spontaneity - brought us to abu dhabi

(marina mall)

bella picked us up from the apartment, none of us had any plans. we were pretty clueless, been to most of the shopping malls, and participated in most of the activities. she asked whether we've been to abu dhabi, told her we haven't, we haven't been to the last two emirates. abu dhabi and umm al quimm. so she said we're heading to abu dhabi, i'll show you the difference between dubai and abu dhabi.

after an hour, we got to abu dhabi... the city was well planned, the buildings and the way they planned the town reminded me so much of melbourne, its all parallel and organized.

we decided to have lunch at marina mall - moka cafe, the only mall that i know in the rest of UAE that rains (and yes in-door!). that was pretty nice, a good change... i missed the wheather in KL, so rain was good for me. the simulation for the "thunder and lightning" was pretty real... yeah cheap thrill, but can't blame them, they don't really get rain there, maybe once or twice a year.

left the mall and drove around for a while, passed the 7 star hotel in abu dhabi, and i was blown away... its really beautiful. i thought it was the palace, at first. well it is called the Emirates Palace.

Bella being spontaneous, decided to just stop at the guard house and ask them if we could just drive in and take pictures of the hotel and its garden, he looked at us and said, we're only allowed to let the guests in and those who have reservations with the cafes in. she just looked at them and asked for the hotels telephone number, and called the reception counter immediately. she had requested for an instant reservation at the coffee house...

so they let us in.


(emirates palace)

i was amazed with the landscape and the detailed carvings that they had for each arch at every wing. the drive way to the jockey took us approximately 5-7 minutes! imagine the size of the place. walked into the hotel, half of the hotel was coated with the gold leaves onto the walls and pillars! again the detailed work was extremely superb! kudos to the architect and the ID!

sat down and enjoyed the coffee, chocolates, and strawberry cheese cake with bella and hubs...

without any plans, we just ended up there, sipping our drinks enjoying each others company.


(bella & i - entrance of emirates palace)

thanks bella!