Dubai Do-Buy

Hello again. Sorry to keep you waiting for an update but a girl needs some time off, and how better to spend the Prophet’s Birthday than a trip to one of the world’s centres of Retail Therapy?

I wish I’d taken a photo of the way I parked my car in the airport car park on Thursday evening. It took us an hour to drive round and round and to finally abandon the car halfway up a kerb, climbing out of the rear seats to get out, and ensuring that the drivers on both sides would be climbing into theirs by the same method. No tow-aways here, and the cost for leaving it there for 3 days was just over a tenner. Heathrow Airport could learn from this.

An hour’s flight to Dubai and a beautiful swanky hotel right opposite the Dubai mall, with a view of the Burj, or ‘Old Spikey’ as it became affectionately known. Andy was very impressed with it and spent most of the weekend taking photos from different angles to try and get it all in. It’s got 160 floors and there is an open air viewing platform on floor 120-something. Unfortunately (allegedly) it’s closed for maintenance already. Maybe next time? Maybe not.

Personally I was more impressed with the gorgeous bath in the middle of the hotel room. Sorry to inflict this one on you but the bubbles are deep, don’t worry! Duck refused to get in because he doesn’t float on bubbles, and the alternative is to drown in them.

Friday morning bright and early, I sent a quick text to Heather to wish her a happy Board Meeting, and then set off for the beach. Ha ha! I didn’t get a reply. Can’t think why not! The beach, I’m pleased to say, was a vast improvement on Bahrain’s sad little offering, but I got my comeuppance for being mean to my favourite female director, when the sun resolutely refused to shine all day. 28º still, all the same.

Comeuppance continued into the evening with a torrential thunderstorm. More photo opps of Old Spikey by lightning, and this amazing flooded highway. They really don’t do rain here.

We spent a lovely day wandering around the malls but hardly a photo opportunity, and then back in the balmy hotel courtyard, Andy persuaded me to smoke a shisha – that’s one of those hubba bubba pipe things with water and flavoured tobacco. I managed not to disgrace myself by choking.

Over in mall-land, we caught the water fountain by music display. Same team that did Las Vegas, apparently. Then back to the hotel for more wine.

A few hours in the pool and sunbathing on Sunday before heading back to Bahrain, but not before receiving an email from Hazel at the store. Team HC Bahrain have only gone and sold another 4 Chocolatier’s Tables … in one transaction! And apparently, Ronald sold another one last week and didn’t even tell me! Well, I know that Team Bahrain is following the blog, so another well done to you all, and well done to Ronald for your earlier one too!

Enough already. It’s time for bed. Tomorrow is the official press launch of HC Bahrain and I (really) need my beauty sleep. I might even have a go at posting a video tomorrow. We’ll see.