The Mall aka the Zoo

“So I’m going out tonight In my red high heels!”

Derek and I decided to try out the night life last Friday. Everything we read about it said to be pretty dressed up- guys in a collared shirt and no tennis shoes. They also said to make sure to have girls with you because they don’t tend to let big groups of guys in (good thing Derek has me!) There is a bar/lounge/restaurant place in the same building as our office- I’m talking so close its on the “ground” floor next to the elevator and our office is on the 6th floor. We walk by this place, called Lotus One, everyday, and every time we walk by it I was so bothered that we’d never been there. So Friday we decided to check it out.

First, we had to go to the mall so Derek could get a collared shirt, because he didn’t bring any besides his work shirts. Derek brought the absolute minimum with him; I don’t know how he did it- only one 50 pound bag. I on the other had wanted to make sure and have everything, so I brought 100 pounds worth of stuff. Lol Such a girl thing to do I know! We spent the morning lying around by the pool, which was fantastic! The rental car was delivered to hotel that morning and we had to wait for that. It’s a small Toyota hatchback thing, pretty cute actually- there’s a picture of Derek by it.

Late afternoon we went on our first driving adventure to the mall. The people here drive like maniacs!! Worse than Florida and Houston combined! Thank goodness I MADE Derek drive (I really like have a chauffer- hehe). They honk like they’re playing music or something. Luckily we made it to the mall without too many problems, and we only had to turn around once.

The Mall of the Emirates is huge! It has the indoor ski park attached as well as this place called Carrefour (which is like their Wal-Mart- I only know what it is because we did a case study on Wal-Mart going into China in one of my classes, and Carrefour is their biggest competitor there). There were probably a million people in the mall- it was a mad house! It gives me a headache just thinking about it now. The first thing we did was sit down and have a Cinabon!! Yep they have them here and Derek had never had one before. They actually had a waitress seat us and take our order- crazy right! They were of course delicious.

Next was our mission to find Derek a shirt. This mall had all the designer stores (we didn’t go there!) they also had a H&M and a Forever 21! We went to about 5 different places and couldn’t find a decent shirt for under 275 Dhs/AED (I don’t which it is, they use both). Finally we find a store that had a great shirt for like 120 (a little over $30), thank goodness because otherwise we would have had to change our night plans. I found a pair of fantastic shoes for 125 AED! They’re red patent with straps that go across my foot. (ps- I love that song by Kellie Pickler ‘Red High Heels’!! so that’s what I did.) I found a store that had a sign up that said “a girl can never have too many shoes” which is awesome- I just had to take a picture! We also picked up some cool souvenir stuff while we were there- mostly stuff that I can use in the scrapbook I’m going to make.

While there we stopped at the food court and ate dinner- pretty much your average food court. They do seem to love French fries here though. Everything you ordered could come with French fries- even my Quizno’s sandwich. They had this really cool restaurant that served French fries like baked potatoes. They put anything and everything you wanted on them; bacon, chicken, cheese, chili, onions, nacho fixing’s. Derek and I decided that we’d have to eat there sometime before we leave- I’ll make sure and take a picture of that! Since I’ve seen like 12 Marble Slabs, I just had to have it while we were at the mall. I probably waited 20 minutes to get a scoop of ice-cream (chocolate with strawberries!! yum yum). Like I was saying before the people here have no sense of order. I don’t think they believe in lines (as they call them- queues). It completely drove me crazy- you have to basically push and shove to get to the front; survival of the fittest right! And there was no way these crazy people are getting in between me and my ice-cream!

Just when I was thinking this place is such a circus, I turn around and sure enough there is a circus like marching band, No Joke! There were people on stilts dressed as clowns dancing around. There were more clowns playing brass instruments and the drums. I have no idea what they were there for but I found it quite entertaining. Along this same theme, they had a circ de sole type performance in the middle of the walkway every few hours. It was crazy the things those people could do. In the pictures I took of this stuff you can see how many people were in the mall- it’s overwhelming.

Lotus One- We left the house at about 11:15 and walked there. We got there about 11:30 and it was completely empty. We figured it was still a little early and maybe it’d get more crowded later since they don’t close till 3. We were right around 12:30 the crowd started to pick up but it was no where near crowded. Like most places it seemed to be mostly groups of friends, not too many people looking to mingle. Since Derek and I look like a couple with just the two of us standing there, we didn’t meet anyone. The drinks there were each 36 AED or $10 minimum. Which is totally outrageous- this included mixed drinks, Corona, Budweiser, and many others. Derek and I left around 1:30 totally disappointed in the place we walk by everyday. No needs to stay up late to hang out with someone you’ve done everything with for the last two weeks! This is by far the latest we’ve stayed up since we’ve been here (since were now old people! Lol). We have plans to go out next weekend and hopefully we’ll have a better time. I must say that my shoes looked great though!