8 Thursday,
Oct 1
Unlike most
trips, this one actually had such a peaceful start to it. No hurrying to wrap
up work, rushing to the airport, not finding enough time to pack, arguing all
the way to the airport – none of all that. We peacefully finished work in office
and left well in time to make it to our comfortable Emirates flight. It was
Geet’s first time on this airline and I was doing the mental math and telling
myself that I need to have at least 5 drinks on the flight to call it even on
the premium I paid for this. But with just 2 drinks, I ran out of appetite as
well as time, and we soon touched down at Dubai at 8:30pm local time for our
blast of a weekend.
Geet caught
a few winks on the flight as I watched Tomorrowland on the awesome Emirate
entertainment system. She wasn’t too impressed with my choice of seats I
blocked, as it was close to the exit, but also close to the loo which I hadn’t considered.
Moreover, in spite of booking window seats, there were no windows, as this was
the seat near the exit! So the Emirates experience was not turning out as first
class as I wished for Geet, and was only thankful that it was just a 3 hour
flight. However, just before touch down, we strained our necks to catch a
glimpse of the city from the window attached to the exit door and the first
thing we spot is the Burj Khalifa!
After that
neat welcome to the desert city, Noel picked us up at the airport, which we got
out of in express time thanks to the separate immigration counters that
Emirates enjoys in Dubai, and were pleasantly surprised to notice he owned a
BMW coupe. The guys been pretty quiet about it, especially considering he’s had
it for 3 years now. Anyway, we drove to his place in The Gardens, Jabel Ali,
and met Bhavya who wasn’t keeping too well post their recent return from
Andamans and couldn’t come out for drinks and dinner. However, Nikita joined
us, and we had a blast of a time at a place called Traders Vic in Madinat Jumeriah.
We had this drink called Tiki Puca Puca that was a really wild cocktail, coz in
just 2 drinks, I was completely hammered. So much so that I threw up in the
next pub we went to, Belgian Beer Café, and just couldn’t complete the beer
that I ordered there. The others couldn’t finish their drinks too, and it was
anyway way past closing hours and were hence politely asked to vacate the place
as well.
Friday, Oct
2
Woke up
with a splitting headache – the Tiki Puca Puca had me in bad. Had some water
once I woke which I promptly threw up. Had some coffee after that, which I
threw up again. Had a tablet they gave me for a headache, which only managed to
put me back to bed given the throbbing head.
I was soon
woken up by all three of them saying they were awake and it was really time to
go for our brunch that was planned on this day. I was fairly sure that there is
almost no way I could eat, but still didn’t want to be wasting my time in
Dubai, and so stepped into the shower and spent far longer than I normally
would, trying to sober up for the day.
We then
picked Niki and drove to Atlantis, the fancy hotel on the far stretch of the
Palm Jumeriah, which hosted multiple eating joints, one of which is world
famous for their brunches, called Saffron. The moment we got here, I rushed to
the loo to throw up once again. This time I made sure I don’t have to throw up
again, and just forced everything out, including the party smart pill Noel gave
me just before leaving to help me through the day.
I think the
effort helped, coz once I got back, I slowly started eating, beginning with
some sushi and lobster, and pretty soon, forgot all about the hangover,
headache, and the irritable bowel. We even tried out a popular drink here
called Pimms which has become my new favourite cocktail coz it’s not as sweet
as the Sangria and not as tangy as the Mojito, and pretty much just right to my
liking.
So it was
Pimms and loads of food after that. The options to eat and drink were just
plenty at Saffron. Among drinks, there were options of Malibu in a coconut
shell, a watermelon based cocktain served in an actual watermelon, loads of JD
cocktails, wine, beer, and all of then served with food that you just don’t seem
to have a finish line.
We all
tried savouring as many of the dishes that were on offer, but truly did justice
to none of the cuisines. It was all just way to much food! And it wasn’t just
the drink and food that surprised us here, it was even the crowd. The people
here came dressed like it was a club. I was only wondering how people in clubs
would be dressed here. The girls were insanely hot and all of them were dancing
like the worlds coming to an end soon. It was some experience here!
Soon after,
we got out, took some photos of the Atlantis, took a drive around the Palm
Jumeriah, and soon hit home where we chalked out our plans for the rest of the
day, as Geet tried getting comfortable with Duke and Panda, the 2 cats in the
house.
A short nap
later, we got ready to visit Atmosphere, the pub on the 123rd floor
of Burj Khalifa, where we got a seat right next to the window, which offered a
drop dead view of the hotel base, all of 452mts high. It was not an easy
reservation to come by, and hats off to Bhavya for pulling that off. We did
have a minimum spend of 250 Dirhams to cut through here, which was actually not
too much considering the brunch earlier in the day was 500 Dirhams. We had 2
cocktails each, and the entry charges were pretty much exhausted with that. None
of us were anyway in a mood to drink or eat too much given how heavy the day
had already been, so this was pretty much just right for us. Moreover, the
cocktails we ordered were simply awesome. We tried out all the signature
cocktails available and loved just each and every one of them.
After the
drinks here, we dropped Bhavya off to a hotel where she was catching a fashion
show with Niki, and Noel dropped us both off to Ajith’s place where we planned
to spend the night. Just before dropping us off, we picked a Shawarma from a
store near a petrol bunk, as it was something I was dying to do ever since I
got here. However, I ended up picking the Beef Shawarma, which has lately
become a craving since the insipid Bombay government put a ban on it, and it
turned out half as nice as the regular Chicken Shawarma that I bought for Geet.
However, I couldn’t really complain and just punched through the meal as I was
fairly hungry given it was a while since brunch, which by the way wasn’t the
most I would have ideally made out of a buffet brunch given my stomach was
still just recuperating.
We got to
Ajith’s place by 11pm by when everyone else was asleep. So we just chatted with
him for a short while and called it a night ourselves in Ajith’s big fancy
house that was all paid for by Unilever.
Saturday,
Oct 3
In spite of
sleeping at 1am and not barely getting any sleep even the previous night, I
woke up at 6:30am thanks to the east facing windows in the room. The morning
was just too bright to continue keeping my eyes shut and let myself look out of
the window to just join the party than fight it, and was welcomed with a
beautiful sight of the vast desert that was all you could see from the windows
at this house.
Geet also
woke up shortly and we joined the rest of the gang, Ramya and Aadhya in the
living room. After some small talk and an awesome breakfast of Chicken stew
with bread, we met up again with Noel and Bhavya, who came over in their Mini
Cooper this time.
We hit
Sheikh Zayad road once again, the road we kept going up and down in ever since
we hit Dubai, and drove all the way to Abu Dhabi to see the Grand Mosque. Noel’s
plan was to simply see the Mosque from outside and then hit a joint where we
could grab some drinks and food, but he was obviously vetoed by the rest,
including me, and we managed to talk a walk inside the Mosque, which was truly
grand and surprisingly peaceful. 
In spite of the number of tourists visiting,
the actual functioning Mosque held itself together in charm and sanctity, and
being our maiden visit to a Mosque, was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us here.
Soon we
drove back to Dubai and hit a place called PF Changs for lunch. This was an
American joint that served Chinese as Bhavya explained to us, who ordered 2
plates of Dynamite Shrimp as soon as we got our seats. I picked the menu to see
what beer I can get and was perturbed to notice there were no drinks! Noel
calmly explained how drinks can only be served from a place that was attached
to a hotel – sort of the same irritating rule that Chennai followed, and I was
quite surprised at how leaving the Mosque in a hurry to simply hit a joint that
wasn’t even offering a beer was something Noel wanted to do so bad. Anyway,
guess Dubai has just grown on him, and now I had to make do with a Peach Banana
Smoothie.
The Dynamite
Shrimp soon landed on the table in 2 cocktail glasses, and Bhavya had hyped
this up so much that our expectations were sky high on the food. However, once
we tasted it, we were far beyond sky high, as this was just the bomb as Bhavya called it herself.
Just as
Geet and I rummaged through the shrimps, we get a call from the Tour Operator
about our car having arrived for our desert safari on this day. Bhavya spoke to
him and asked him to wait a bit while we finished our food, and by the time we
got to the car, it was good 20mins since we first spoke to him, and there were
4 other girls in the car who were just not looking happy with us ambling into
the car. The initial awkward moment gave way to a really great time with all of
them as they turned out to be a merry bunch of Irish-women settled in Aberdeen,
the only Scottish city Geet and I have visited.
The car
that picked us up was a Land Cruiser, and we thought it would just be a
transitional vehicle before we entered a bus that would take us to the desert,
and then maybe an off-roader for the dune bashing. But then it was this Land
Cruiser all along the way, with our not so friendly driver Mahmood who barely
said a word during the entire trip and just wanted to get to what he did best –
bashing the dunes.
So we got
to a point where he drove off the road and parked at the entrance of the vast
desert that stretched before us. Deflated the tyres for better grip, drank up a
bottle of sprite that was probably his Red Bull/Absinthe, picked up the volume
on the radio which actually had AT40 playing, and pummeled ahead.
The next 20
mins were some of the wildest moments in a car for all of us. The airwaves
belted some pretty good music between Top20 and Top10 and Mahmood sped along
the dunes with the setting sun to keep us company on one side, as he nearly
toppled the car twice to give us one hell of an unforgettable car ride.
We soon got
to a point in the desert where there was to be a belly dance show and dinner,
after which Geet and I were to return in the car, while the rest of our new
friends would stay back under the starlit sky.
The belly
dance was quite enjoyable, but Geet was just not appreciating the rest of the begrimed
setting with threadbare sheets and mediocre food. In hindsight, it wasn’t the unbomb but I guess the start of our trip
was so high standard, that we just couldn’t get around to appreciating the
subtler offerings of the city.
I was
anyway enjoying my Corona, which I was so pleased to see being sold in the
desert here after the lunch gaffe, and we both made small talk with the ladies
from Ireland-Scotland as we punched through a little of the food.
Soon Mahmood
took us back to Dubai and dropped us at Ibn Batuta Mall, which was right next
to where Geet and Noel stayed, and waited outside for them as they wrapped up
the movie Talwaar that they were watching.
Once they
got out, we ordered something called Manakeesh, an Arabian dish that resembled
a Pizza, and picked a take away to have with some drinks back at home. And once
we got home, all Geet and I could have was one Breezer that we both split as we
gobbled some of the tasty Manakeesh along with the leftovers of lunch from PF
Chang. It was just too hectic a day for us, with the visit to Abu Dhabi as well
as the desert safari on the same day, and we were just too tired to even stay
awake.
Sunday, Oct
4
I once
again woke up with barely 5 hours of sleep, and had to pack everything and load
into Noel’s car as he and Bhavya were leaving for work and Geet and I had our last
day in Dubai to ourselves. The plan was that Noel would pick us up at Burj
Khalifa where we would end our day and take us straight to the airport.
So once
they left, Geet and I got ready and hit the road in a cab that Bhavya coordinated
for us, which took us straight to Dubai Mall. We had originally planned to
visit Ikea before Dubai Mall, but glad we kept it to just one place in the day,
as even Dubai Mall was too huge for us to come anywhere close to checking out
substantially before the day ran out. I was thankfully loaded with the Dubal
Mall app that helped me navigate through the stores seamlessly as Geet shopped,
and although we couldn’t hit Bose and Louis Vuitton as part of the itinerary I
chalked out for ourselves, I still took Geet to H&M, Gap, Aldo, Call it
Spring, Nine West, Forever 21, Micheal Kors, Charles & Keith and a few
other stores she popped into en route to help her with the shopping, and in
spite of all those stores, she just couldn’t pick anything more than a couple
of shirts for herself which was just beyond my comprehension. Anyway, guess its
just one more of those things only a girl would understand, and I was content
with the fact that I managed a good meal at Cheesecake Factory during the day, seeing
a beautiful view of the sunset from the view from the top of the Burj Khalifa
and finally ending the day with the fountain show from the base of the Burj
Khalifa.
The visit
to the view from the top was not all that stirring given we had already enjoyed
a similar view from Atmosphere. However, while Atmosphere only provided us the
night sky, we caught the sunset from here which was majestic.
Once we got
down, we met up with Noel who took us to Magnolia where we had the tastiest Red
Velvet Cup Cake and then walked to PF Chang for one last bite of the Dynamite
Shrimp to find that the restaurant was closed, which turned out to be a good
thing as we visited Tim Horton for a juice instead, which was when we caught
the fountain show.
We then
drove to the airport which took us far lesser time that we thought, giving us
enough time to repack our luggage and browse through duty free with sufficient
time to pick exactly what we wanted before boarding.
Once inside
the Emirate airline, I ordered a quick 2 rounds of JD and Coke and watched Ex
Machina as our last experience of Dubai touched down at Bombay 3 hours later. A
Dubai trip that was never really on the agenda, with 3 days so packed that it
actually felt like a weeklong trip, and with company that made it one of the
best party trips ever.
Woke up
with a splitting headache – the Tiki Puca Puca had me in bad. Had some water
once I woke which I promptly threw up. Had some coffee after that, which I
threw up again. Had a tablet they gave me for a headache, which only managed to
put me back to bed given the throbbing head. 
A short nap
later, we got ready to visit Atmosphere, the pub on the 123rd floor
of Burj Khalifa, where we got a seat right next to the window, which offered a
drop dead view of the hotel base, all of 452mts high. It was not an easy
reservation to come by, and hats off to Bhavya for pulling that off. We did
have a minimum spend of 250 Dirhams to cut through here, which was actually not
too much considering the brunch earlier in the day was 500 Dirhams. We had 2
cocktails each, and the entry charges were pretty much exhausted with that. None
of us were anyway in a mood to drink or eat too much given how heavy the day
had already been, so this was pretty much just right for us. Moreover, the
cocktails we ordered were simply awesome. We tried out all the signature
cocktails available and loved just each and every one of them.
After the
drinks here, we dropped Bhavya off to a hotel where she was catching a fashion
show with Niki, and Noel dropped us both off to Ajith’s place where we planned
to spend the night. Just before dropping us off, we picked a Shawarma from a
store near a petrol bunk, as it was something I was dying to do ever since I
got here. However, I ended up picking the Beef Shawarma, which has lately
become a craving since the insipid Bombay government put a ban on it, and it
turned out half as nice as the regular Chicken Shawarma that I bought for Geet.
However, I couldn’t really complain and just punched through the meal as I was
fairly hungry given it was a while since brunch, which by the way wasn’t the
most I would have ideally made out of a buffet brunch given my stomach was
still just recuperating. 
In spite of the number of tourists visiting,
the actual functioning Mosque held itself together in charm and sanctity, and
being our maiden visit to a Mosque, was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us here.
Just as
Geet and I rummaged through the shrimps, we get a call from the Tour Operator
about our car having arrived for our desert safari on this day. Bhavya spoke to
him and asked him to wait a bit while we finished our food, and by the time we
got to the car, it was good 20mins since we first spoke to him, and there were
4 other girls in the car who were just not looking happy with us ambling into
the car. The initial awkward moment gave way to a really great time with all of
them as they turned out to be a merry bunch of Irish-women settled in Aberdeen,
the only Scottish city Geet and I have visited. 
We soon got
to a point in the desert where there was to be a belly dance show and dinner,
after which Geet and I were to return in the car, while the rest of our new
friends would stay back under the starlit sky. 
I was
anyway enjoying my Corona, which I was so pleased to see being sold in the
desert here after the lunch gaffe, and we both made small talk with the ladies
from Ireland-Scotland as we punched through a little of the food. 
So once
they left, Geet and I got ready and hit the road in a cab that Bhavya coordinated
for us, which took us straight to Dubai Mall. We had originally planned to
visit Ikea before Dubai Mall, but glad we kept it to just one place in the day,
as even Dubai Mall was too huge for us to come anywhere close to checking out
substantially before the day ran out. I was thankfully loaded with the Dubal
Mall app that helped me navigate through the stores seamlessly as Geet shopped,
and although we couldn’t hit Bose and Louis Vuitton as part of the itinerary I
chalked out for ourselves, I still took Geet to H&M, Gap, Aldo, Call it
Spring, Nine West, Forever 21, Micheal Kors, Charles & Keith and a few
other stores she popped into en route to help her with the shopping, and in
spite of all those stores, she just couldn’t pick anything more than a couple
of shirts for herself which was just beyond my comprehension. Anyway, guess its
just one more of those things only a girl would understand, and I was content
with the fact that I managed a good meal at Cheesecake Factory during the day, seeing
a beautiful view of the sunset from the view from the top of the Burj Khalifa
and finally ending the day with the fountain show from the base of the Burj
Khalifa.
Once we got
down, we met up with Noel who took us to Magnolia where we had the tastiest Red
Velvet Cup Cake and then walked to PF Chang for one last bite of the Dynamite
Shrimp to find that the restaurant was closed, which turned out to be a good
thing as we visited Tim Horton for a juice instead, which was when we caught
the fountain show.