Easter in Dubai

The weather in London's has been pretty miserable, so I was really looking forward to our long weekend getaway to Dubai. It's been pretty grim, and even though it's supposed to be spring, it definitely doesn't feel like it.

Dubai is a bit farther than I would've liked (7 hour flight), but it was the closest place that we could wear flip flops and not have to wrap up in a jacket or two. We booked a red-eye and got to our hotel, Le Royal Meridien Resort, freakishly early.

The hotel was booked solid, so they couldn't grant our request for an early check-in, but they did comp us a free breakfast, which they didn't have to do and was really nice of them. We switched over to the tea lounge while we waited for our room to be ready. I quite liked their method of keeping my tea warm - much more effective than a tea cosy!

The wait for the room was totally worth it - the room itself was huge, and they upgraded us to a beach view that we could enjoy from our fab balcony!

We changed into our bathing suits and went off to explore the hotel grounds and the pools (four that I could see). We found a kiddy playground, and I even managed to convince J to hop on the swings with me. It's been too long - I couldn't really get much momentum going and needed J to push me.

After the swings, we saw a path leading straight to the beach, and of course, I had to investigate.

The water was beautiful but cold! I couldn't get over the sight of the high-rises built right up to the sand. Another odd note - Dubai's public beaches have a dress code! Luckily, we were on the hotel's private beach where it doesn't apply, but we did see quite a few ladies in burkinis.

Once we were in our bathing suits, we pretty much stayed in them for the rest of the weekend. We spent most of the time lolling by the pool with the occasional dip in the water to cool off. I can tell we've been in the UK for too long as both of us got pretty bad sunburns despite staying in the shade! I don't even know how that happens!

The hotel service was amazing! There were waiters circulating constantly to bring drinks and food, and others were passing out eucalyptus-scented towels and spritz bottles filled with ice water to cool off. J and I have stayed in some nice places during our travels, but nothing beats the service we had in Dubai.

We did manage to escape the pool a few times to check out the Mall of the Emirates. Dubai is famous for its shopping, but a mall is just a mall. I wasn't that impressed, other than by its sheer size (there's a ski slope in the mall), and we left empty-handed other than with a sun hat for me.

Our visit to the mall was the only time we saw the natives, and I noticed that most of the service people we encountered were from South Asia and the Philippines. I wondered why that is. We also saw a bit of the fabulous wealth of the country with the high-end shops filled with women in burkas and loads fancy cars parked in the valet driveway.

It wasn't really an exploring kind of vacation as all of Dubai seems to be made up of new built high-rises. The architecture there is very different from other major cities, and we caught a faraway glimpse of Burj al Arab, the tallest building in the world. I particularly liked this sign. Tee hee.

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Our weekend ended much too quickly, and J and I are now back in London with smarting sunburns and hopefully, enough sun to last us through April since the weather forecast isn't looking too cheerful.