Dubai in whY oh whY

[Pushka]

We stayed at Ibn Battuta Hotel.

 

[yohy?!]

I endorse this thread

 

[yld200]

We stayed at Ibn Battuta Hotel.

We had Friday brunch there on our second last day and the spread was amazing.

 

[Pushka]

We had Friday brunch there on our second last day and the spread was amazing.

They do Friday Brunch very well.

 

[yld200]

The next morning we went for a walk around the marina to find somewhere to have some Breakfast. While walking it started to rain a bit and got quite windy which maybe it feel really cold out. Most places seemed to be close or if they were open, looked dead. We finally found a place that looked like it had some life in it and had a seat.



The food here was quite nice, we ordered some pastry with cheese, humus and a breakfast platter which consisted of a bean dip, an omelette, some falafel and some cheese and tomato mix. The platter was supposed to have some sausage but they waiter said they ran out after he had brought the platter out, there was no offer to replace it with anything else.



That afternoon we spent some time with the family and then checked into the hotel we would be staying at for the rest of our trip – Marina View Apartments. We wanted to stay somewhere close to my sister but didn’t want to break the bank in doing so and this place did the job nicely. It’s located across the marina and a 15 minute walk takes you to JBR. I did a fair bit of research into hotel pricing around the area, looked at Air Bnb and apartments on TripAdvisor but this worked out to be the most economical for us. We paid around $180 aud per night where most places around JBR and the marina would set you back at least $300 aud per night. The rooms themselves were clean, had plenty of room and did the job for us essentially was a place for sleeping.

 

[yld200]

We made a reservation to have dinner that night in the Atlantis resort in a restaurant called Saffron which is a buffet style all you can eat with seafood being the special for this night. We paid 235 Dhs per head plus extra for drinks.
We caught a cab there a little early just to have a little wander around from what we could see this place seems very special, the entrance was so grand and stunning inside. We walked to the aquarium, down to the entrance of the water park and then made our way back to the east side of the hotel where Saffron is located.





I didn’t get to take many photos of the food but the spread was very impressive. There was a seafood section with prawns and oysters, the prawns I was impressed with as they were very mushy. There was a sushi and sashimi section, Indian food, Italian, various stir frys, dumplings and many more including a big desert station. I stuffed myself silly this night and I don’t regret one bit of it =)



On our way out I spotted a car in the valet area that was roped off, it was a bat mobile replica similar to the one used in Dark Knight – I asked one of the valet guys while we waited for a cab and he said that it belonged to a rich guest staying in their hotel from India.

We didn’t take any more photos outside because we were planning to come back to the water park in a few days time.

 

[yld200]

The next morning we woke up with a booking to go on a safari tour that afternoon, however when I looked outside the window and heard the thunder I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It was bucketing down outside and it just looked absolutely miserable - My wife and I went downstairs to the restaurant where they were serving breakfast and just had a coffee each, we just sat and observed the water. Because where we were sitting was kind of an alfresco area, water kept creeping in from the sides and it was only getting worse because it was pi**ing down.

This was our room flooding:


In front of the hotel:


We hung around the hotel till around 10:30-11 which is when the rain initially cleared up and walked to the marina mall down the road. We decided that after stuffing ourselves the night before we were finally ready for some food again and went to a place called Shakespeare for some bacon and eggs. I really enjoyed my breakfast option but wife didn’t like her steak sandwich.



While sitting there peacefully enjoying our late breakfast / lunch it started absolutely bucketing down again. Water was coming into this place from everywhere! From under the balcony doors, from the ceilings, along the inside of the windows, everywhere! It was all hands on deck trying to control the water coming in. We finished up our food and got out of there. They weren’t the only ones affected, the shopping centre lost power and the backup generators kicked in which seemed to take care of everything and no shops were affected excep t for the escalators which weren’t working. Wife went to the toilet and came out saying the toilets stunk because you couldn’t flush – the electric sensors on the toilet flush system wasn’t working and the sensor hand wash also wasn’t working. Big fail.

Anyways with the rain getting heavier we finally received confirmation that our safari wasn’t going ahead that evening. With nothing else to do we jumped on the metro and went to mall of emirates to bum around and spend some time.

We sat down and ate some food at Eataly, which for those playing it home is a replica of the New York food hall. The food here certainly did not disappoint. We had the 49 Dhs special which was your choice of a soup or salad as entree, pizza or pasta as main and a drink on the side. Pasta was pretty special and the pizza was massive which I couldn’t finish.



After a bit of a stroll we went back to the hotel and had a little nap. When we woke up from our nap we felt a bit pekish and went for a walk to the marina. It had stopped raining by this time but there were still massive puddles around and sections of road flooded but that didn’t stop us, we were on a mission. What did we find? Shake Shack was our destination. Again another replica burger joint from the US and it tasted pretty much like the original in America. I had a double pattie burger with fake bacon and wife had a chicken burger with cheese fries and a lemonade. The burgers were so good and totally worth it.



Another little quirk we picked up on the menu was that root beer was called ‘non-alcoholic root flavoured drink’.

 

[njba]

Hot towels in Y? What a nice touch.

I also think "non-alcoholic root flavoured drink" is very amusing.

 

[yld200]

Hot towels in Y? What a nice touch.

I also think "non-alcoholic root flavoured drink" is very amusing.

It is a nice touch actually.

Other places advertise a glass of grape with some of their meals.

 

[scruffy]

Looking forward to some Dubai tips.

Ditto....looking forward with interest to a laypersons take on a Dubai short holiday. I have a four day stopover locked in for the end of October this year.

 

[Pushka]

Ditto....looking forward with interest to a laypersons take on a Dubai short holiday. I have a four day stopover locked in for the end of October this year.

Aren't we all laypeople?

 

[yld200]

I should probably try and finish this TR