I intended to do the JBR walk today but a bit of confusion with the taxi driver took me to the Marina waterfront... not a major problem but since there's no way to walk from the Marina waterfront to JBR (Dubai isn't big on pavements and isn't really the sort of city you can walk around sadly) I spent most of the day exploring the marina and the amazing skyscapers which front the waterfront!
There are pictures of the Leader of Dubai all around Dubai, there's a painting of him in my hotel lobby and I've seen pictures all over places, on posters etc. Thought the fact they plastered his face on a side scraper was really interesting though!
Anyway I ended up finding the Marina Mall. It's one of the smallest mall's in Dubai with only 160 stores - it was nice not getting lost in a shopping centre for once!
It was one of my favourite malls as it felt really spacious, with a good range of shops and I loved how most of the shops had floor-to-ceiling windows - so there was a lovely view out over the marina as you shopped!
They also had a Waitrose there too, just like at Dubai Mall, so I popped in to grab a few things including a 'prickly pear' and some African Avocados!
Today I hit the biggest mall in the world. It was massive.
It was also torture to someone travelling on a budget! But even without being able to splurge on the variety of goods available (although it was pretty hard as we're right in the middle of Dubai's Shopping Festival so everything is slashed) it was really enjoyable with the beautiful surroundings, indoor aquarium and not to mention the amazing Dubai Fountains!
A glimpse of what one section of the mall looked like
The indoor aquarium was stunning, with all sorts of different aquatic creatures swimming arounds
The ceiling above the aquarium was almost as beautiful too!
Opposite the aquarium was a massive sweet shop which sold pretty much every kind of sweet imaginable and had some lovely decorations - including this candy tree!
All 50 flavours of jelly beans
The world's tallest building through the ceiling
Every so often there would be these dangling butterflies which I loved as they were so pretty!
An indoor olympic sized skating rink!
One of my favour architectural features!
Lunch was sushi and a pinkberry!
Another interesting feature in the mall was this massive indoor waterfall that spans 3 stories!
As soon as the sun started to dip behind the skyscrapers everyone headed out to the Dubai Fountains as the show starts as soon as the sun sets.
Even before the shows started the setting was pretty lovely, with everyone gathering along the waters edge. T
The show was amazing. It was very short but it was great! After that I wandered about the mall a little more before heading back to the hotel (catching a taxi was crazy was there was just so many people trying to get one, it was organised though, just a little manic)
Despite being on a budget I did pick up a few bits! :)
So I'm finally in Dubai! The flight was really smooth, after a short flight from Manchester to London Heathrow, I grabbed a coffee and exchanged some of my money and waited for my flight to Dubai. Now the best bit of my flight was by far the fact that the flight was carrying a 'light load' meaning I got four seats to myself!
Needless to say I did the only logical thing, I kicked off my shoes, pushed the armrests up and lounged out over the four seats with my collection of blankets and pillows!
I managed to catch a taxi really easily and found my way to the Hotel (after stopping for directions since 'Golden Sands' is a selection of 10 apartment blocks and the driver couldn't find mine). I had to wait for a while in the reception area as my room wasn't ready, but it wasn't a problem since some of the reviews online had already said a wait was probable.
When I did get into my room I was really impressed! I opted for basically the cheapest accommodation I could find in Dubai that wasn't too dodgy and I think I got really lucky!
This is the view as you walk in, the bathroom is on the right, the kitchen is as you walk in leading to the bedroom/lounge area.
After unpacking a little and settling in I wandered up to the rooftop pool, found myself somewhere to sit and soaked up some sun and just generally relaxed! :)
I meant to start this blog on the plane to Thailand, and then when that didn't happen I was going to do it on the plane to New Zealand.. and then when that didn't work out it was definitely going to be written in my first week in New Zealand.. well over three months on and I'm finally getting around to it.
In short the first half of semester B at Waikato University has been a really mixed bag - there's been some great highs with meeting new people and travelling. But tempering that I've had a pretty big dose of culture shock and homesickness- which I think hit me so hard because I just wasn't expecting it! I'm feeling much more settled into New Zealand now and I'm more than ready to start doing some serious travelling over the summer!
As a quick catch up, I flew to Phuket before coming to New Zealand and it was amazing! I absolutely loved the heat, the manic hustle and bustle, the charming and sometimes over friendly people as well as the beautiful scenery - the Phi Phi islands were the highlight as well as seeing a baby turtle!
(Karon view point - you can just see my hotel from here!)
I stayed near Karon Beach which was perfect as it was 10 minutes in a tuktuk to Patong which has all the touristy things as well as an.. interesting night life. And yet Karon is much more chilled and relaxed and if you head in the other directed for 20 minutes your away from all the tourists completely!
(Phi Phi Li - I still can't get over the amazing colour of the water! I snorkled here when i was on a boat tour and it was so amazing - they threw bananas to attract the fish)
(Phi Phi Don - paradise)
(the view while i had lunch when i was exploring the islands around Phuket)
I did a few organised tours, one to FantaSea and another touring the islands, FantaSea was descibed as a mini, thai disneyland and I wouldn't necesarily go that far but it was really fun with lots of thai dancing and food, elephant rides and hundreds of shops selling all sorts of touristy things.
('elephant palace')
(feeding the fish)
(this is jamba)
I saw some stunning sunsets along the beach
I had some delicious food on the beach (the thai love condensed milk - who knew!)
My last day in Phuket was spent absorbing the views and seeing the sunset up at the 'big buddha'
(the buddha is still under construction as it's working on donations)
(everywhere you walked you heard these bells tinkling - it was weirdly relaxing!)
(a smaller golden buddha)
New Zealand has mainly been spent socialising but I did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves which were beautiful - such a shame I couldn't take photos inside. And I had a great day at the hot pools, a naturally heated outdoor swimming pool with life-threatening slides, it certainly wouldn't have passed a single health and safety inspection but it was fun if nothing else!
(we had a masquerade ball which was really fun)
(at the hot pools)
A video Julia made of our day at the hot pools
(my caving team)
The academic system has also been a bit of a shock to the system, I'm used to a couple of essays throughout the year and one big final test, huge lecture theatres and then smaller seminars, here I'm tested almost weekly and I'm in lectures of 20 people! The first half of this semester has been hard academically and emotionally (dramatic i know).
