Day 2 of Dubai Trip: Souk'd and Mall'd out

On day 2 plan was to go to Dubai Museum early. My intention was to leave the hotel by 10 a.m. and get there and roam around, get lunch at the Basta Art cafe. And then go to other side to Gold and Spice souks.

But. My baby had another plan. After getting up early in the morning and playing for a little while she decided to take a nap. So I thought. As she was sleeping, I thought okay, so may be after she gets up then will go out and on our way get something to eat. I waited and waited and waited...that nap seemed to turn into a full blown long sleep. When the clock hit 10, and she was still in deep sleep...and I was mad hungry I lost it! I asked my sis to order breakfast and just be done with it caz I couldn't take the hunger anymore. So, she ordered breakfast, which was meant for one person apparently(on the menu). It was a continental breakfast that had bread basket (had breads and pastries), a gigantic omelet, tea/coffee/ and orange juice and something else. When we got the food and started to eat (we shared) I kept asking my sis how on earth one person can eat all of these??? Seriously! She said, may be they eat this and skip lunch? Well, guess what? We both ate that and skipped lunch. So, her assumption wasn't right. Unless, that person didn't eat for days or saves stuffs to eat later. Anyway, after we were done analyzing how one person can eat all of these while eating, we waited some more for baby to get up. Then I used my trick to get her up, which was to change her diaper. And I knew she would be up in no time. She was up, and well, cranky. And then she got quiet.

Ski Dubai

We left the hotel probably around 11.30. We took a cab to MOE. And took some pics in front of Ski Dubai and proceeded to look for a floppy hat for baby, one important thing that I forgot to pack for baby. Saw my love H&M, and of course had to go there, but didn't see any summer floppy hat! boo.. but saw one cute little dress and knew had to have this for my sweet girl. Then off we went to Metro and  got the tix from vending machine. Btw, didn't get the credit card charge receipt!











I was very happy to see the Women and Children car. It just made me happy, that's all. We went to Al Ras station and asked someone where on earth was Gold souk. He showed us the direction rather hesitantly. And I learned my lessons from previous experiences that when asking someone for direction..thank that person and move a bit further and ask someone else. Chances are 1st person gave the worng direction (not intentionally to lead me to the wrong way, sometimes I felt they fell so bad that they didn't know the direction and ended up making up one!). On our way there did some window shopping LOL...that was one expensive window shopping by the way! And walked and walked and walked and finally turned right as told and saw the "souk". I have to say that it was kind of disappointing. After walking that much and coming all the way from Al Barsha..okay from New York..it seemed that it wasn't much of what I expected. I really thought there would be hundreds of stores all with ditzy bling bling showing on the store front. It wasn't such. Anyway, then we looked for spice souk and much to our dismay seemed like no one had any idea! WHAT? Then finally a guy showed us the way and we proceeded. I have to say "Spice Souk" was even greater disappointment...what's that? A mere two alleys of spices and herbs? Good grief! I had seen better and my sis was royally pissed. And my baby wasn't feeling it either. She was so damn quiet I started to wonder if she was feeling sick or what! She isn't this well behaved to be this quiet. I felt rather bad seeing my sister's disappointment and she kept saying how she loved Souk Madinat. :) I explained to her this is the real thing, and she said, well that real this is not working for me, I liked  Souk Madinat. OK then. But we both agreed to one thing that if we didn't come here and saw it we would have always wonder (till our next visit that is ;) ) what we have missed! It's a good thing it's done and over with.

A store front at Gold Souk

Mosque on way to Spice Souk

Since we decided to go back to Souk Madinat at night, we needed something to do in between. I can't remember fully, but I would say by the time we were done with old souks it was probably around 3 p.m. So, there was no point in hauling all the way to hotel and then get out again, specially with a baby as it's tough. And as we left late, we knew we wanted to do everything and then go back to hotel. So, we hopped on the Metro again. I told my sis that may be we should go to Marina. She was okay with that. Then I told her (as I told her previously once if we could we would go to Ibn Battuta Mall) may be we could go to the Ibn B Mall. She was okay with that too. But I was a bit torn. Do I want to see Marina or yet another Mall? Since the train ride was a long one luckily I got to ponder over this very serious issue for a bit more. After going back and forth in my head I told sis that no, let's go to the Mall. She agreed. And since she asked me what exactly there was to see at the Marina and I didn't really quite answer her it was pretty clear where we would go from that point on. Well, now my baby decided it was time to get over this quietness and start some noise. She was crying bonkers in the train and some lovely strange ladies tried to make her smile by whistling and saying things. But. She won't have it. She wanted me. So, as my sis was holding her and I was seating a bit further from them I saw she was getting exasperated. Anyone would. I decided to get off the next stop and use one of those baby changing room to feed her. I signaled her to get off and we did. After calming her down with food, we hopped on again.

Ibn Battuta Mall

Ibn Battuta station seemed like middle of freaking nowhere. There were constructions going on. I could see a structure similar to the shape of the Atlantis (still don't know what that was!). There were tons of buses and ppl waiting to get on. Those buses to me seemed like "tour" buses, but it could be just regular ones. Anyway, crossed the street we walked all the way to Egypt!

Watch your clothing hohohohahahahehehe

It was fun reading some of the rules of the mall, particularly this one- "inappropriate clothing not allowed"! Heh!

Persian Starbucks ;)

Well, I felt like I needed to drink something...coffee..or water perhaps. Or both. So my sis went over to order coffee and a piece of cake. While she was getting the food, my baby decided it was time for another storm. She basically went bonkers again and screamed her lungs out. Right then and there I started to feel wonky myself. I told my sis may be we should go back to hotel if she was going to keep this up. And forget about Souk Madinat. But then she took the baby and walked her and quickly she fell asleep. Then the deal was we would stay here as long as she will sleep. That's all. We started to roam around and took pics. Then I looked for the hat for baby and thankfully found couple! And she was up! She was up and she didn't make any noise. So, we continued walking. We saw lovely Egypt, Persia, India and China. After that we decided it was time to go to leave. Honestly, I still don't know if they had any more countries there or not. China was the end for us.

We took a cab to Souk Madinat. We walked the same path again till we came to the Meat and Co. And I notice someone saying something about the Burj lighting to go on about so and so. I asked this one lady I guess, she takes professional pics...what time the lighting is scheduled? She replied I believe 7. It was about 6.15ish then. So, we decided to sit on one of the benches there and wait. When it was 6.30, we felt like we should be eating. So, we went to the Meat and Co. restaurant and hostess showed us the way to terrace seating area. I pointed her a table and asked her if we could sit, but she said that was reserved. Then I pointed her the next table and she said, sure! Oh My! That was a easy one. I think, we had the best table with the view of the Burj! No lie. We got our food, saw the lighting (honestly nothing special!), saw ppl riding the Abra and what not. We had a pretty decent meal there. With my sis's Beef Salad, my Shrimp dish and a Tiramisu and pretty pricey Water the bill was exactly 106AED. I think, we paid mainly for the view and ambiance and little for the food. It was expected. Would I go back there? Yes. Only at night. And would eat the same thing. Caz that was the least expensive. LOL

Beef Salad Nicoise

RedChilli Prawns

Tiramisu

After our lovely dinner we took a cab again and went back to hotel. That cab ride was quite funny as the driver was a young guy who announced he was new into this business and didn't know where our hotel was. He asked if we could show him the way after we hit Mall of the Emirates. I said, yes. He said, Pls get on the car if you can show me, I'm telling you I don't know where it is, but don't complain to my company caz I took some extra time (therefore fare being high) to get to the hotel". I said, sure! When we reached our hotel, and my sis gave him tip, he asked her, why she was giving him money did he give her more change by mistake?!! LOL She said, no it's a tip!

Uh well....it was a good day I guess since the ending was quite fun.

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!

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..

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....

Four months old: things on track

So, just an hour or so ago baby turned four months old! Things for the past few days have definitely gotten better, especially in the sleeping department. Don't feel like jinxing it, but it seems baby is right on her way to establish good sleeping pattern. For the last few days she had been literally sleeping through the night!! I didn't expect that after hearing other's experiences! Baby just couple of days ago had her first Thanksgiving, which is really special to me as last Thanksgiving I found out she came to me!! So, on earth it was first Thanksgiving. To mark this special event I actually got her beautiful hand knitted dress, hat and booty set from Etsy. It's really beautiful. However, she didn't get to wear that on Thanksgiving. I did put that on her few weeks ago to see how it looked on her ( it looked positively gorgeous!!!) and snapped few pics. One of the pics came out really pretty and her father was eager to put that up on FB, which he ended up doing the other day and it seemed to be a big hit!! My sweet baby! Well, today she has doc appt, amd will get second dose of vaccines! Looking forward to a fun filled most memorable month yet for my sweety pie as she will God willing meet her father in about a week! And she will be off to her first ever oversees trip!

Rainbow cake trial #1

So, I've been planning baby's first bday for the last few weeks already! And it's going to be Rainbow theme. I am set on that. Since it's still a while away (she's not even 4 months yet!), and I've been itching to try out the rainbow cake I decided to take the opportunity on 11.11.11 as it was my niece's bday. Though my niece is in Dhaka and I am here, it doesn't matter. I can still have a cake for her! I really loved the way my cake had turned out. I used Americolor food gel color, and I liked how vibrant the colors had turned out!

So here are the pics....

Three months old: Light at the end of the tunnel?

Well, baby turned 3 months on 10/28. The day she turned three months we went to visit my friend N's house and met her baby M. My baby saw M for the first time that day. Though I had seen baby M before day after she was born, it was really for a brief moment at the hospital. Now, she is a grown lady too ;) On that day I felt like there was something going on and I couldn't quite figure what it was. I knew it was 10/28 and I knew Eliana was 3 months old that day. But all day 10/28 stood out to me. I had no idea why. Till of course I read mothering board the other day and someone was talking about how a certain date sounded so familiar but it wasn't anyone's bday...and then viola she knew what it was. That's exactly 10/28 was to me. My LMP!! OMG how could I forget this date as I had put this date on due date calculator numerous times over the 9 months period to see where I was in pregnancy!!!! 10/28/2010 last time I'd my period! Oh wow! Surely this has been the longest I'd gone without aunt flow showing up!

Anyway, from the time baby turned 2 months to she turned 3 months was also quite rough. First of all, she got her first dose of vaccines. It was very nerve wrecking for me. Watching her getting stabbed with needles wasn't fun at all. Considering her, she screamed but after that at home she didn't fuss much. Again, considering it was her! I was on pins and needels till the magic 48 hours. She didn't get any fever, thanks God.

Other than getting her first dose of vax I don't remember anything out of the ordinary happening. But on 10/28 she gave me a nice surprise. Right on her 3rd month bday she slept through the night. Now, in her case it meant from 11 p.m. till almost 6 a.m.!! When I woke up and was going to take a look at my iphone to check the time, I was sure I would see sometime from 2 to 3.30 a.m. on the clock, but when I ended up seeing 6 a.m., seriosuly I couldn't believe it! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? She slept through the night literally! Then there was an hour and half of little fussiness...then slept from 7.30 a.m. to 11 a.m.!!!!! wowza!! It did seem like finally I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Since then she has been sleeping much better than she did before. Though there are still night waking, but now it doesn't take much to get her back to sleep. Lovely!