Sunny Side Up: luxury

Here i am. Today was an epic day seeing all the 'tallest, the biggest, the largest' features 'in the world'. there was a lot of that. heres a recount of what we did :

Sheila's apartment view

walk to Batutan Mall. Batutan was allegedy a famous explorer of the world so this mall was made in honour of his explorations. sections of the mall were designed in styles of the world e.g. asian, persia, indian, etc (god knows how many more of these sections where to come but i only visited the ones mentioned). i heard an announcement in arabic, it was calling for people to go and pray. there were prayer room directions just under the toilet directions on the signs. i bought a pretty black leather looking corset from H&M - sheila had to help me in it haha

Indian Section of Batutan Mall

then off to Dubai Mall - the biggest mall in the world apparently. we took a train, the train system works exactly like Myki - touch on and touch off. Sheila is so nice, she had already bought me a train ticket and loaded it with money. aw. the train ride lasted about 30 mins. i saw the common sites of Dubai - a large cluster of high rise buildings, then sand, large cluster of buildings, then sand, and repeat. occassionally i saw a cluster of 2nd story apartments styled in a more traditional arabic tone. sheila said instead of suburbs they have 'villias' and these were it apparently thats were all the rich people stay. i saw the only 7 star hotel - it stuck out like a sore thumb. apparently it is 100,000 USD to stay one night at the very top and usual 5 star hotels will only cost you 25,000 USD. if you want to have a meal there, u must book in advanced - sounds classy. we arrived at Dubai Mall station. and out popped the fucking tallest building ive seen since the Eureka - and i thought that was big. i was so amazed, this thing just towered aove everything else, and wat struck me was how skinny it looked, it got skinnier the higher it went too util it was nothing but a skinny antennae. we walked about 5minutes to dubai mall. i notice everyone driving very expensive and large cars. audi's. mercedies, bmw's and brands my humble eyes did not recognise. most of the drivers were of a caucasian background.. interesting..

Streets lined with palm trees - gangsta

the weather was soo nice. i felt so comfortable with a blue blue sky, yellow sun and gentle breeze, it was probably abuot 23 degrees - just hot enough to sweat. it was singlet weather - oh how i craved for singlet weather. and just 24hrs ago i was in Paris in the freezing and slippery snow! how the weather changes. sheila tells me it is winter here in dubai .. pft. we went inside, and it was still hot. at least these people dont over-do the aircon. im pretty good at my shops but none of them here i recognised. signage was in english and then in arabic. i think english was more dominate though. the cost of clothing and shoes here is generally cheaper than australia even though this was meant to be a tourist destination where prices were marked up purposely. sheila reckons the smaller shoppping centres like Batutan would be cheaper. sheila says that i came at a perfect time for summer shopping. as winter is approaching, the summer stock's on sale. sweet! i noticed all the puffy jackets, heavy woolen sweaters and hoodies out in the stores. along with beanies, scarves and gloves. after spending 3weeks in paris and london during winter, i didnt understand how people here feel the need to wear these things. i was out to buy shoes. ones that i cud wear in this hot weather. my sneakers, timberlands and boots were not suitable for this heat. i searched hard for a pair that i could just change into. but i cudnt find anything i liked. the shoes reminded me of the shoes sold at places like Femme Connection, DK, Cotton On.. cheap, plastic, shiny, studded, bowed, made in china.. they ddnt fancy me. it was probably cheaper to buy ugly shoes back home. i felt so bad for taking everyones time that i was forcing myself to like them... but i couldnt.. i had to leave my shoe searching for another day. i didnt know what kinda people lived in dubai. it was part of the Unitied Arab Emirates so i assumed it was all arabs and perhaps indians. but no, its quite a mix. clothed muslim women walk past american women in short shorts and singlets, while the arab men in white cloth walk past european men in jeans and a nice shirt. there seemed to be a lot of young white families, beautiful blonde and well behaved children, arab women clothed in black with bags and baggs of expensive looking shopping bags, everyone just seemed so fkn rich and carefree. i want to ask "how can i become like you??" there are so many filos here sometimes i feel like im in philippines. its kinda good in a way bcoz i always like feeling im at home :) but sometimes they get annoying like all the filo waiters waiting on us, checking on us, every 5 minutes at this cafe. one would come with tissues, the other with a fork, then the other with a knife, then another with more tissues, and they'd come to ask us if our meal was nice .. maybe two times. sorry, but its annoying. go away. i tried carrot and orange juice. that is an amazing combination im so making it when i get back. after our rest, we got lost in a window shopping spree. im nnoooooot reaaaaallly liking anything they are selling. their style is different to what im used to. so im sorry to say, i didnt buy anything at the worlds largest shopping centre :(

Water features in the Dubai Mall

we meet up with sheila's bf and friends outside the (here we go again) the worlds tallest dancing fountain. the waters would dance in accordance to the polophonic ring tone (joking its not that bad) music. They twisted, turned, and sprayed also higher than the hotel beside it (and trust me, it was a pretty tall buiding). this water spraying technology was so powewrful that everytime it shoot water, it sounded like fireworks going off. the air would feell slightly colder when the fountains were on since all the air evaporated and travelled in the air and towards us. it was enough to think about puttin a jacket back on. it was amazing. and mesmorising. there were pretty lights that helped the effects too. we dined at a resturant just outside the mall called MOre (with a larger than life 'O', the guys reckon its becoz of the size of the dishes but i dont think so). MOre over looked the fountains in a perfect spot, and also the tallest tower inthe world. i had some MOre burger where they gave me all the ingredients and i had to build it myself - lazy ass. it was so good though. im a pretty big eater but i didnt even get through half, and i barely touched my chips. maybe my tummy has shrank from the small porportions in london and paris. i had mint tea to compliment the weather and make me feel fresh and un-sweaty. every 30 minutes the fountains would go off to a different tune - there were apparently 5 all up but i only saw 3.

Fountain rises as high as the 1st tier of the hotel beside it

Dancing Fountain

the tallest building was pretty amazing too. it just went on forever. and the balconies would occasioally light up - this happended when the water fountains went off. the weather was so perfect. the whole time i was in a singlet and sticky from sweat. food was good and the view was unbelievable. i could not believe i was in dubai! these people do not KNOW how lucky they are to live here.. i realised this city was really a city of paradise, a playground for the stinking rich who hate money so much they like to throw it away. we went up to the tallest building eariler that day. its about 820+m high. there was a nice multimedia presentation on the way to the lifts getting you all excited to reach the top. the lift had its own operator in his little black suit. he said the elevator will take us to the 124th level (not the top of the tower but id say about 2 thirds of it) in 60 seconds. he used the famous one 'fastest elevators in the world'. dubai and its obsession to be the best in the world! we reached the 124th level. we saw the dancing fountains from that height. prettyyy coool!!!