UAE Invasion Part 2

The 1^st part of my UAE trip can be found here.

Day 3

Days 3 and 4 were scheduled as Abu Dhabi day! After having breakfast at our hotel, we walked towards Stadium station where we took the metro to Al Ghubaiba. We were told to purchase the NOL Card which can be used for both metro and bus.

NOL Card

We rode bus number E100 to Abu Dhabi. The bus ride from Dubai to Abu Dhabi takes two hours so had a chance to nap en route to Abu Dhabi.

We arrived at Abu Dhabi bus station, in front of Al Wahda Mall, at 12pm. From there, we hailed a cab to take us to Al Diar Mina Hotel. Actually the good thing about UAE, you’ll find Filipinos all over. You can always ask around and will never get lost. And you’ll never miss the Philippines (haha!).

The receptionist at Al Diar Mina at that time is a Pinay. After she cleared us for check-in, we headed straight to our room.

After leaving our things at the room, we went to Abu Dhabi Mall via cab to grab a quick lunch and also because it is the 4th stop of the Abu Dhabi Big Bus Tour (BBT). I decided to take the BBT because it is the best way to go around the city. The ticket costs 200AED per head and is good for 24 hours. There are 17 bus stops for the Abu Dhabi BBT.

Big Bus Tour stop in front of Abu Dhabi Mall

We rode the bus at around 3pm so we have until 3pm next day to ride the BBT bus.

Sky Tower at Marina Mall

We decided to just go down at the 3^rd stop which is the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque because of the time constraint. We made one round trip ride. We alighted at the 1^st stop, the Marina Mall and had to wait for 10 minutes before the next bus leaves.

In front of Marina Mall

The Bus

The Kiosk 

Here are some of the sights we saw while on board.

Etihad Towers

UAE is a Muslim country that’s why mosques are very prevalent across the country. And Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque is the biggest within UAE.  When entering the mosque, women should wear either long pants, long sleeve blouse and have a covering in the head, or rent an Abaya. Since coming from Dubai, I left most of my things there so I did not bring my shawl. I rented an Abaya where a valid ID is the deposit.

While wearing Abaya

After exploring the mosque, we rode the BBT We got down at stop no. 4 which is Abu Dhabi Mall. We had our dinner and did some pasalubong shopping at the coop. I was killing time because I’ll meet my elementary classmate and good friend, Kaye Kuan but she was not free until 9:30pm. Kaye has been working in Abu Dhabi for at least two years now. Because my tita was already tired and had quite a few shopping bags, I decided to go back to our hotel first with her and just wait until Kaye texts me that we can already meet.

By the way, I haven’t mentioned that Ate Mayet had lent me a local sim card. I used it while I was there to keep in touch with her, and to contact the friends I am scheduled to meet.  

Kaye texted me around 10pm so I immediately hailed a cab and went back to Abu Dhabi Mall. We met up at Tim Hortons.

Special thanks to Kaye because the coffee was on her. It is somehow "customary" for our Kabayan's to treat their bisitas when they come over because it is not that often they meet bakasyionistas there.

I feel generally safe while in UAE so I did not have any problem riding a cab alone. I also went back to our hotel past 12midnight on my own. 

Day 4

We started our day early today. That morning, from our hotel, we just walked towards Abu Dhabi Corniche, the 6^th stop of the BBT.

At Abu Dhabi Corniche

We first went down at the Heritage Village.

We stayed there in time for the next BBT to arrive, that comes every 30 minutes . Our second stop is the Marina Mall. This time we entered the mall since BBT ticket includes a free entrance to the Sky Tower, which is located at the inside the mall.

Inside the Sky Tower

View from above

View from above

Before we resumed our BBT trip, we had our early lunch at Marina Mall because our next stop is Ferrari World. Exactly one week before our trip was the ASAP show at Dubai, and from Instagram I saw some artists who stayed after the show. I was already excited because I saw in Kris Aquino’s IG account that she went to Ferrari World together with Josh and Bimby.

To go to Ferrari World, we again rode the BBT at the 1^st stop (Marina Mall) and went down at 5^th stop ( Manarat al Sadiyaat). There we waited for a few minutes for the purple BBT to arrive with route to Yas Island.

Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque from a far

Before entering the theme park, I took a customary photo op at the entrance.

We only paid 240AED as entrance free for two persons (buy 1 take 1 c/o Entertainer). Here are some of the pictures I took while inside the Ferrari World.

We watched this acrobatic show

It was already dinnertime so we decided  to have dinner first at a dinner place inside Ferrari World (I can’t remember the restaurant's name).

At around 7pm we decided to go back to our hotel because we were very tired especially from all the walking and it was really hot that in Abu Dhabi (see, I did not even wear my jacket). Since our BBT ended at 3pm, we took the commuter bus no. 190 from Ferrari World to Abu Dhabi bus stop. I really did not imagine that along the way, one stop would be just walking distance from our hotel. When I saw that the vicinity is quite familiar to me, I was already on alert so when the bus stopped, we immediately alighted from the bus (3^rd stop from Ferrari World). The bus stop is just two minutes walking distance from our hotel. That saved us from taking the cab again. Abu Dhabi does not have a metro, unlike Dubai. So transportation would be either thru commuter bus or cab.

UAE Invasion Part 1

. . . Actually, the trip was just 8 full days, excluding the travel to and from Dubai. The direct flight between Manila and Dubai takes around 9 to 9.5 hours.

How did our UAE adventure began? If you have read my earlier post, I already shared how I booked the flight and chose the hotels for our entire stay.

Even before I book the flight, when thinking of Dubai and things like “Burj Khalifa” – the tallest building in the world,  “Burj Al Arab” – the only 7-star hotel in the world”, “Dubai Mall” – the largest mall in the world, “Palm Jumeirah” – man-made island in the shape of a palm tree, etc., I dreamed of visiting Dubai to see these places myself. Never did I know that I will be going there sooner than I ever expected.

Now, here are my snapshots of our recent trip. Special thanks to Ate Mayet, Tita Melinda Guevarra, and the Entertainer Dubai vouchers, we were able to maximize and enjoy our UAE trip. Both of them are working in Dubai for at least 9 years already.  

This is my “do-it-yourself” trip. I spent enormous time reading and researching information and tips online about travelling to Dubai and Abu Dhabi months before the actual trip. 

Night 1 – Friday

Our flight from Manila to Dubai was delayed for 1.5 hours. We were supposed to arrive in Dubai at 8:15 pm (12:15am Manila time), but because of the delay, we arrived at 9:45pm. Ate Mayet welcomed us at the airport and we headed to TGI Fridays for dinner (‘twas my 1^st time to eat at Fridays, hahahaha!). Since it was already late at 1:30am (Manila time), we just had a quick dinner and she drove us at our hotel. No photos on our first night :(

Day 1 – Saturday

While waiting for Ate Mayet to fetch us, we took a short walk within the vicinity of our hotel, and look at what we found!

Air-conditioned Metro Station

Air-conditioned Bus Stop

Since it was still the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), my first agenda of the trip is SHOPPING. We headed to Mirdiff City Center (with Ate Mayet as our tour guide and driver) where I was able to buy pasalubong for my family and myself, haha!

That's me at Mirdif City Center

After what I felt like an hour or so of walking around Mirdif City Center (but not really. We just enjoyed too much shopping. I must say, Dubai is really a haven for shoppers. One mall alone took most of our day time), we went to meet Tita Melinda at Al Gurg Office Furniture near Al Karama Bridge. She prepared lunch for us which became our late lunch at 4pm, hehe!

For dinner, Ate Mayet drove us to Dubai Creek. We initially planned to have our dinner there in time for the DSF fireworks, as stated in their schedule.

Ate Mayet and I at Dubai Creek Restaurant

Unfortunately, for some reason, it was not held there. Instead, Ate Mayet decided to take us at Boardwalk. We walked from Dubai Creek to Boardwalk instead of taking her car, because the weather was just fine. We were there last February and Dubai was still in winter season.

While walking and enjoying the view of Dubai Gold Course, we met a Pinoy golf cart driver who gave us a free tour of the entire gold course.

That's us having dinner, with the beautiful view of Dubai Creek

Day 2 - Sunday

This was the official start of our UAE invasion. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Sharjah City (another Emirate next to Dubai) for the Sightseeing bus tour (85AED buy 1 take 1 c/o Entertainer) via taxi. There we got a chance to explore and see what is in Sharjah.

We rode the Sharjah Sightseeing hop on - hop off bus at Al Qasba, the 6^th stop.

 While on board, here are some of the sights we saw.

Because of time constraint, we were not able to go down at any stop. Instead, after one round trip on the bus, we alighted at Al Qasba, the 6^th stop, hahahaha! We literally rode the sightseeing bus for one roundtrip.

While in Al Qasba , we rode the Eye of the Emirates (30AED buy 1 take 1 c/o Entertainer), it is said to be the “London Eye” of Sharjah.

View from the Eye of the Emirates 

We were in a hurry then because I also booked a Dubai City tour (150AED buy 1 take 1 c/o Entertainer) that afternoon. To maximize the day, we took the day, we took the Sharjah bus tour AM halfday and the Dubai City tour PM halfday.

Sharjah is less than 20mins away from Dubai, without traffic. Got thing that day, there was no traffic. We are scheduled to be picked up from our Hotel for the Dubai City tour at 1:45pm .

The small van

The big bus

Here are the places we visited that are included in the city tour.

Atlantis Hotel, The Palm Jumeirah

Burj Al Arab

Saga Department Store

Jumeirah Mosque

Dubai Museum

Abra Ride on Dubai Creek

We also visited Gold and Spice Souks but I was not able to take pictures. "Souk" means market. 

After the whole day our touring, we ended up at Deira City Center for our dinner. The highlight of the day was, when I met with my former officemate, Lea. And the great thing about that, dinner was on her. We dined out at Chili’s.

Lea G. and Elaine L. in Dubai

We met with Ate Mayet that night and again, she drove us to our hotel. That concludes our Day 2.