Saturday, December 31, 2011

Day 1 of Dubai trip: Beachcombers and Souk Madinat

View of the Burj Al Arab from Beachcombers
We didn't do much on day 1, or on any day really. As it was a Saturday, I had planned to have a brunch at the beachcombers. Initially we wanted to go to Burj Al Arab for a lunch, and as we wanted a beach side restaurant with a view of the Burj choices were Majlis Al Bahar restaurant or Beachcombers at JBH. My sis was keen on BAA, but I was not. As the price we would pay for a single dish (the only thing I liked on BAA's menu a meat platter) is almost same as the price for the brunch per person at Beachcombers. But we knew that was the Burj Al Arab! I also asked on the TA forum on this issue and was recommended Beachcombers for the food and BAA for the view.  We were torn between these two places, and we know when all fails where to go to get the final decision. It was my  sweet 4 months old daughter who ultimately decided where we would have lunch. One afternoon I asked baby Beachcombers or Burj Al Arab? She stuck her tongue out when I said Beachcombers and didn't do a thing when I said Burj Al Arab. So, I sent an email to my sis who was at work, and told her Beachcomber it was!

I sent an email to them and reserved for 2 people a non-alcoholic brunch.

Beachcombers restaurant terrace side
Anyway, so we got up and helped our self with the Nescafe instant coffee provided by the hotel (meh). And then got ready and got out and about. We took a cab, which was conveniently waiting outside the hotel. Once at the hotel,we detoured to the beach side to take few pics. Oh dear God! It was so damn sunny and  a tad bit warm (I wouldn't call it hot) my daughter started to have a major hissy fit. The moment sun was right on her face poor thing started to cry. So, from playing hide and seek from the sun, we captured just as many pics as my baby would allow. It seemed like I was in some sort of water park as there were pools just about everywhere. LOL So, once in the restaurant we were seated outside on the terrace as requested.





Host showed us around, explained the buffet.



















And there weren't that many customers really. It felt rather empty and then again we went exactly at 12.30! Our lunch took exactly 2 hours to finish. Not only caz we ate a lot but there were some pause in between our food intake as when I ate my sis held the baby, when she ate I held the baby. And we played this musical baby for a while and I needed to nurse her at one point. I asked one of the chefs if there was a room/space where I could nurser her she took me to the child playing area and told me I could nurse her there. So, I did. After we finished eating, that same chef ordered a buggy ride service for us as I was asking her how could we go to Souk Madinat from JBH. She didn't know if we could use the buggy service as we weren't guests of JBH, but she ordered one anyway.

Band playing at the Beachcombers rest, they were pretty good!
That buggy ride was one of my fav things in Dubai! Huh! Driver was really nice and he took a detour to a place that had the best view of the burj and took our pics even though we really didn't want to. He dropped us off near the stairs and told us to go up and we would be at the Souk. Since this was a free service, there was no charge but we just gave him a tip.






 Burj Al Arab from Souk Madinat near Meat & Co.
Once up the stairs we were close to Meat and Co. restaurant. We were able to take some pics with view of the BAA as baby was sleeping.















 We passed through the Meat and Co restaurant , up the stairs and started to roam. Well, Souk Madinat was nice. We liked it, and I knew it's really a tourist trap and still liked it. We didn't buy anything as it was not on our list of things to do. We did take pics.



 We walked and walked and walked and somehow ended up at the entrance of Souk, where we saw cabs waiting in line. By the point we were really tired and just hopped on the cab and back to hotel.


We planned to go to Souk Madinat at night again to see the night view and such after we take a nap. Well, that nap ended up in full blown few hours of sleep for all three of us. When we got up it was 9 p.m., too exhausted to go out. We decided to order room service for dinner, but before we did that wanted to check out the hotel pool on the rooftop. It was a good idea.


When we went there, only a couple was hanging out drinking something (not in the pool). It was so nice being outside when the weather was a bit more cold, and nice breeze and the pool area was really lovely. They had nice seating areas and all. We took few pics, got my baby's feet wet from the edge of the pool for the first time (and mine too..and yea for the first time too) and I really enjoyed it. And baby fell asleep on my shoulder...extra bonus caz she really liked it that much haha.

Back to room, got out room service orders of Beef burgers and what can I say? It was absolutely nothing special. But I was glad that our day was just as I had hoped it to be, nice, relaxing and not too crazy!


Friday, December 30, 2011

Our Dubai Stopover Trip: Arrival

Our flight landed sometime around 8 p.m. Passing through passport control was a breeze. Once we got to luggage claim, I saw a baby care room and needed to use it while sis waited for the bags to arrive. It was nice that there was a chair in that room and was able to nurse my baby. I really liked this amenity of DXB. Once I got back to luggage claim area I noticed there were guys in Red (?) shirts and asked the information center what they were doing. Apparently they were porters. My face instantly lit up, caz I needed one badly. So, needless to say I hired two pronto as one wasn't enough. They got all our bags and took us to outside taxi area. Before I even knew it, our luggage was being loaded in the car, a people carrier. And then I noticed that next to our taxi line there was those Pink taxis lined up, and I was so distracted to see those women taxi driver's dress up! It was interesting to see them in tight pink color clothing and a hijab, which I don't think go together (tight fitting cloths and hijab). But I digress. Paid the porters their charge 20 AED each and a tip. Once in the car, I asked the driver to drive slow as I have a baby and he cheerfully replied, "oh don't worry, baby is sleeping". Huh! I told him I wasn't asking him to drive slow caz baby was sleeping, her getting up from sleep due to his fast/reckless driving was least of my worries, I was worried of accidents and the fact that baby was on my lap sans car seat! eek. Anyway, we got to hotel-Corp Executive Hotel Apartments  (link to my review on Trip Advisor)in time, checked in, no problem and the rest is history LOL..more posts later..

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Five months: One of the best to date...lots of memories..Met her father is the highlight!

So, today on her 4th month bday she got second dose of vaccines. And she got fever now. My poor baby has been crying so much it was just sad. So I gave her first ever medicine Tylenol. Now she's sleeping and ate a little. I was really dreading this dose. Why did I have a feeling that this time she might get fever? And of course she did and we're going to fly in 2 days! Well praying that the medicine works pronto.

So, okay it wasn't too bad, her fever that was! Med worked pretty well and she recovered quickly, thanks God for that. She was just bit quiet that's all. Our flight to Dubai was very good. She was an way better than I ever could imagine or hoped for. Really. I got a seat in between two other men, which totally freaked me out! All I thought how on earth I can breastfeed this one as it was seat was so uncomfy (I mean seat wasn't uncomfy after all it was A380! but positioning a baby in that seat while sandwiched between two strange men was UNCOMFY for sure). So, I asked the one on the left side to switch seat with me. Initially he had a rather pussy fit, but later he changed before take off, thankfully. Later he apologized for his pussy fit and said he was really tired when he just got on the plane. WHATEVER. Since, the flight was around the time when baby usually goes to sleep, it was rather convenient. She did sleep in the bassinet, but of dear! That damn bassinet is not that big either. She fit for sure but just right. She did wake up few times but as soon as I took her on my lap and held her, rocked her she went back to sleep. At times, I just kept her on my lap and we both slept like that. Once Sonia came over and took her and walked with her. Over all, flight was good to Dubai. But on the flight from Dubai to Dhaka she was a bit of a hot mess, thanks to the seat belt that was provided for her. As soon as the air hostess put on the seat belt on her, she went ballistic. She cried and screamed. It wasn't too bad as there were other kids and they did the same. LOL Anyway, I tried to BF her but she wont do it. Then crew offered me to give her milk like formula, I thanked and said, thanks but no thanks. All I cared was she doesn't get that air pressure thing in her ears, which she didn't. Anyway, after the take off Sonia took her and walked her calmed her down and she fell asleep. Sonia took her to her seat, right behind me and she slept on her lap on the entire 4 hours flight! phew!

So, on Dec 6, 2011 Baby got to meet her father for the first time. Like I will never forget the day she was born, I won't forget this day either. It was nice. Not too much emotion shown on either side. haha

She met her grandparents from my side the same day as well. Couple of days later, she went to her father's house and met her grand parents from that side.

And now, as it's really cold in Dhaka and just about everyone is sick with cold, baby got her first cold too. boo hoo... I didn't want to give her med, but one day it kind of felt bad her nose was so damn congested I took her to our regular family doc, who we used to see when we were little. He prescribed a cold med, a drop for nose and guess what? An antibiotic! WHAT? Anyway, I just used nasal drop to clear the nose, had no intention of giving the rest. But it seemed it wasn't working and after getting some scolding from my parents I ended up giving her just the cold med. I don't know whether it worked or not, she seems better today! I've my fingers crossed. Though I decided not to give her anymore, I think, I gave her about 5 days of dosage. Now, I wanna leave it at that. Still her nose gets congested, but hopefully, it's not gonna get too bad. It's the damn cold wind that makes things bad every time she gets a bit better!  Oh and how I regret not bringing more of her winter clothes!

So, she turned 5 months yesterday and we just happened to go to Khazana to eat! It was a pure coinsident, we didn't go there to specially celebrate!

Happy 5 months to my darling :))

p.s. hopefully it's obvious that I wrote this entry as I went along....