Unreal.

Yesterday I took my parents up to Dubai Mall for one last day trip before they head off home, after being away from Australia for close to six weeks. (They divided their time between the UAE and UK.)

The mall is okay and I do like going there, but it is too big with over 1200 shops under it's roof. It is okay if you know what shops you would like to visit and have a general idea where they are all situated, otherwise it can lead to a very tiresome and long day.

But myself, Lily, Mum and Dad weren't there really to shop. Okay, did a little shopping but we did go and take some photographs.

The Mall is situated at the foot of the Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world, which I have surely blogged about before. But with my camera in hand, this time I took some photos.

Below (panoramic shot) is the foot of the Burj on the left and then across to part of the Mall on the right.  All these buildings look out onto a massive man-made lake, whose bottom is tiled with bright blue tiles to make it look inviting any day of the year.

There is a bridge that connects the Mall with a Souk (Arabian market place), which is really lovely to look at.  Lots of intricate laid Mosaic tiles and the like, patterns carved into wood and Arabian lights swinging from the overhead part of the bridge...

When you stand on the bridge and turn to your left, you come face to face with the beautiful Burj Khalifa herself, a whole 828 metres (or 2717 feet for you old schoolers) in height.

It is one of those building you must see with your own eyes to believe.  It makes you wonder what the UAE has up it's sleeve for it's next world-record standing attempt doesn't it?

A Day Out

Up bright and early this morning, the four of us got in the car and headed up the road to Dubai Mall.

Up the 'Fashion Car park' we drove....  It is impossible NOT to feel carsick as you drive up the eight levels to the start of the car park...

Where we usually park, you end up quite near the biggest bookshop in the country (but it does feel like the biggest in the world), 'Book World'.  I snuck a piccie, you're not meant to take photographs in there.  I bought a couple of guide books, all ready for our holiday!

Outside the bookshop, we peered down to see other families playing on the lighted floor, three levels down.   It was hard to get Lily to move from that spot.  She loved the lights.

I quite like getting to Dubai Mall early, if anything to beat the crowds, like we did today.  This photo was taken at around 10:30am.  If it was a few hours later, the place would be pumping, and I'm not really one for crowds.  Especially in shopping malls.

And of course,  no visit to this particular mall is complete without seeing the Aquarium.  Our girls love it.

Monet thinks a visit to this mall, actually any Dubai mall, is not complete without going to choose her own bag of sweets.  *Argh*  MrL and I usually take turns to help Monet pick out her sweets, today it wasn't mine.  ;P

And speaking of sweets, when Lily starts to get restless in the pram/stroller, it only takes a little playing with her big sister for her to forget her worries of being strapped in.

Today we picked up some bargains - though I didn't spy anything I liked (think I'm getting fussy) in the clothing department, Monet scored a couple of real bargain pieces from Pumpkin Patch, as it is Summer Sale Time here in the UAE.  Funky dude.

That was our day out.  What did you get up to on the first day of your weekend?

Name Up In Lights? Not quite, but close.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, might remember this shot, taken in April of 2008, when we visited London...

Yep, Monet's name - B I G   P R I N T. I remember how thrilled the three of us were when we spotted it, right where we were to meet my sister after she finished work.

I never did get Monet to stand underneath 'Rue Monet' in Giverny in France when we visited that month (damn! Must go back to do that!), but I did get to take her photo in her namesake's garden.  A special memory for (at least) me.

Monet standing on 'The' bridge, made famous by Claude Monet, in his Japanese  Themed Garden

So last week, when visiting Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, I suggested Monet stand next to the 'Monet & Co' store sign.  How could we not?  With a bit of cropping, here's the photo...

No, we didn't buy any jewellery or a handbag. Before time, I'm pretty much guessing that we will, for name's sake. ;P

(Gee this girl get's around, these three photos in this post are taken in London, Paris and Dubai! Lol!)

Ski Dubai

Last week MrL and I decided that it was about time we took Monet to Ski Dubai. So on a 44 degree day, we did.  Today.

Miss Lily was pretty much petrified of the place, thanks to some gentleman who thought it might be a good idea to throw a snow ball at the window, where the general public can look into the snow park, above her head.  From that moment on, she screamed whenever her and I went near the big planes of windows that look into the 'play park'.  Thank goodness our plans didn't include her or I paying to get in! (Under 3s aren't allowed in anyway)

I did manage to get Lily to stick around in the stroller long enough to see her father and sister enter the park.  (It did help that I bought some soft MandM-laced American cookies.)

Lily and I didn't stick around for too long, it was all too much for her and she promptly feel asleep for a good 90 minutes in her stroller, whilst I was browsing (for bargains - of course!) at H&M.

MrL rang after about an hour to say that they had had enough.  I was (very) surprised to hear that Monet had been on the 'bob-sled' ride - those things go damn fast and she's not one for fast rides!  They tobogganed and basically enjoyed their experience in the cold (-4 degrees Celsius) brrrr brrrr snow in the middle of the desert.

(Have to mention too that we met up beforehand with an old friend who was visiting on business with her youngung (same age as Lily with the same blond locks - oh she was gorgeous!) and husband - very lovely to see a face from, not only Australia, but our home town! Thanks C.)

Today's Outing

Any ideas where I took Kimbofo today?

Here are some clues - it houses a big indoor Aquarium...

...which is opposite a massive 'Sweet Shop' (check out the Lolly-Pop Tree)...

There's a massive indoor waterfall....

The place makes the 19 month old quite happy when she knows there are hot chippies on the lunch menu...

...and sits at the foot of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Answer: Dubai Mall.

(It also houses a M A S S I V E bookstore which the book-loving older sister of myself could've spent all day in, given half the chance!)

Proud Parent Moment

I'm actually liking the eldest being six point five years old.

It is a good age. MissM's tantrums are now further and further between, you can have proper conversations, she can swim independently, she can take responsibilty for stuff, helps out when she can (ie. is more than happy to hang out the washing for me before school), knows what she does and does not like, is very good at playing with her sister and now can read chapter books to. her. self. (LOVE, love, love that!)

It's not to say that MissM is an angel - she's far from it at times and it's not to say that MissM always acts her age, she literally does act her shoe size! (She's a UK size 2 - big feet our girl and currently stands at around 130cm - she's going to be one tall girl)

The 5 year age difference between my girls for us is perfect. MissM is a great role model and teaches her little sister things like "when you touch this button on the remote, it changes the channel", "if you keep asking mum over and over and over again for something to eat, she'll cave in and give you something" and "when you touch the iPhone screen you can watch videos of yourself or of Telly Tubbies"...

The coin dropped quite some time ago with MissM and her reading. She has always shown an interest in books (which MissL is starting to now) and I've always read to her, practically every night of her life. (I now give myself Thursday and Friday nights off from that duty!)

When my parents visited last year, my mother bought MissM a 'Junie B Jones' book which they read together. A couple of months ago we noticed in Borders a whole section of Junie B chapter books so bought the first couple, which I read to her. When they were finished I bought her a couple more, in which we shared the reading. I'd read a page, then she would read a page. Last week MissM spent some of her pocket money on a new Junie B novel. On the way home from Dubai (where we bought it) I did not hear a peep out of her. As we pulled into the driveway MissM proudly announced "I'm up to page 46!" She had been sitting in the back seat reading quietly to herself. Whoo-hoo!!

She raced inside, sat on the couch and quietly continued reading until she had read all 80-90 odd pages! "I just love reading" she told me. =)

The following day, she read two whole Junie B Jones novels to herself, in her bedroom!! Awesome. And best thing is, the words are actually sinking in, as I asked her what the books were about.

I've been waiting for this day to happen and it seems as if that day has come.

Now wait until I tell you about the book she wrote and illustrated!

We live in a house, a very big house in Abu Dhabi....

Friday was shopping day for us.  

We wanted to hit some shops, as you do.  Our destination was 150k's up the road at Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world, located under the Burj Dubai.  The past couple of times we have been there it was still in the process of opening (shop variety wise) but when we pounded the mall this time, we found most shops were open.  Gotta love that.

On the way 'up' to Dubai we got pretty excited to see some camels wandering on the side of the road (behind a fence) and even on the way home we saw more.  Rather funny as it was the first ones we had seen like that (one after the other), especially coming from Australia where we would always see, yet still get excited, about seeing wild Kangaroos on the side of the road. 

Monet and I both love the aquarium at the Mall - you can pay to go through the aquarium itself (unsure of the price) but otherwise you can stand behind barriers and see the giant glass wall with coral and fish.  It is pretty awesome to see for yourself.

Lyndon has been quite keen lately to purchase a gift for himself - a train set, so he and Monet could enjoy together, but he didn't see one that 'ticked all boxes' so instead he got a Wii Fit.  How come no one has ever told us about how good they are before??  I swear I hadn't laughed so hard in ages with both Monet and Lyndon doing exercise.  (Mind the shite quality of this photo - I was trying to quickly take one on the sly...)

There is one section where you can go jogging and seeing Monet 'jog' (ie sprint) on the spot was too much for me.  Monet and Lyndon too doing yoga and exercise was amusing but they enjoyed themselves.  It will be great to use for me once baby has entered the world.  (It is recommended not to use when pregnant, well especially 33 weeks along like myself)

Back to Dubai Mall...

I was rather happy to see that a H&M store had opened (you should know by now how much I like H&M, great prices!) and that they basically had most of their store at 50% off.  Monet and #2 gained a few items (so cute) but I'm leaving clothe shopping for moi a bit further along the track.  

I did however purchase a few of my favourite little cookbooks and I lashed out and bought myself some new shoes...

How could I resist those little (well, not little) numbers?  Too cute I thought.  

We had a nice day out and the evening was topped off with us each enjoying an Export Quality Four & Twenty Aussie Meat pie for dinner!  You have no idea how good they taste when you aren't in the country of origin!  (We have a box of 24 which we got off the Dubai Dingos AFL club, located here in the UAE.)

One last thing, Monet made my day today by announcing that this is her favourite song.  She must be taking after me after all!  I don't even care that the song is 14 years old.  It is Blur and that what counts!

Dubai Stay

We spent a night in Dubai on Friday.  We lashed out at on a night's accommodation in a two bedroom apartment in a high rise building on Dubai's main strip, Sheihk Zayed Road, a road that runs straight through Dubai's heart at 14 lanes.  The buildings there are magnificent.

From all our windows we could see the highest building in the world, the Dubai Burj.  (It felt a long way from our hotel room we had in Melbourne back in October, when we were excited to have a view of the Eureka Tower.)

On Friday we spent a little time in both the Emirates Mall and at Dubai Mall before checking into our room.  We spent a bit of time wandering the section of Sheihk Zayed Road we were staying on and we were in awe of the tall buildings which line the road.  

Yesterday after breakfast in a French Cafe, we drove along the main beach road in Dubai, which takes you past the magnificent Al Arab Burj Hotel.  No matter how many times we see the building, our jaws still drop when we spy it.  It is a magnificent looking structure.  There were a few helicopters buzzing around the top of the building, looking like they were going to land on the famous heli-pad but we never did see one land.  

We didn't stop there though, our plan was to have a little closer look at the Atlantis Hotel located on the end/top of Palm Island.

It was very busy there but worth the stop to go and have a little sticky beak.  Unfortunately you couldn't get inside the hotel (not even the foyer) due to it being 'for guests' only, which is fair enough because there were a lot of people milling around.  You do get to see the little shopping area, where the ceiling is truly fabulous...

There is an adventure/water park there, which looks like a lot of fun which we may do sometime down the track.  

We made our way home via the new (but rather ordinary) Dubai Marina Mall.  The view from there was rather cool though.  (I could handle living in one of those apartments.)

That was how we spent both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Rather memorable, wouldn't you say?  This morning Monet had me up not long after 5:30am, so I am feeling rather exhausted already.  *phew* Lucky Easter Bunny made an appearance here leaving Chocolate Eggs near the front door.  Happy Easter everyone.

To see more of my photos of our Dubai weekend, I'll be posting them onto my Flickr account soon....

A Dubai Weekend

We decided on Friday morning to head north to Dubai for the weekend (remembering the working week here runs from Sunday to Thursday.)  We booked a room at the Premier Inn and off we went.  Monet was very excited - for her the prospect of a night away in a hotel is like Christmas for her!  (She's very hotel savvy, let me tell you!)

But before the hotel room beckoned, we had decided to visit Dubai Mall, which lies underneath the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world.  The Mall itself is home to over 2000 shops and restaurants and is one of the largest shopping malls in the world.  It seriously was an amazing place.  The below photo was taken before the crowds hit.

Where else could you find one of the world's biggest bookshops? (It kept going on and on and on....)

An ice rink?

An indoor waterfall?

An aquarium? (Now, that was amazing!)

It honestly blew us away but it is so big it is actually too big.  There is still a lot of shops to be opened in the near future so honestly, if you can't find what you were looking for here, you must have your eyes shut.  

By the time we had lunch (in the most amazing food court ever!), walked around, did a touch of shopping (not much but I did buy a couple of good cookbooks!) and on our way to find our hotel, it was past 4:30pm.  

Dubai roads seem to be a series of ring roads, on and off ramps, bridges and roundabouts.  After (finally) finding ourselves heading in the right direction I caught this snap of the Burj Tower from a distance with the sun setting...

The Premier Inn was great (we'll stay there again down the track I am sure).  It was relatively inexpensive, had a great little bar and a restaurant there and a coffee shop.  The room was not too dissimilar from the one we stayed at in London (which gave us good feeling - same prints on the walls and everything Lol!!) 

After breakfast in the morning we headed to the Emirates Mall for a wander around there.  We left a little while later to head home.  (Over shopping, but surprisingly, shoppers didn't annoy me, which usually happens!) 

Next time we head to Dubai, we have decided we'll go out onto Palm Island and explore some of the amazing architecture on foot, rather than doing drive-bys.  

Shopping Mall City? Construction City? Sim City? Yes, That's It! Sim City!

Dubai.

Is there anywhere else on earth quite like this city?  At the moment, I think not.  It blew us away.  And quite literally too, but more on that in a minute.  

I have never been to such a place where construction is everywhere.  E. V. E. R. Y. W. H. E. R. E.  Everywhere you looked you were either seeing road barriers, construction workers and labourers or cranes.  So many cranes.  Lyndon was in heaven.  

It took us about an hour on a straight (straight) road which basically took us literally into the center of Dubai.  We parked the car (on good advice) at Mall of the Emirates and browsed the shops for a good 90 minutes.  Mall of the Emirates is the place where they have 'Ski Dubai' - 400 meter ski slope indoors.  Amazing.  We were also happy to find a Borders, a Campers Shoe Store and also not one, but two H&M stores!  (Love H&M!)  

From the Mall we decided to catch one of those Big Bus Tours (also on good advice!) as it would save Lyndon driving and we could get on and off where we wanted and see all the famous sites (and some sights they were!)  We sat up the top and bloody hell, was it windy up there!  

The first thing we spied when we were on the tour was this...

The Burj Dubai. Photographs don't quite capture the enormity of it all.  This is the tallest building in the world, standing currently at like 850 meters high.  (I thought the Eureka in Melbourne was tall - but no, it isn't when compared to this.)  My sister looked over at me and said "Its like something out of Sim City!" and she was right.  (We were and probably still are, big Sim City fans!)   After she said that, low and behold, around the corner we spied this scene - directly out of Sim City...

The bus tour took us to about eight different malls (no kidding - Shopping Malls are everywhere in Dubai - no wonder they say it is Shopping Heaven here!)  and then we finally got to see up close, what I had been waiting to see in the flesh (for so very long), the Burj Al Arab Hotel.

What a stunning landmark.

We hopped off at the Souk Madinat, close to the Burj Al Arab to find some food and a drink.  The Souk was lovely with lots of stalls in a grand building and lots of restaurants on the waters edge.  

Back on the bus, it took us down to 'Atlantis on The Palm'.  It was here when I turned to Lyndon and said "This place is effing crazy!"  I was lost for words.  The Palm Island, fully man made is simply amazing.  It even had a deep tunnel we entered to reach the 'Atlantis', which I still can't get my head around.  A tunnel on a man-made island.  How does that work? To see this newly opened hotel was jaw-dropping...

It was like nothing I have ever seen before.  Just amazing. 

The bus took us back to where we had taken off from five hours prior.  

The drive home back down the road was easy, once we could navigate the road getting from going north to south (lack of signage!) but we got home a little over an hour later, with our minds ticking over what we had seen and done in Sim City.  

I'm looking forward to going back.  

(My sister left this morning - I suspect the next time we see her it will hopefully be in her stomping ground not too far down the track!)