UAE.....

We stayed up till almost 4:30 in the morning, basically talking, laughing and mapping out our moves for the day. It was decided that we would be up and out the door of our executive suite by 10 am, and surprisingly despite the lack of sleep we were indeed up and ready for our first day in Dubai.

On our agenda for the day was to first off, avoid eating since we had 12:30 reservations for the Saffron Brunch at the Hotel Atlantis.... Sight-see, and try to hit up as many places on our to-do list before our flight to New Dehli that night...

Our first stop was the Mall of Dubai..............

Now, I've been to quite a few upscale malls in my life-time... I've been to the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, the Houston Galleria, Northpark Mall in Dallas, Lennox in Atlanta... but all of these pale in comparison to the Dubai Mall...

First off, the mall smells heavenly. Incense burning, exotic oils and perfumes fill every corner... In my opinion, the mall literally smells rich. Everywhere you turn is luxury, from the sparkling emeralds and diamonds in the display windows, to the elegant tapestries on the walls and marble floor. The Dubai Mall is the epitome of fine design.....

The pictures I snapped on my phone barely do the mall justice.
Everything is just so regal.

We managed to avoid purchasing anything, so as to not have to carry around a bunch of packages before we made it to brunch.

Directly outside of the mall we were able to catch a glimpse of the Buj Khalifa, aka the tallest building in the world. Maybe it was the heat talking or either we are snobs, but we weren't too impressed with the building and declined on the offer to stand out in the 2000 degree weather gawking at it for long...

Shrugs.

Aside from all the high end shopping, the Dubai Mall has an underwater zoo and aquarium which is MASSIVE.... So many fish, sharks and other underwater creatures literally swimming away as you buy your Gucci and Prada...

Finally after canvasing the mall, we took a taxi to the Hotel Atlantis for brunch.

Brunch. Apparently, Friday Brunch in Dubai is a big deal. And by big deal, I mean a 'need all day to be seen, extreme production of an event." This by far was the most I've ever spent on brunch. Almost $125 American dollars... We were apprehensive at first, but upon setting our sights on all the splendor we understood why. This brunch is basically one huge party with all you can eat foods from around the world, all you can drink liquor and desserts...

The people watching, mixed with the DJ blasting oldies, goodies and new music, combined with the mojitos, and daquiris, and shots, and fruity cocktails, and unlimited samplings of dessert definitely made for a good time.

I was so busy stuffing my face, that I didn't take any pictures of the food I ate.

I did however snap one photo of my desserts..

Brunch was amazing to say the least...

After brunch, we decided to walk off some of the calories & explore the outside markets...

It was hot as hell, but visiting the Old Dubai Souks was a great experience. Almost like stepping in a time machine, and emerging in the days of old spice markets, bartering & trading for goods...

We visited the Gold Souks, the perfumes and finally the Spice Souk......

Being in the Souks felt like an out of body experience for me. It was surreal... Just the energy, the people, the smells, the tastes. I genuinely felt like home....

I also bought a shitload few items to take back home, including my new favorite scent Rayeem, an Arabic concentrated perfume that literally smells like everything. It straight up smells like I floated in straight from the heavens on Aladdin's magic carpet, right after genie granted all of my wishes. For real though. But I digress...

We enjoyed our time in Old Dubai.

It definitely felt more authentic than the downtown area, which is very reminiscent of Las Vegas, only hotter and hazier. We walked around a little more, then headed back to the other side of town...

Our hotel was a true blessing.

Not only did they store our luggage while we frolicked all day, they let us shower and freshen up before we headed to the airport to catch our flight.

We caught a taxi,
and headed to Dubai International Airport for India.

Oh, India.