Dubai

Four days. Dubai. With Miss Mini. WHAT an experience.

My friend invited me to go with her on a 'business trip' to Dubai. Whilst her business partners were there for their meetings, we were there to most definitely chill.

A small nap upon arriving at the hotel was absolutely essential due to the previous day's all-nighter, filled with the memory of American Alley, nice cars and hilarious conversation about banana bags, 15K and 'saamaan'.

After freshening up, we were picked up from the hotel by a jeep that would take us to the desert safari that Miss Mini had booked for both ourselves and her very cool business partners/ friends. We were also joined by a lovely serbian couple who quickly became a part of our mini family, joining in the entertainment that asians seem to bring with them everywhere they go.

The desert is absolutely beautiful. The soft undulating planes, unending waves that are gently rippled by the winds. There's something magical about the place, as though they have their own secrets, always changing, always hiding the tracks you leave behind. I have this weird fascination with sand. Give me any stretch of golden dust, be it in a glass bottle or a replication through the salt and grit they sprinkle on icy roads, and I will be transfixed by the sight. Perhaps this is what living in London does to a person, especially when you're wary to hit the beaches in a society where nakedness is seen as the norm. But whatever it is, I'm in love with it. The sand, not the nakedness of course.

Dune bashing was absolutely amazing! Whilst I was begging the guy to make it last longer and to do the twisty crazy drive on the dunes again and again, I had the two ladies girls to my right with their eyes closed, holding hands and shrieking.. I just sat there hoping the driver would listen to me instead, which he did :D

After arriving at the campsite just in time for iftar, we decided to forego the camel-riding and the sand boarding and sat down to shawarma, pakoras and samosas to break our fast with. Once we were slightly refreshed with food in our tummies, we took a look around and found there to be various things on offer, complementary to the package we paid for of course. There was henna tattooing, a chance to play dress up in thobes and abayas (for the non arabs/muslims) and stalls selling belly dancing outfits and bottled sand art. The standard shisha section seemed to be quite popular, especially as the arab and asian men seemed to be intrigued by these scantily clad europeans and americans trying out their first ever puffs on the pipes of the hubbly-bubbly.

The bbq buffet was delicious, made moreso by sitting at the japanese style tables, something that I've always wanted to do. Entertainment whilst we finished off our food had been toned down for ramadan and so instead of bellydancing, there was a man who whirled and twirled with umbrellas, skirts and flashing fairy lights! Quite a memorable act indeed!!

Whilst on our way back to the hotel (with the driver telling us how the prince himself is an elephant and therefore it is the only animal that he himself does not own), we decided the night was far too young to turn in for the day, and so picked up the rest of the crew and made our way to Madinat Jumeira. The outside seating area had its own charm with the bronzed lights and the lake below, especially in the mild warmth of the night. As though in its own separate niche of Dubai, the whole place had this quaint feel about it, a quietly bustling area with an aura of a higher-class calm. However, the numerous shops that were dotted around selling kashmiri embroidered items made me feel right at home.

Upon deciding that we didn't want to eat at Madinat Jumeira, we found ourselves in one of the restaurants on the promenade. I wasn't too interested in the food there and so myself and Miss Mini went for dessert at a nearby italian restaurant to indulge ourselves with warm brownies and vanilla ice cream, the real stuff and not the likes of Wall's.

Deciding to skip on the 2am walk, we went to sleep, ready to wake up early and check into a second hotel, one that was up to Miss Mini's high standards, and not the embarassment of a five star hotel that our current one claimed to be.

(Un)fortunately, God either thought we needed to rest a little more or that we would get up to no good with our own set of wheels, and so we were unable to collect our booked out Mercedes C class until midnight due to some difficulties in company policy. It's quite amusing to see a petulant and annoyed Miss Mini, especially when her sweet-talk seemingly held no effect on the unamused lady serving us.

However, after a grateful nap back at the hotel we managed to make our way to Dubai mall and broke our fast with Bertollis' ferrero rocher ice cream; a modern twist on the sunnah of dates, but at least it complied with being something sweet! However, for actual food, we had a spectacular meal with Miss Mini's cousin and her husband, made more so by the incredible fountain-shows that punctuated our dinner every half an hour.

After free-tasting caramelised nuts for dessert, long stays in g1 gallery and conversations with a kashmiri shop-owner and subsequent politely declined invitations, we were more than ready to pick up our car from the airport.

Freedom in hand, we decided to make our way to a suhoor majlis and took our seat amongst the bored, hungry and affluent late-chillers of Dubain society. As Miss Mini eats less than a baby still on breast-milk, I ended up consuming the entire lobster platter to myself, along with the hoummus and odd-tasting dessert. The other orders were all hers to take, including conversation with the lovely waiter who stood disillusioned by the unislamic manners of the customary attending arabs. How he dealt with the attitudes that comes with a society driven by the lust of their wealth, I don't know. May Allah give him patience..

The natural choice to make after the majlis was to go to the beach (I basically wanted to walk in the sand again), and it being 4am stood in our favour for the empty roads and cool night air. Despite getting lost and having to be shown the way, it was a surreal experience once we got there. Those moments are something I can't ever forget. Sitting on an empty beach looking out to the sea, the dark blue of the never-ending sky filling me with awe and the warmth of the sand reminding me this is real. For me, this will always be the epitome of true beauty. When it comes to the skies and the sea, something in me just stops. It's as though there's a magic that surrounds them that doesn't let me breathe, because if I dare breathe, it will disappear. How can such beauty exist? It is a power I dare not understand.

Leaving behind crushed seashells as proof of our presence there, our short wading time in the water brought along plenty of sand for a free ride as our Merc endured our salted clothes.

The next day saw us awake surprisingly early and we embarked on our journey to the souks. We quickly discovered that without Miss Mini in her Swarovski clad abaya, and my ability to hold a conversation with the shop assistants in urdu (which seemed to shock them more than anything), I could haggle prices down to any level that took my fancy . It was a liberating experience overall bar one incident which has taken me until now to get over. Let's just say that people need to learn when 'no' really means 'no' and not the asian version of an invitation.

After looking over the minimal goods we'd bought and trying to figure out where our money seemed to have disappeared, we checked out of the hotel and went over to the Arabian Ranches, a model town in which Miss Mini's cousin resides. However, our original intention to chill somehow turned into a sleep marathon and Miss Rover found us to be slightly dazed when she arrived to pick me up just in time for iftar.

Whilst Miss Mini had a flight to catch, I was welcomed into Miss Rover's family in true style with their knack for making me blush within the first few minutes of any conversation I held.

We decided to round off the night by stopping by Atlantis hotel on Palm Island. More interesting than the large aquarium and the beautiful corridors, were the ice cream men who were picking up scoops of ice cream, tossing them high in the air and catching them again in the scooper! What a sight! Another transfixing moment it seems. And apparently in America, this service comes along with a song!

My last day started off with Dubai Mall again, and after making a large detour around the area that housed the eagerly awaiting Kashmiri man, we managed to find ourselves outside the world's largest pyrex panelled aquarium (or something like that), situated directly opposite a huge candy store <3

After praying in an empty mosque, we drove down to 'old' Dubai and the underground museum that was predominantly filled with chinese tourists. It was quite cool, in both senses of the word, but I quickly got bored and wanted to be above ground again. We therefore re-entered the living world by way of a lace shop and a nice iranian man, who brought out his better goods once I told him my father used to speak farsi :)

After a quick look around Madinat Jumeira for the last time, seeing Burj al Arab from afar and taking in the sight of all the beautiful cars on the road, we picked up up some cake from Shakespeare cafe and made our way back home for my last iftar there. 

I had an amazing time with dear Miss Mini, and for that, I do thank thee <3