April 26th, 2014, Our second anniversary and we are in this beautiful city of Dubai. We woke up to a lot of messages and phone calls from family and friends. We slept around 3am and woke up around 9.30am. It was breakfast time and we freshened up and went to the dining area where there was this huge spread of international food which looked very impressive.
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| Some of the yummy breakfast items :) |
After a nice breakfast, we went back and rested for a while. We thought we would be jet lagged but the excitement of our anniversary was so much that we didn't want to rest at all (I was busy thinking about the execution of my surprises) We just wanted to get ready, wear our anniversary outfits, look good and visit the Palm Atlantis as soon as possible. So we started getting ready and finally we were all set to leave. But before that was the photo session at the hotel :) Here are a few pics,
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| Selfie time :) |
We went to the Palm Atlantis through the monorail which was a very nice experience. The Dubai metro station was just a 5-7 minute walk from the hotel. When we stepped out of the hotel, we realised how hot it was. By the time we reached there, we were pretty tired. We went to the ticket counter and enquired about how to take the monorail. Our metro station was the Deira City Centre station. We had to go to Dubai Internet City and take a taxi from there. Dubai Internet City was around 40 minutes from our stop. So we went there and took a taxi to monorail station. The taxi person should charge you not more than 10-15 AED. The station was very tricky. It was in the top most floor and the remaining floors below it were empty. We went to the ticket counter and were so excited to see the Palm Atlantis somewhere really far where it looked like a miniature version.
The monorail journey can be one way or a round trip. It's a must do if you are visiting Dubai and make sure you sit in the first row. If you sit at the back then you can't get a good view and also you can't take good photos. We were unfortunate because we didn't get to sit in the first row but we were fortunate enough to get the second row seats (I had to fight with a lady for that seat because she came and sat next to me and she was not allowing Naveen to sit). Second row is good as well but you need to stand up while taking pictures. The monorail journey lasted about 5 minutes but it was worth every second because you get to see the ultimate view of the Palm Atlantis. It's a treat to your eyes. The monorail tickets are also pretty cute. But the only thing is you have to return your tickets once you reach your destination. (I wasn't happy with this because I have this hobby of collecting tickets or passes wherever I go and add it to my scrapbook)
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| Google image of the Dubai Monorail |
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View of Palm Atlantis from the monorail. We had to stand up and go little further to
take this picture. |
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| View of Palm Atlantis from the monorail station |
So we finally reached Palm Atlantis and and it was a cynosure for our eyes. It's a different world inside Palm. They have a water theme park named Aquaventure which is definitely a must do if you are going with kids. We didn't visit the theme park but we made sure we had a glimpse of every other thing at Palm Atlantis. This surely is one of the best things we have seen till date. There is nothing that this place doesn't have. They have Aquaventure which is a water park, a dolphin bay where you can swim with dolphins, marine adventure where you can have close encounters with marine animals and feed them, they have a lost chambers aquarium, a dive centre where you can do scuba diving and also swim with sharks and other animals inside the ambassador lagoon which is the largest open air marine exhibit in the middle east and has 11.5 million litres of water. They have so many shopping outlets, many casual and fine dine in restaurants, bars, night clubs, private beach and pools, tennis courts, spa centres and the best of all, the royal guest rooms, suites and signature suites. If you are staying in Atlantis Palm then it's nothing short of a royal experience. You have unlimited entry to many things inside Palm but it sure is a very costly affair to stay there.
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| Entrance to the Palm Atlantis |
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| Aquaventure |
As we entered we saw a fleet of BMW series, Audi, Rolls Royce and many big branded cars. We entered the Royal Aquaventure towers and it was true to it's name. From the shopping outlets on our sides to the beautiful wall paintings and big chandeliers, everything was royal. If you are a photo freak then you will have a great time taking photos.
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| Aquaventure royal towers |
After some window shopping, we went to a restaurant called Asia Republic for our lunch. It was a casual restaurant. Food was amazing. It's basically Thai food. We ordered for some yummy spring rolls, fresh watermelon and mango juice and not to forget my favourite Thai dish, vegetarian pad Thai. This dish was lip smackingly good.
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| Lunch at Asia Republic |
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| Spring rolls |
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| Vegetable Pad Thai |
After lunch it was time for us to visit the lost chambers aquarium. This aquarium is very unique because of how it's constructed. It's dark inside and you get to see light only when you go towards a part of the tank where the marine animals are. The kids will have a fun time getting to know about these creatures. They can learn many things about the animals by viewing the description screen next to each tank. When we went there we saw a huge cat fish which was recently bought to the aquarium. It looked very scary. It was also mentioned that this was the same cat fish which appeared in national geographic channel a few months back. If you go for a scuba diving or marine dive then you can swim in the huge tank with your guide and all your fellow animal friends. We could see many people inside the tank swimming with the eels, sting rays, sharks, crabs, star fishes and loads of fishes, each one different in shape, colour and size. It was a treat to the eyes. We took many pictures and this will definitely remain as a nice memory. The only thing about the lost chambers is it's too small. You pay 90 AED per person which is around 1,500 rs each but within no time you come out of the aquarium. When you feel that you still have things to see, the aquarium comes to an end. It doesn't take more than 30 minutes to experience the entire thing but is worth a short visit.
After a nice walk at the Lost Chambers, it was dinner and surprise time. We had booked for dinner at Kaleidoscope. It was a fine dine restaurant and it looked spectacular because of its grand interiors and huge space. We sat down and I quickly started searching for a staff member to get the cake which I had ordered before. It was a banana and yoghurt cheesecake (It was funny actually. This was the third cake we were about to eat for our anniversary :) but we were not aware of each other's surprises so it was nice :)) Well this was the beginning of all surprises. I was thinking I'm the one giving surprises and then I realised I'm receiving it as well :)
How can one forget the anniversary gifts ;)
We had booked for an international buffet dinner. The food spread was amazing. But only disappointment was with the vegetarian options for entrées. Food was good but not great. We were more excited about desserts. Few of them looked marvellous. The best one among them was an Egyptian dessert by name Umm Ali. We had more of desserts than entrées and mains :)
Both of us have this sweet tooth and whenever we see a dessert or some kind of sweet then we leave everything and focus on them :) ( don't know how to stay fit n healthy with this weakness for desserts )
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Time for a drink!!! ( I already look drunk!!! )
After a lovely dinner and some surprises it was time to get back to the hotel.
Are you thinking what was the surprise? Well wait till I reveal it :)
We went to the entrance to take a taxi back to the hotel. We were in a state of shock when we realised many taxis in Dubai are actually Lexus cars. They charge minimum of 90-100 AED in the night. But then again it depends on the distance. They charged us 90 AED.
On our way back, we saw the Burj Khalifa:) It looked so beautiful. Night life was just like India. Most of the shops and restaurants were open and there were so many cars on the road. That feeling of night life in India was amazing and quite nostalgic because we started talking about India, friends and family. Finally we reached our hotel at 11pm and crashed. We had to get up early the next day because we were going to Abu Dhabi :)
That was our fun filled second day in Dubai. Keep reading for more posts :) Thanks a ton :) |
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