An excerpt from Sam's emails from Dubai
We FINALLY arrived in Dubai after a 2 hour flight delay due to fog........ But Dubai is beautiful!
We had a lot of drama getting to the hotel with our plane delayed and the driver wanting to leave us behind...then our driver left us at the wrong hotel! But 3 car journeys later we finally made it to the hotel.
Our hotel is very big and posh and it's very close to downtown and the mall (lucky for me, unlucky for dad).
Our rooms were only ready about an hour ago so Jess and I slept in Colin and Tanya's room for 2 hours.
We are now getting ready for the desert experience and having a quick bite to eat at the bar.
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So our desert experience last night was a bit of a fail....
The bus driver who came to pick us up came and hour late and didn't speak any English so he wasn't sure who we were. He then drove us to another hotel where we had to pick up 6 people who had been waiting for the bus since 2:30!!
The driver got lost on the way to the second hotel so we ended up driving around the block 6 times! By then it was 5 and. We finally set off for the desert.
Little did we all know but Manchester United was playing Real Madrid in soccer so we got stuck in traffic. So we ended up watching the sun set while stuck in the bus instead of in the desert. The driver then told us it was too late to go in the 4X4's and we won't see the eagle show so he will drop us off at the end so we can get dinner. Well he ended up driving past the entrance and had to carry on driving down the freeway as there was nowhere to turn it was now dark and we were closer to Abu Dhabi than to Dubai. After much debate we sent dad and Colin to the front of the bus to speak to the driver. Everyone agreed that the driver should take us to the Dubai Mall so we could get dinner.
The Mall adventure was even more chaotic than the desert experience. Tanya really needed to pee but the driver refused to pull of outside the mall so we could go in. He ended up driving right past the mall, doing a u-turn in the middle of the road and driving around the mall 3 times before Michael stood up and forced the bus doors open when we were at a traffic light. We all ran out and left the other family to deal with the driver.
The mall was really busy and we wanted to see the fountain show but Matthew was hungry so dad took him and Emma and Bronwyn to the food court. I had to go with them as I was scared I was going to get lost in the huge crowds.
They all went to Burger King but I decided that I wanted to eat healthy and not fast food so with weird looks from the family I got a honey mustard chicken sandwich from Subway (which now might be my favorite restaurant).
By the time we found our way back to the fountain, the show was over so we decided to get some Starbucks coffee and go back to the hotel.
At the hotel, I have to sleep on a hard mattress on the floor as we got a room early yesterday but it wasn't the one we ordered. The room service people forgot to bring me a duvet so we only got to bed at 11pm.
I'm hoping today will be better with a bus ride in the old city and a boat cruise and fireworks display tonight.
3
Happy New Year!
For our last day of 2014 the family decided to go on the 'hop on hop off' bus. We went through the the old part of Dubai and saw all of the huge old buildings. It was amazing comparing it to the new skyscrapers that tower over us in New Dubai.
We rode the bus from 9 until 2 when we decided to have a nice lunch on the river over looking the Burk Khalifa and the famous hotel that looks like a ship. Little did we know that it was over R200 for a burger.
After the most expensive meal of my life, we decided to go cheap and use our free coupons for a boat ride through the Dubai Creek. On board we all got henna tattoos (mine in picture below) and danced to old music from way back in 2012!
Around 5 we went to the Emirates Mall to find out about the indoor skiing. I must say I was very jealous of all the little kids playing in the snow as it was all Frozen themed!
The Mall was very busy and we needed to get back to the hotel before we got picked up for our New Yea’rs cruise so we tried going on the Metro which was packed with people trying to get to the Burj Khalifa for the fireworks display. We then tried to track down a taxi but they were all downtown at the display.
We decided to get back on the bus and got stuck in the worst traffic jam ever! See in Dubai there are no rules about over taking and crossing lanes so we had taxis and cars pilling in front of us making it impossible to move.
We convinced the bus driver to drive near our hotel (thank you dad!) and finally got back at 7 giving us 30 mins to get ready.
We were picked up and taken to the boat which was outlined by neon fairy lights. On board we had a 3 coarse meal, live singing and a performance of the crew dancing.
To top it off we could watch the fireworks from the top deck.
Unfortunately we won't as close to the fireworks as in the picture (I Googled it) but we got to see them from a distance away. It was a great New Year and lots of fun
It's finally 2015 and how does it start?
That's right....I wake up puking with a tummy bug...
I felt so sick in the night and we think it was something I ate so I skipped breakfast and sleep in for 2 extra hours.
Dad sent Matt to Atlantis Waterpark with Beryl, Gert, Michael, Chantelle, Granny, Lee-Ann and Bronwyn while he stayed with me while I slept (he deserves a Father Of The Year mug).
I woke up around 9:30 and felt slightly better so we got a taxi to the Waterpark so that dad could swim with the Dolphins while I could sleep on a pool lounger. I've honestly never seen my life flash before my eyes until that car ride. The taxi driver went so fast!
Half an hour and UED50 later we arrived. We couldn't get hold of the other who turned their phones off so Dad and I wondered around the park looking for them. The rides looked so cool that I completely forgot about being sick and we put our costumes on.
We found the Thera and started off with all the calm ride. My favorite slide was one where you go in a tube in the dark and all of a sudden. You end up in the middle of an aquarium with sharks, stingrays and multicolored fish swimming over you. I also loved the Lazy River (which was similar to the one in Singapore) and all of the fast ones!
We almost missed our Swimming with the Dolphins slot as we got lost! We had to split into 2 groups so Lee-Ann, Beryl, Gert, Michael, Chantelle and Bronwyn went in one group while dad, Matt and I went in the other group. Our Dolphins name was Manne-Lou who is one of the 28 dolphins at the park. She was so well trained and very cute! We got to feel and pet her, ride her, get her to push our feet while we rode a boogy board and got some very nice photos of her kissing our cheeks and hugging us! We have all the pics on a USB so I'll have to download them at home
We went back to the Waterpark and stayed there until we were kicked out
The taxi queue was very long so we got a free bus ride to the Emirates Mall. The bus was packed and we were all hanging onto each other for dear life as there were no free seats or proper places to stand yet somehow Bronwyn and Matt managed to fall asleep on the floor of the public bus!
Dad and Granny started a conversation with 2 elderly Austrians about beer and wine in South Africa...eventually the hole bus was filled with talking yet Bron and Matt still slept
We got back to the hotel at 8:30 all tired so we got dinner at the Restaurant which is surprisingly good when it's not scrambled egg that they are making!
We all were exhausted from our adventurous day so we all went to bed.
Tomorrow its Granny's birthday so we are going in a 4X4 limo to a boat for lunch and dinner but in the morning dad is taking me shopping at some local markets.
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