holiday is over...

luxury is just a state of mind......well thats if you take away the leg cramps from flying in a class not first, and the fact that your hotel has no spa, and the view from you room is .....well just a view, then you'll agree with me.
from booking for a room at the grand hyatt hotel, to cancelling and preparing to lodge with my aunt at the jumeira beach hotel, to not being able to make the trip with her, to facing some minor challenges thus making a new budget for my trip and staying in a three star hotel. this is the description of my hotel on its website

"Fronting one of the most picturesque port in Dubai, Offering spectacular views of Dubai’s sunsets from its large frame windows as well as breathtaking expanses of Arabian Sea, Highland City Hotel welcomes you to Dubai."

now thats laughable. dont get me wrong, the service was perfect, the standard was definitely higher than a mere 3star hotel. the room was nice and although there was no spa, there was a sauna and a roof top pool *rolling eyes*. The best part was its location, in the heart of town, close to everywhere i cared to visit, thus i had a real holiday as i got time to explore the town and do other things apart from shopping.

the view from my 3rd floor room, i had to tilt the camera to get this view, right in front of me was a brick wall. so much for a spectacular view.

this on the other hand is a view from my 36th floor room in marriot habor hotel.

i had to stand on tip toe to take this from the hotels 7th floor roof top pool.

then i climbed a chair to get this shot of the 'breath taking expanse of the arabian sea". indeed websites will so sell you.

compared to the view from the fifth floor poolside in the dubai marina hotel. i didnt need to stand on tip toe for this shot:)

the dubai mall is so huge i'd be disgusted if it wasnt so beautiful, its the biggest mall in the world, think all the shops in major shopping districts in the world and some unknown holed up in one big building, thats sure to depress. thus rather than get myself depressed i busied myself with the other attractions of the mall,like watching the indoor massive waterfall, walking through the aquarium tunnel which has more than 33,000 living animals, more than 85 species including over 400 sharks and rays combined, and visiting the malls underwater zoo which had loads of facinating sea creatures you could reach out and touch.

a lil sharky right above my head. with the story of the aquarium leak a few weeks back,lets just say i had my Jaw moments doing this walk.

the dancing fountain at the dubai mall.
the fountain was spectacular. Andrea bocelli is one my favorite artist and i totally love 'time to say goodbye' watching the fountains dance to it was so emotional for me. dont have time to upload my videos of it, so heres a clip from youtube. there was a bollywood number too.


the burj Khalifa tower, the worlds tallest building has been closed indefinitely after the lift incident. Now even if it was open, i wouldnt have been on the queue to get to the observation deck. i wouldnt want to be a victim of another failed lift system.
i did the desert safari with blogger tintin, it was scarily exciting, wonder why i never did it before. My heart died a thousand times when we dune bashed, i rode the quad bike, though was too faint hearted ride it daringly....

I even had a charlotte sex and the city moment,you know the episode in either season 2 or 3 where the sales guy in a shoe shop had a shoe fetish and offered her free shoes if she'd just try on a few pairs for him.
it was a fun trip and i'm glad i did it, 5star or 3star who cares?