Started off the day early to get to our morning dessert safari.

We ate our free continental breakfast at 7am, then got picked up shortly after and we were headed to the west part of Dubai. It took almost an hour drive to get to the location.

When we arrived, we got a head scarf to protect from the sun and dust (had to pay for it). Then spent an hour on a dune buggy (I only drove it for 10 minutes, but had a lot of fun still). Also did sand boarding (difference between that and snowboarding is that you can’t turn with sand because the sand is too fine compared to snowboarding). The last thing before ending the safari was riding on a camel for the first time (will say it wasn’t the most comfortable thing).

Overall had a great experience with the dessert safari, but will say sellers are fairly aggressive (ie from people selling the pictures to the person giving the head scarf to a person selling ice cream).

After coming back to the hotel from the safari, had lunch at this Asian fusion restaurant conveniently located in our hotel:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2024/11/28/miss-tess/

Afterwards we made our way to the Palms area, specifically Atlantis Hotel to ride the Dubai balloon ride (you can get tickets and ride the same day without booking). Unfortunately the weather was too windy for any balloon rides. We then tried Halcyon which is attached to the Atlantis since it is a Michelin star restaurant here. Unfortunately it was closed. We then tried to enter lost chambers with a free ticket from someone who gave it to us that was walking by. They said they didn’t scan it, but apparently it was scanned! So definitely didn’t have too much luck at Atlantis, but still glad to check it out to see what the area was like (basically like an Excalibur type ambience, it had a water park).

We then proceeded to the monorail that ran through The Palms. It had a pretty nice view of the Palm area (which aside from Atlantic a lot of it was either residential or being constructed).

After the Monorail, we checked out a beach club called Barasti. Music was good (house), but I think beach set up could have been better (beach area seemed a bit small. The W hotel beside it had a nice private beach set up).

We then proceeded to Dubai Marina. The sun had already set so everything being lit up was nice (see the pics).

For the most part it is a bunch of eateries (no alcohol along the floor part of the walk, which makes sense since I assume UAE does not want people to be seen with it).

Then I got my first taste of Turkish ice cream. That was an experience (ie it took me a while to get back the ice cream from the server!).

Then we ended up checking out Bar 44 from the Gosvenor Luxury Hotel (which is part of the Marriott hotel chain). They served the Glenfiddich out of its actual glass! More details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2024/11/28/bar-44/

Also the waiter at Bar 44 told us how to obtain alcohol bottles (basically there is a site in Mall of Emirates… just ask people in the food court of that mall where the store is located. He also mentioned a place called MMI, which is a liquor store that is a bit further out).

After Bar 44 we went to eat dinner at a restaurant called Iran Zamin that is on the ground area of Dubai Marina. It had a great view. Details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2024/11/29/iran-zamon-restaurant-cafe/

We then went to a rooftop called The Penthouse at the Five Hotel, which is at the entrance of the Palm area. It has a rooftop lounge, and after 10:30 there is another room that is a night club you can enter for free (or pay a minimum spend for entering the more exclusive area). DJs like Solardo play there. The night we were there they were playing Purple Disco Machine type house music. (lol they ended up letting me in with a casual shirt and string bag. Shorts people were generally wearing here, but pants i would recommend since we couldn’t get into one place because we didn’t have pants).

And as an interesting tip and note, the hotels around the Palm area seems to have a more young (30s) and party type vibe. So next time would stay in this area (especially the hotels towards the end of the Palm).