Dedicated to Vidhi and Abhishek
Chapter One: Sibling Love 😉
We have transited through Dubai multiple times over the years en route to India, but this year was the first time we decided to take a halt, for the sake of sibling love :). Although our stay was a short one, meeting my sister after a whole long year made it worth every bit. Needless to say, my son was excited to meet his “masi” (mom’s sister) and “masa” (mom’s sister’s husband) and I am glad we were able to get some family time before we got back to the grind.
Chapter Two: The “tall tower” attraction
My 4-year-old loves reading his big book about the world, and one of his favorite pages in the book is the one with a picture of “Burj Khalifa” – which he calls the “tall tower”. He was very excited about the Dubai trip because he knew he was going to visit the tallest tower in the world. And because Burj Khalifa is a bit much to pronounce, we just call it the “tall tower” in the house. Right from the first glimpses during the car ride home to watching it from my sister’s terrace to ascending in the fastest elevator to get to the 124th floor, it was the highlight of kiddo’s Dubai trip.
Chapter Three: Sand and water
Masa and masi wanted to bond quickly with N and they picked the perfect location for our first outing – the beach. Apart from sand and water, cherry on top of the cake was the attraction of finding sea shells on the beach. We also spotted plenty of folks kite surfing at the Jebel Ali beach. (Hoping I got the name right!)
Chapter Four: Meeting a friend after ages
Nothing like meeting a friend from school after years. I met up with a very close friend and her family after ages. Although we just had a few days in Dubai, I was glad we managed to pick a kid friendly activity for mine and her toddler. Dubai Safari had just opened, although we did not get tickets to the wild animal park, the kids had fun spotting some of the other animals.
Chapter Five: Being touristy
Since it was our first trip to Dubai, we had to have a bit of touristy flair, so signed up for the desert safari. It was indeed a full package – 15 minute off-roading adventure in the sand dunes, a camel ride, a horse ride, falcon on the hand, climbing up the mountains, watching the sun set, barbecue dinner and ending with belly dancing performances and a fire show. The fire show was a huge hit with the toddler. We were surprised he made through the 6 hour thing without fussing.
Chapter Six: Foodies and the philosophy of live to eat
Yes, there has to be mention about food, the diaries would be incomplete without that. My brother-in-law has a list of 10 restaurants to try out in Dubai, although we only went to one in that list, we did try and bunch of other things which are worth a mention here.
- The dessert that is famous in this desert land – Kanafeh
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Zafran tea (Saffron tea with a hint of cardamom) at Filli Cafe
Chapter Seven: Old town Dubai or say things that you miss out on because of the fear of those that can’t be named!
I know, I should have stopped at the title at Old town Dubai, but it’s a place beaming with feral felines and for those who have known me for a while might get a hint of what I am talking about. The plan was to visit old town, but I took a pass after a brief encounter with an old nemesis, namely the cat. Glad that my genius photographer captured a few classics for me to view 🙂
Chapter Eight: Something for the child in you
Be it the couple of hours spent at the shooting range or a January Christmas surprise or playgrounds and water fountains, or window gazing at the Dubai aquarium the trip was a perfect culmination to cover activities that made everyone happy.
Chapter Nine: Architecture Galore
It would be a shame if I didn’t mention the amazing structures and the skyline of Dubai. My memory fades me, and I don’t remember the names of a lot of buildings, but it is a photographer’s paradise and M would love to take a walking tour next time we are there!
Chapter Ten: Time Travel Paradox
Any of you readers want to provide time travel references? We’d love to revisit the wonderful time spent in Dubai with some of our favorites 😉 and a time travel machine would be very helpful 😀
To be continued…
P.S: Dubai Diaries – Second Edition will be published after our next trip with the duo. Date of publish has not been decided yet, for all I know the title could end up being something else too, depending on where we meet 🙂
Memoir's Galore 