh fish and since London doesn't provide any stimulation in this area, we absolutely had to get our fix.


Starved of any good fish in London, as you can see.

Eat up, shall we?

Mega-concentration, guvn'a

No-shoe policy restaurant, my fav!

All in all, it was decent. Decent enough for these tampered taste buds. That said, probably the best sushi I had the whole trip...but then again, I only went to Nobu in Dubai otherwise and their service could not have made my experience any worse.

Gucci shoes, APC trousers

Abu Dhabi Part I

Alas, the UAE photos. One of the things I love about the UK is the dual Easter holidays we get off. Some people turn their four day weekend into week long affairs, but almost everyone leaves the country for warmer climates.

As no exception, we escaped to the UAE for a week. First stop, Abu Dhabi. Definitely less touristic and more conservative (Mass got sent home for wearing a shorts suit to the Emirates Palace), it is worth a two day pit stop.

After arriving late at night on Thursday, we were driven to Abu Dhabi from Dubai, which takes approximately an hour and a half. By the time we arrived at our hotel it was 2am and we still had not eaten dinner. Despite hotel patrons leaving to go party, we decided to hang out with room service (hummus no less!).


The next morning we woke up to go to the
Emirates Palace. Similar to cities like Vegas, the Emirates is built largely around hotels for entertainment. In order to 'get in' though, we had to make a reservation at a restaurant. This hotel boasts the 7 star rating and insists on being called a Palace rather than a hotel. It has a pillow 'menu' and a grand lobby made of marble and gold. In fact, most rooms consist of marble and gold (wonder what their insurance policy is like!).



We spent the rest of the day visiting the local tourist sites (alongside some shopping, I seemingly found the only store in an Emirates mall with a sale!). Admittedly, the extent of tourism / culture was minimal. Below is the 'heritage site' where they literally just stuffed images of what Abu Dhabi looked like alongside some animals and a fake desert. I'd say this is worth a miss.



Opening Ceremony dress, Ferragamo flats, Balenciaga bag, Wayfarers

Angels

Before I show you the photos from our UAE trip, I wanted to quickly show you what I wore yesterday evening via Instagram.

Excuse the mess behind, we're still waiting on pieces for our bedroom! But here's a glimpse.


Mass is away out of town for the weekend so I rampaged his closet for a sweater (because its still winterly cold out there!) and went out to meet some friends for dinner at Bocca di Lupo. What was more exciting was what we did afterwards! I always try to convince Mass to go with me to a gentlemen's club but for whatever reason, he never agrees. Of course that didn't stop me from persuading two other contenders to pop my London strip club cherry experience! We went to Angels, the Soho branch of Stringfellow's, and admittedly it was a lot more upscale than I imagined! True, it was probably catered to a city crowd and was less seedy than say, the Griffin, but nevertheless, I enjoyed myself! The girls are very friendly, especially to the only girl there that wasn't working ;)

Nico Di Donna sweater, Current Elliot jeans, Helmut Lang shirt, Burberry jacket, Laird hat, Rupert Sanderson shoes, scarf from the Gold Souk in Dubai