The Big Dusty

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 123^rd 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.