Got to our hotel, the Novotel Suites (Mall of Emirates) just after 8:15am,

Unfortunately luck was not on our side, due to all rooms being fully booked out the night before, our room was not available till midday :(. Nothing much could be done, stored the bags at the hotel and off to the Mall of Emirates – great we were super close to this place. Got there around 9:15 am and realised most shops in Dubai do not open till 10am, did manage to find a couple of coffee shops open, time for some breaky and much needed coffee – it had been close to 16 hours since we left Brisbane. Settled for the North 28 coffee shop – looking onto the Ski fields in the mall – Neha & Pooja could not believe it, a ski field in a desert country!!

The Breakfast menu was not extensive but it did have something for all of us, Pooja ordered pancakes and a caramel shake – something about Caramel and Pooja – inseparable ! Neha got the Eggs benedict and settled for the special Hot Chocolate. Me and Nita were having the Avocado toast, a tea and latte.
The shake and hot chocolate arrived and both looked very impressive! Pooja was “omg is this a shake !!”

Food review:

Drinks: The Shake was 5 star! Hot Chocolate was more for show, was not up to it, My latte and tea were nice.
Food: Pancakes were dry and lacking taste. Eggs Benedict was brilliant – had the best hollandaise sauce, and the Avocado toast was good.

By the time we finished it was past 10 am and the mall was coming to life.
Next was roaming the mall of emirates – an vast array of shops and brands I have not seen or heard off. From my perspective, it was just another mall just larger! However for Nita and Neha this was heaven!!

We were still tired from lack of sleep and there is only soo much walking around you can do, got back to the hotel just after midday, room was ready! Room was very good, two beds on either side of the room with a living area in the middle, this was a great place if coming with a family and you want to avoid two rooms.
A warm shower was heaven and it was then time to hit the bed for some much needed rest. I put an alarm for 5pm and was soo glad it was there, it only seemed like a few minutes, the alarm was sounding and it was already 5pm!! Was time to drag the kids out of bed – always a task with Pooja! Had to make the most of each evening at Dubai, tonight we had a booking at the Buddha Bar, near Dubai Marina.
Whilst girls were getting ready, I headed down to the events/tour desk to book things for the next few days. Sorted out the Desert Safari, Bollywood theme Park, Burj Khalifa top viewing & Abu Dhabi visit, so now that was all taken care of, I could plan my ladies shopping around that!
Back in the room, girls were ready to go, bring on Dubai nights.

Taxi to the Marina took a bit longer then expected due to traffic, still made it earlier then our booking, enough time to walk around and take in the Dubai nights. Night time at the Marina is very nice. Lots of restaurants trying to lure potential customers in, kids were like “why are they forcing us to come in and eat there….”.

After a walk around the place, it was time for Buddha Bar, impressive from the outside but more so from the inside!

This was an amazing experience, so glad we got a booking to this (had to book 3 months in advance for a Sat night booking!). All dimly lit, intimate ambience, highly recommended.
Food was very good, we ordered the home made Shrimp Dim Sims – Pooja’s favourite and she was eating that with Chop Sticks, thanks to her Jitesh Mama and Aaja for teaching her that skill in Fiji recently. Next was the Indonesian Fried Rice, Singapore Chilli Prawns and Chicken Kung Pao – all very good dishes, although could have been a bit more spicy. Overall a great experience, great first night in Dubai.

Day 1 VLOG