Dubai : Day 2

In the morning we went to the swimming pool but we were too early...hehehe. After breakfast we took a taxi to Souk Naif. Though it was only 11 am but it was scorching hot! The old Souk Naif was burnt down and the new one was not as cheap as the old market. I went there with only one thing in mind, to buy jubah. But the kids were not cooperating, they whined, they cried and in general they 'hassled' me. 

Up to the point that I just grabbed two jubah and just left. We tried to find a famous tailor, Phulwani but didn't find it after walking around Souk Naif. When the whining got to be too bothersome, we decided to take a taxi to Lulu hypermarket... to find corelle. We were unlucky because the taxi driver was unfamiliar with the road and instead of dropping us at Lulu, he dropped us somewhere behind Lulu.

At first we thought we could just walked there but later found out that it was a long walk and the kids were 'melting' under the hot sun. My husband was kind enough to find a taxi while we waited in an air-conditioned home depot. When we finally arrived in Lulu, we hit the food court first. We had chinese food.

Later, I went inside the supermarket to find corelle. They had quite a good selection. A 16-piece square set cost only AED269. I grabbed one set, just for the sake of having one...hehehe. If I'm not mistaken mine was 'pretty pink'. Not only corelle was cheap, other kitchenware was also quite cheap. Branded items like 'prestige', 'tefal' were really cheap. A tefal big pan cost only AED89. But since I already have pots and pans (which were more than enough to cook with), I didn't buy any. From Lulu we went back to the apartment to pray.  

One of the interesting sights around Dubai...

In the afternoon, we went to Emirates mall for a movie. Just another leisurely activity for the kids. I was gobsmacked when I learnt that a movie ticket cost AED30 each, including small kids like Amir...sigh. Since they were so excited to go and watch Ice Age 3 again, we relented. Inside we ate cheese nachos...delicious! The inside of the cinema was not that grand, it looked like one of our older cinema complex.

Amir, sleeping...

Kak Long and Hadi enjoyed it...

He woke up...

After the movie, we wanted to window shop. But Hadi was adamant, he wanted to go home...sigh. Not shopping in Dubai?!! But I realised that we're using a lot of money on basic things actually. A big chunk of the money was spent on food and transportation. A minimum taxi fare would be AED10. We went to carrefour again to buy some food supply to bring back to Sudan. We mostly bought frozen food like cheese sticks and sausages for the kids. In Sudan, those luxuries were really expensive, easily double the price from Dubai. I also bought lemons because it's a rare sight in Khartoum.

In Emirates Mall...

Hadi was angry...hehehe

We came back, prayed maghrib and went swimming again...sigh... These kids were so energetic except when I was about to discover the 'true meaning' of Dubai...hehehe. Anyway, that was the end of our second day in Dubai.

They were having fun...

Amir, saying 'cheese'!

Dubai : Day 1

We woke up around 10.30 am and I prepared breakfast using our supply. The first place that we wanted to go to was the Ski Dubai inside the Mall of the Emirates which was very near our apartment. After zohor, we went there and the first thing that we noticed that the mall was huge! Hehehe...

First we head towards the food court for lunch. I ordered Indian food and was given something like a remote. When the food was ready the thing would beeped. I thought it was a very cool idea...hehehe. The kids had fast food of course. Another thing that I noticed was that food was expensive in Dubai. 

The 'thing'...

Next we went to the shoe mart to buy shoes for the kids. My husband and I also bought shoes for us because we thought that in order to enter the Ski Dubai, shoes were needed. The kids shoes doubled as their school shoes as well. Anyway, when we went to buy the tickets to Ski Dubai, we discovered that it was very expensive but the attire would be provided for us (jackets and boots). One adult ticket cost AED 90 and 80 for a child. 

I knew it was a bit steep but the kids were so excited and their excitement was priceless. We didn't buy any mittens for them because we thought that it wasn't that cold and their jackets would suffice. 

They're rearing to go...

When we entered the arena, we were hit by the cold temperature. It was -3 degrees. Soon my husband said that he couldn't feel his ears...hehehe. The area was not that big but I think it's good for teenagers and adults because they had skiing facilities. The play area for the kids was not that big. Though I believed they enjoyed themselves.

When we first entered... Amir kept on wanting to touch the snow...

One of her dreams realised!

Walking was a bit difficult...

My cute spaceman! hehehe...

We climbed up the stairs and we could see the slopes behind them...

Hadi...

Aliah...

Amir...

Within an hour we were already so cold that our teeth were chattering. We let the kids play for another half an hour then we decided to call it quits. Their faces, ears and hands were pink with cold...and I wish I could bring them somewhere to play in real snow...hehehe. Now at least Kak Long wouldn't be so jealous of me when she looked at my old pictures when I was a student...hehehe

As a momento...

They're beginning to get tired...

Kak long, satisfied...

From there we went to carrefour to buy some supply. Then we went back home and went to the swimming pool at the roof. They were so happy to be able to play in the water. After that I cooked them dinner and later we relaxed. The water in the apartment was so hot, even when we used the cold water, it was scalding hot! But we were lucky because the fridge was so huge that it could fit in all our stuff from the boxes, all the murtabak, pau, sotong balls etc. 

Rose Garden Apartment, Dubai...

Instead of going straight to Khartoum, we broke the journey in Dubai for a few nights. I booked the Rose Garden Apartments for 3 nights but since we arrived in the early morning of the 5th, we called the hotel to put us up for another night. 

We arrived in Dubai during Subuh and while we were waiting at the carousel, I started a conversation with another traveller, Nor Hidayah who was also working for Petronas but stationed in Tukmenistan. She's on her way to Abu Dhabi to catch an Etihad flight back to Tukmenistan.

We also decided to leave some of our luggages at the airport. We had a total of 11 pieces of luggage including the stroller and we left 5 pieces at the storage area. It cost about USD 10 perday/per piece. It's better than bringing everything to the apartment and using two taxis.

We arrived at the apartment in Barsha around 6 am. We had to pay AED71 for the taxi. I booked a two-bedroom apartment and was glad that it was very spacious and comfortable. I forgot to take pictures on the first day because we were very tired and just wanted to sleep. The pictures below were taken on the last day, hence the mess...hehehe

The apartment was quite impressive with spacious rooms, big kitchen, two flat screens tv, a big fridge, a washing machine and even a dishwasher! Even my husband was impressed...hehehe. The kids loved it because there's a bathtub in their bathroom. I chose the apartment because it provided free wi-fi (figures, huh?!! hehehe), but we were unlucky because during our stay there they had a problem with their wi-fi...sob, sob.

Soon, everyone fell asleep...

The Rose Garden Hotel Apartments, Barsha...

The kids room...

The spacious kitchen...

The washing machine...

Our bathroom...

The sitting area...the dining table was behind this sofa...

While waiting...

When we were going down, Hadi started crying. We were a bit confused of what was the reason. Finally I discovered that he initially thought that we're going to the McD not to the departure hall?!! Hehehe, the more he cried, the more we laughed! We tried telling him that there would be drinks in the lounge but he refused to stop crying, so we just let him be... hehehe

He was inconsolable!

Kak long, enter-frame...hehehe

He finally stopped crying when we reached the Emirates Business Lounge. As usual we sat at our favourite table, near the food...hehehe. The kids scampered to get their favourite drinks. We also discovered that our flight was at 2.20 am, another 2 hours of waiting...sigh...

When we got tired of sitting at the dinner table, we sat at the sofa. While the kids were amusing themselves, I blogged...hehehe, well... every available internet connection counts, right?!! At least, the kids were not that noisy less they disturbed the other travellers.

Amir...

Dunking their biscuits in the drinks...

Macam biskut mayat, jer...hehehe

At KLIA...

After isyak we started our journey to KLIA, around 9.15 pm. We arrived about half an hour later. I was really happy to see that Kak Arah, Along Zali, Kak Normah and Abang Sham were already there. Soon Mummy, Daddy and Angah's family arrived. Not long after that Ema, Zali and their kids and also Mamud arrived with some of our stuff. Mamud was supposed to bring the matrix back to Rawang.

The kids were playing happily with their Mak Mah, Cik Sham, Baba and Mama...hehehe. My husband complained that when he was going back to Sudan without us, nobody seemed to bother...hehehe. Jealous ler tu...

I was busy chatting that I didn't realised my name was called at the counter. It seemed that as a family, we were allocated 200kg worth of baggage. Ours was only about 140kg...hehehe. My eyes lighted up, more shopping to be done in Dubai! 60kg, in fact! Hehehe...

We thought the flight was before 1 am, so we decided to go in early as the others were working the next day. I was really happy that our family and friends came to send us off. Thank you, everyone! Just enjoy the pictures!

Orang2 Rawang...hehehe

Hadi and Amir showing off their toys to Mak Mah...

Kak Arah and Along taking pictures...

Wrestle-mania...hehehe

Having fun...

Ema and Zali, thank you guys!

Kak Arah, Mummy and Kak Normah...

Aliah, enter-frame!

We were quite noisy...

Ema and all her boys...

About to take our leave...

The son was definitely bigger than the father?!! Hehehe...

Aliah was reluctant to leave her Tok...

Still playing...

On our way down...

Bye family and friends! See you next year!

Finally, a hair-cut...

After Asar, we left the boys with their cousins while the three of us went to get our hair cut. At first my husband left us at a malay salon but when we went upstairs, the shop was closed. We had to call my husband to come and get us even though he had arrived at his barber's shop. 

We walked towards the Penang Village but when my husband came, he brought us to another salon next to Jasima's. We were lucky because we didn't have to wait long for our turn. Why did we rushed to get a hair cut? Because we do not know where to get it done in Sudan...hehehe... and I'm definitely not going to suffer with a long hair during the summer!

My hairdresser was young but such a perfectionist. I had to be patient for more than half an hour for her to finish. It's just a hair cut for God's sake! We do have a flight to catch on the very same day! Anyway, she finished around six but my husband who came to get us had to wait while she blew dry my hair as it was a wet cut...Finally, we're coming back to Khartoum with new hair cuts...hehehe

Aliah's waiting for her turn...

Aliah's hair...