Dubai, UAE 18 Feb - 20 Feb 2010

This has been a long time coming but I have been waiting for pictures, apparently we go to Dubai quite a bit that I forget my camera now :( So excuse my Blackberry photos

We arrived on Thursday night, and were picked up by Mutaz and our friend, Shaft. Shaft used to live in Austin, but moved to Lebanon to go to med school about 2 or so years ago, so we haven't seen him since then. We went to a place called Shakespeare's which is near the Burj Khalifa [Dubai].

{Burj Khalifa at night}

Before that, we watched the water show in front of the Burj Khalifa - yes, think Vegas Bellagio, but to Arabic music. Haha.

A bunch of people joined us at Shakespeare's and we had dinner, tea and shisha.

On Friday, we got ready, had lunch at Fuddruckers at Jumeriah Beach 

 {JBR - where there are restaurants galore}

and then went to The Dubai Mall - all I wanted to do was a little birthday shopping at Express. I did that, but I also found the best.candy.store.ever. It even had Garrett's Popcorn from Chicago - imagine. I went all the way to Chicago for that popcorn when it was just an hour flight away!

After wandering around there for awhile, we went home to get ready for our night out.

We had dinner at ShoCho - Japanese food, which was absolutely delicious and spent the rest of our night, where else? At Boudoir - always a good time, and this time there was an insanely large group of us so it was really fun. I wish I had better pictures.

Saturday was an unfortunate hangover brunch at Coco's, then ice cream or frozen yogurt at Mall of the Emirates. 

I really do love Dubai - it's nice for a weekend getaway, plus it's great for meeting new people! We got to meet a lot of new people this last time and having so many people to talk to and get to know was really fun!

 {A somewhat better picture of Burj Khalifa during the day}

Dubai, UAE 6 Aug - 8 Aug 2009

After arriving in Dubai, Mutaz picked us up and we headed to Reem for some mezze and shisha. We met Deep, Panos and Candace there. Delish!

The next day, Chris, Mutaz and I headed to the Aquaventure Waterpark on the Palm Island. It was really fun, complete with waterslides and a lazy pool, it was a great way to spend the day!

[sandierpastures.com]

This slide made me scream, but I'm very glad I did it!

[destination360.com]

After the waterpark, we went home, changed and headed to dinner at another all you can eat and drink place. The food = so-so, the drinks however were fantastic and after all of that, we went to Boudoir for an amazing evening with our friends.

I promise our next adventure won't be Dubai :)

Dubai, UAE 25 June - 27 June 2009

We spent the weekend in Dubai to visit with our friends, and on the way we found out our friend Panos was in the hospital. All I have to say is, wash your hands, and if something seems weird. GET IT CHECKED OUT!

Mutaz picked us up and we went to this place called Lotus 1, where he heard Paris Hilton was at (she was filming her My New BFF show in Dubai in June. Why? I don't know). Obviously she wasn't there, so we had some appetizers and drinks, then headed home. Unfortunately this was the same night we found out Michael Jackson passed away. :( RIP MJ.

The next day, we went to visit Panos in the hospital, ate lunch, went to the Dubai Mall. We went back home, where we changed and got ready for dinner, which was at a place called Spice Island - all you can eat AND drink. It sounds awesome - because it was. Then we went to out to Boudoir and danced/drank the night away.

Me, Chris and Jo

Mutaz, Chris and Adnan

Saturday was pretty much a waste of a day, we woke up at 3pm, packed, went to see Panos, went to dinner with his parents who had flown in from Saudi, and then we (Chris, myself, and parents) went to the airport to catch our flight.

Dubai 30 Apr - 2 May 2009

Another weekend in Dubai and it was so fun - as always.

We flew on Jazeera Airways - it is cheaper and ontime, which is always good. We arrived around 10pm, Mutaz, Tariq and Saman (a friend of ours from Saudi) picked us up and we went straight to a restaurant/bar called Barasti's. It's outside, on the beach, like literally, you can just hang out and drink on the beach, but we got a table on one of the decks and ate and drank. Besides us 4, it was Tariq's friend Pam, Adnan, Karim and his friend Weady ("weedy" - yes it's a nickname).

Saman and I

After a few hours there, we ended the night at Buddha Bar.

Chris and Karim

Tariq, Chris, Adnan and Mutaz

On Friday, we woke up, went to eat lunch at this placed called More. It was so good - the best eggs benedict I've ever had. Yum! After that, we went home and took naps. We got ready and Mutaz, Chris, Saman, Mutaz's friend Joanne and I went out to have dinner at Okku again (see previous entry). We had no idea what Deep had ordered for us last time, so we picked a few items and then had the waiter bring us his suggestions. Once again - an amazing meal! After that, we went to a club called 400. After some techno music, they played much better music and dancing and drinking ensued.

Me, Jo and Saman

Saturday, our flight was a few hours earlier than normal, so after sleeping in, we only had time to eat a late lunch and then head to the airport, so we went to Reem and then Mutaz dropped us off. Our flight back was full of Bahraini teenage boys who didn't want to stop singing and clapping. Thank goodness it's a short flight.

In any case, Dubai will have to wait for a few months til after we get back from the States, but as always, it was an incredibly fun time!

xoxo

Dubai 2 Apr - 4 Apr 2009

So this weekend was one of the most fun weekends I've had EVER.

We left on Thursday early evening, our flight was at 645pm, when we got to the airport, they said we were on the 840pm flight and when I looked at the gate board, it said the flight we were originally on was at 545pm? Long story short, they bumped us and several other people to the later flight and after much yelling and arguing we got on our original flight, barely, but still. Who bumps you off your flight without any sort of confirmation/email, etc? Stupid Gulf Air - luckily these were Chris's last mileage tickets so we don't plan on flying them anytime soon.
We took a cab to Mutaz's, changed and then went to the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Island to sit and relax at this restaurant called Nasimi.
One of the guys, Adnan, who we went to school with in Saudi met us there for a little bit and then Chris and I met up with Mutaz and some other people at Buddha Bar. Somehow we didn't get home til almost 5am - why?

Then we had to head home to change for this surprise dinner, at 430 in the afternoon, really? When we got in the cab, he told me the surprise and pulled out 2 tickets to Cirque de Soleil's Alegria, which I had mentioned was showing in Dubai and I really wanted to see it since I had never been to a Cirque de Soleil show but not much had been said since then, so you can imagine my surprise when "dinner" turned out to be the show!! If you haven't seen a Cirque performance, I highly recommend it, it was amazing! I love my husband! After the performance, we went to Mutaz's and rested and then his friend Deep came to pick us up and take us to dinner at a place called Okku, which served mainly Japanese fusion food. It was like Deep's new favorite restaurant so we let him order everything: 3 hours later and stomachs sufficiently full from what I can honestly say was one of the best meals I have EVER eaten in my life, we headed off to this new club called Bang. I cannot tell you who we met there or who was celebrating what, because I swear everytime we go to Dubai, it's someone's birthday, wedding or just a random celebration of some sort, but it was so much fun!
Woke up late on Saturday, went to lunch at Fuddruckers, came back and I took a nap, then got ready and packed up, then headed to meet up with Deep at this place called Reem for tea and shisha. Mutaz took us to the airport, we weren't bumped off our flight, we arrived back in Bahrain and went straight to bed.

Dubai 15 Jan – 17 Jan 2009

We had originally planned to go to Dubai this weekend but we had some visa troubles so had to postpone, until we GOT the visa and changed our tickets back. We went to visit some friends, Mutaz and Tariq who live there and Panos who was in town from the States. We started off early on Thursday morning to get across the bridge to Bahrain, our flight wasn’t until noon so we had some coffee before our flight.

We arrived in Dubai and headed to Mutaz’s apartment to drop off our stuff and then went walking to the new Marina Mall and then to the JBR, (basically a walk next to Jumeriah Beach) to find some food. After we walked around a bit, we went back to Mutaz’s and took a nap and get ready to go out. We ordered pizza and then went out for Mutaz’s friend, Deep’s, birthday to a club called Boudoir – it was so much fun! The music was great and everyone is so friendly and welcoming.

On Friday, we woke up and Panos, Chris and I went to eat at Fuddrucker’s (just couldn’t get enough back in the States haha) and then back to Mutaz’s and hung out. Later that night, another friend Saman came to hang out with us. Mutaz, Saman, Chris and I went to the Palm Islands, to eat at a sushi place called Nobu at the Atlantis Hotel (there’s apparently a similar hotel in the Bahamas?), it was absolutely amazing.

A really awful picture of the Atlantis

The aquarium next to Nobu

Then we went to Boudoir for someone else’s (Yaser’s) birthdays. Can I just say these people know how to throw a party? Another night of fun times! On Saturday, we didn’t have to leave until 10pm, so when we finally woke up, all of us went to the Mall of Dubai, it’s right next to the Burj Dubai (the tallest building in the world that is currently being built). The Mall is not such a mall but more of an experience, yes there are stores that you only see in movies and didn’t really think existed, but there is also a food court with more choices of food you could only imagine from Subway to Indian to Lebanese to Sushi, you want it, it’s there. We decided after lunch to go to the aquarium which was so neat! Then we walked around until the guys wanted to go to see the 2010 FIFA world trophy or something for soccer, so Saman and I slowly followed as we went through the gold souk which was more like the diamond souk, I’ve never seen so many sparkling things in my life! We finally reached the trophy (yay.) Chris and I did some shopping and then we met up with everyone again and went and had some coffee and then Mutaz took us to the airport and now we’re back in Saudi.

All in all, it was an awesome experience and there is SO much to see in Dubai, I can see why Chris came all the time last year. I already have a list of things I want to do next time we go.