Reporting from Dubai!

Updated Daily

Day 1

Arrived at the Dusit hotel after getting picked up from Dubai airport by a new BMW 7-series (hey, u only live once!)... I loved the hotel, but felt like an illeterate bedoin when I fundled with the hotel-shaped room key trying to figure out how the hell to unlock the door! LooL

After settling in, we took a taxi (my rental will be ready tomorrow) to Mall of Emirates to catch a movie, and was surprised by paying 40 AED for the taxi! We watched "You, me, and Dupree" which wasnt that great... We then returned to the hotel for sa7oor and calling it a day for now...
I called up My friend Joe from DA (who told me I sound like a TV or Radio presenter, lool) and we agreed to meet soon for coffee... sounds great! Hope I get to meet as much deviants as I can while I am here... I also found a miss call from Karth but kept trying to reach him again but his mobile is always out of reach! Get out of the batcave man, lool...

I wana go to somewhere with nature... and I heard Hatta is a good place for that...

Day 2:

I got my car rental which I had to say was a total dissaster! It seemed like someone was living in it for the past week... so I called up my agent and wiped the floor with him and demanded a new car... He will send it tomorrow but of corse I have to use this crappy thing (which was a 2005 Honda Accord, beat up with a stick) till I get something better tomorrow...

We left the hotel in time for iftar and headed to MOE again (it is kinda addictive!), we had iftar in Japengo (which Dxbutterfly from DA recomended), it was amazing and the sushi was great! Thanks sis!

We then saw "Joe Tucker Must Die" which I am sure makes every girl in the world happy.. but overall the movie was great! Better than what I saw yesterday at least... We are looking forward to the first day of Eid when they will put new movies, including (omarat ya'aqobyan), I wonder how much they will censor from it...

After that we strolled in the mall, I found this shop which had 75% off and I shopped for some work clothes... I got 3 suits, 10 shirts, 6 ties, all Ted Lapidus and Piere Cardain for AED 3,200... the original bill was *gasp* AED 9,800!!! So I guess I got a fair deal! lool

Now enough with MOE (for today, lool) we decided to head to the marina which alot of u have recomended... I called up my buddy Joe for directions... and even though he seemed busy he was nice enough to stay on the line while I got lost and managed to get to the Marina at last... it was pretty cool and we sat down at "The Chandlier" for some dessert, coffee, and sheesha... We then called it a day but b4 we went back we took a nice drive by the Jumeirah and relived some of the memories when we stayed at the Jumeirah Beach for 2 weeks when we were in Dubai 2 years ago (beleive it or not, the rate at that time was AED 900 per night!!!)

Question... whats a good spa in Dubai? And btw, I am a homophobe, lool.. so NO men touch me ok?? I need a lady massage, lool

Day 3

I got my new car... a 2007 Mazda 6! cool and better than that other crap... Today we decided to discover Ibn Batoota mall... so we went there for breaking the fast... We decided on Havana Cafe (thanks to =DxButterfly and *Omardxb for the suggestion!) and had a geat meal...

we then strolled through the mall and managed to cover ALL the courts: Egyptian, Persian, Indian, Tunisian... I really liked the style of the mall...We then drove to MOE after I got a call from *Omardxb that they are there in Costa Coffee... I went there and met with him, =Psy-Pro , and ~mtrais who all turned out to be great cool guys I then said my good byes and headed to Virgin Megastore on my way out... Davinci Code is out! Yay! Buy! Buy! I also got the new Evenscense CD and also "Lost in Translation" DVD because I LOVE that movie and lost the DVD a year back...

on the way out I noticed a poster about Eid parties... seems like a great combination! concerts by Elissa, Fadl Shaker, Nawal, Majed Mohandes, Hussain Jesmi, and Nancy Ajram!! Seems I may consider attending (though the hefty price tag of 600 - 1000 AED per person!!!), all will take place in Madinat Jumeirah during the 3 days of Eid...

There might be a big deviant meeting next Wednesday, I am really looking forward to meeting people from Deviant art...

Day 4

Well one thing I hate about hotels is the timings of the breakfast buffet! 6 to 10??? u gotta be kidding me! I barely woke up at 9:30 and dressed up like crazy only to find I arrived at 10:05 and no more breakfast!

So what did I do? I went back to sleep! Slept all the way till 4 PM... I then woke up and we went to Madinat Jumeirah because the smart girl who sold us the concert tickets yesterday sold us the tickets for Fadhl and Elissa instead of Jesmi and Nancy which we wanted! We exchanged the tickets then had lunch at The Noodle House.

After strolling in the Madinah, we went to MOE to catch "Omarat Yaaqobyan"... I was surprised NOTHING was censored from it, which is a good thing cause if you take anything out you will ruin the movie... But be warned, its not for sensitive viewers or kids!
The movie finished at 11 PM which only gave us 30 minutes to get to the Grosvenor House in time for our dinner reservation at the Buddha Bar. I was impressed by the overall mood and music... but theres nothing to justify the crazy prices!!! Sushi costs like its made of gold, main dishes range from 180 - 250 AED! I ended paying AED 320 for 6 peices of Maki and a Thai Chicken! But the show the bar tenders put on with the fire was sooo cool!

But one thing I really noticed.. I dont feel at all like I am in an Arab Islamic country (no offense)... The things you see around you just make you loose all feeling of being in an Islamic Country... I am really surprised how anyone can fast in Dubai except to stay at home!

Day 5

We woke up in time for the breakfast buffet then headed off to Hatta... On the way we stopped at a buggy rental and had a blast bashing dunes on beach buggies! Then our driver went kinda crazy (I think he had too much Red Bull) and took the Landcruiser for some hard core dune bashing! The guy was nuts!! I swear we were gonna tip over several times! But it was amazing!

We then took the road to the water hole in Hatta... it was an amazing view seeing cool fresh water (with fish!) in between the mountain rocks... lottsa people were swimming, some were BBQing, and others were just putting up their tents... I took loads of pics which I will submit later on ;-)

We then headed home and of corse we dosed off in the car from the exhaustion... Sleep at the hotel? There is no time for sleep when ur in Dubai! Took a shower and hit the road again, back to MOE and precisely to Armani Cafe where we met :develixile: and soon :devkarth: followed up (pics commin dont worry! lool). I loved the place, so chic and posh...

After we said bye to the guys we did a small shopping spree then headed to the Irish Village for dinner at my fave Italian Joint: La Vigna! Had amazing pasta and pizza then headed back to the hotel to call it a day... Time to leave is coming near :-(

Day 6

Today we overslept and missed our breakfast... we barely left the hotel at 4 PM and went to Ibn Batoota mall to get some gifts for relatives who wanted "3ooda" and we heard "Yaas" was one of the best... By the time we got there and finished our shopping it was almost 6... And I still had my suits to pick up from Ted Lapidius, so it seems I will not catch the dev meet today :-(

When I realized that, I thought we would make use of our stay in IBM so we saw "The Departed"... EXCELLENT movie which I recomend to see!! We then had lunch at Tony Roman's, I loved their steak and also their burger was to die for!
We then headed off to MOE to pick up my suits... I got SMSs from OmarDXB and MTrais (Both from Deviant Art) asking where I was and if I can make it... I tried to squeeze it in to see them at Johnny Rocket's after I picked up my suits but it was already 9:30 and I got a concert to get ready for! Sorry guys :-(

We reached the hotel, I showered, shaved and got dressed then we head towards Meena Salam for the concert!! We had trouble being seated at first cause poeple wont stick to their numbers... the opening singer (cant remember her name) was a disaster... her voice sucked and she only sang songs of other people... Then Nancy came on stage! I have to say I really enjoyed her performance, she has this kinda "style" and "spirit" on stage... around 2 AM it was time for the master Hussein Al-Jesmi! He brought down the roof with his amazing songs! Everyone went wild, dancing and jumping, men, women, bos, girls, all nationalities! He ended with Al-Shaki at 4 AM and we left after a wonderful evening! Dont worry, I got pics (very close, thanks to my 70-300 lense) and I will upload them soon ;-)

Wow I am dead tired... see ya guys...