A party in my bedroom while I was gone

There was a weather advisory, so at first we just camped out in the hotel room.

I wasn’t about to get wet or blown away.

But then late afternoon, the weather started looking better so Pokin decided we should walk to the Dubai Mall.

The night before, PoOn asked Pokin about the Waldorf stuffed animals.

“What Waldorf stuffed animals?” Pokin asked.

“Just ask front desk,” PoOn said.

So anyway she went up to front desk and told them her sister wanted to know about the Waldorf stuffed animals.

The hotel staff had basically no idea what she was talking about.

“I don’t know,” Pokin said “at the other hotels like Conrad in HK they had these stuffed animal bears.”

“We sometimes have welcome gifts, is that what you want?”

“I have no idea,” Pokin repeated again. “Whatever you find sounds great.”

“We’ll see what they can do,” front desk answers.

Anyway we go to the Dubai mall, walk around, see some sharks, walk around some more, see the Dubai Fountain show, and then head back. I deliberately left Peep behind.

Peep” he says.

I should have known that Peep always gets himself into trouble. I come back and there’s a party going on in the room.

“What is wrong with you Peep?” I glare.

Peep, says Peep.

And there on the chair is a party full of stuffed animals, none of which are Waldorf stuffies.

Our doorbell rings. It’s Prashant, our housekeeping attendant with a note. “I hope you like the animals,” he said.

Turns out they sent someone out from the hotel to fetch these, because we were asking for them.

I ended up sleeping on the couch while Peep continued to hang out with those pink monsters. Ulgh.

Well PoOn is getting a bounty!

Dubai in a day

Got up bright and early for some breakfast at the Waldorf. Pretty good spread.

Then it was time for our blitz tour. We weren’t sure what to see so Nicholas booked a 1 day driving tour.

Here’s everything we hit –

Dubai Marina
Souk Madinat
Palm Jumeirah
Atlantis
Burj Al Arab
Jumeirah Beach
Jumeriah Road
Carpet store upsell stop (*not advertised)
Jumeriah Mosque
Dubai Mall
Dubai Aquarium
Dubai Skating Rink
Burj Khalia
Old Dubai Spice Souk
Fragrance store upsell (*not advertised)
Spice and tea store upsell (*not advertised)
Gold Souq

Even though we booked a private tour, there were a lot of forced upsell stops where our guide just disappeared for a smoke. After the first carpet stop, which we insisted on leaving early, we asked the guide to not take us to any more forced sales stops. Yet he did it two more times at a perfume and spice place. Disappointing for the price point of $700 for two people + bear, but we got a taste of Dubai.

Visibility wasn’t super great because of the high winds, but it’s supposed to rain the next day so good to get out today. After a day driving around, we ended up at the Dubai Mall/ Burj Khalifa, where I got to see sharks up and close. Closer than we did swimming in the Maldives! I would have been scared if they got this close. No sharks in this photo, but we saw a giant grouper which was cool.

We ended at the Burj Khalifa, which is the highest building in the world. We only got tickets up to the 148th floor, which is already higher than normal. You can get up to the lounge at 152 but that requires a $250 minimum spend. Since we were with a guide that felt too rushed. Another time!