so my friend Donessa finally spent the eid holiday to visit me here in Dubai. she lives in Qatar together with her husband and they’ve been telling me for the past 2 years now that they would love to spend a holiday in Dubai, now at last the plan has materialized (after 2 full long years).
before anything else, i would like to introduce my friend to all of you. this is Donessa:
she is one of those people (together with the SMC) who i would be willing to give one of my kidneys to if the need arises. anyhow, she was married last May to Eb, the most patient guy i’ve ever known (for being able to put up with Donessa’s mood swings). :p
together we will call them DonEb:
this Dubai tour will be their second honeymoon of some sort. but i doubt if they were actually able to have the honeymoon as i’ve given them a jampacked weekend of Dubai sightseeing and activities giving them no other options but to rest when they get back to the hotel at the end of the day. 🙂
so here’s the itinerary for DonEb in Dubai:
we started the first day very late as they were able to finish all the airport formalities after 2 hours and we got lost on the way to their hotel (thanks to me and my very good sense of direction). after having lunch at the Filipino restaurant Barrio Fiesta at Burjuman mall, our first stop was Souk Madinat Jumeira to get a view of the Burj Al Arab (the 7-star hotel) and to see the old-style Arabic markets, but well actually it’s a mall designed as an old-style souk to give you that feeling that you are actually in one of their markets without getting drenched in your own sweat. :p
next stop was Jumeira beach to get the full view of the 7-star hotel. it was an Eid holiday so the beach was packed with tourists and residents alike.
we then headed on to the Old Town Dubai to see Burj Khalifa (the tallest tower in the world), the musical fountain and to Dubai Mall to see the biggest aquarium in the world. (Dubai is bashful i know, yeah right!).
i was a bit disappointed because i was hoping that we will see the very famous “Time to Say Goodbye” number of this humongous musical fountain. but it played an arabic song when we were there which the couple already liked. anyhow, it was getting dark and the boyfriend was already waiting for us for dinner so I was not able to show them the aquarium inside Dubai mall.
off we went to Jules Bar to satisfy their cravings for pork (coming from Doha where pork is banned). we ordered crispy pata and sisig using my Entertainer vouchers to get the discount. haha! another classmate of ours from highschool met us up at the bar. booze were definitely consumed.
we called it a night at around 11pm, the guests were obviously tired from the trip and the tour. the boyfriend and I stayed back for a couple of hours more though at the bar since his friends came over. so who’s the great entertainer? :p
aquaventure was the destination for the second day, again we started the day late because of me. i managed to make Eb drive for me around Rashidiya area to look for the house that i was hoping to live in after i move out of the current flat, that’s a totally different and unrelated story but to make it short – i took advantage of Eb’s last few hours for his rent-a-car and made him drive all the way to Rashidiya for my own convenience. hehe. peace Eb!
after returning the car at the car rental office at the airport, we took the metro from Terminal 3 to Dubai Marina just to give them the Dubai Metro Experience (and of course save us the hassle of paying incredulous amount of taxi fare).
at aquaventure, i used the Entertainer voucher once again to get the buy one take one discount for the ticket which costs AED200 per person. woot woot! the waterpark was packed with Eid holiday makers and so lockers were no longer available. so i had to stay back to look after our bags as the couple rides and slides around the waterpark – which is absolutely fine since it’s my 3rd time to be there and frankly, i really don’t want to go thru all those slides once again which made me flash my non-existent boobs to total strangers. (click here to read the whole story of that flashing) we arrived at the waterpark at around 3pm and left at around 7pm. the queue for the cab was incredibly long so we managed to get to Jumeira Beach Residence at sometime close to 10pm. we ate at Coco’s to satisfy their steak cravings and used my staff discount this time. :p we called it a night by midnight for them to prepare for their desert safari for the next day, which is my 4-months late wedding gift for them. :p
here are some of the second day photos:
3rd day was for the desert safari, i didn’t go with them as i already had work that day but here are some of the photos from their safari trip:
i was not expecting them to contact me for anything after the safari as i’m usually dead-tired whenever i do one of those safaris, so i was surprised when Donessa sent me a facebook message inviting me to have a coffee. so off i went to Al Rigga to join them for coffee at 1130pm. haha!
the next day is their last day. i told them to go to Dubai mall to see the aquarium and they also went to Mall of the Emirates for the ski dubai. again, i was not with them since i already had work. boo hoo! but here are some of the photos:
i should have given them my buy one take one ticket vouchers to enter ski dubai and the aquarium. oh well! next time! :p
that ends the Dubai tour ala Noemi, i hope the couple enjoyed their trip and will be able to tour me around Qatar when i go and visit them. hehehehe.
