A duck amongst the pyramids in Dubai
Mandarina Duck has conquered the Pyramids. Look out though! We’re not in Egypt but in the Wafi Mall; one of Dubai’s luxury leisure and shopping kingdoms, where a new mono-brand store has just opened.
If you’re not a millionaire but want to live in luxury, I suggest staying at the (not inexpensive) Raffles Dubai Hotel, which, of course, is a pyramid!
A typical day in Dubai includes some serious shopping in the frenzied international stores. Make sure that you get an advantage card, with which you might even win a free flight!
For lunch, you can choose from: Thai Chi for Thai style Peking duck; Seville’s for middle-eastern hammour (grouper) served with creamy rice and mushrooms; or Planet Hollywood for all you movie fans.
After stuffing yourself, I suggest you do an “anti-guilt” workout at Pharaoh’s Club. And after that, you can plunge into the mysteries of Arabian culture with a complete “Arabian Nights” program at Cleopatra’s Spa.
Happy hour anyone? There’s ginseng for health fanatics, chocolate fondue for chocoholics at Vintage’s and free cocktail drinks for women at the very chic Carter’s on weekends.
If you’re in town during the Dubai shopping Festival you could actually overdose on shopping!
So, remedy no. 1:
sand surfing in the desert or amongst the waves at Wild Wadi alternating with skiing on fresh snow despite it being 40° Celsius.
Or remedy no. 2:
visiting archaeological sites - such as Al Ghusals, Al Sufooh and Jumeirah - that date back 2000 years and the house of Sheik Saeed, a historical and cultural monument or one of the largest gold souks in the world.
So, what about you? What do you do to recover from a shopping overdose? I admit it, I don’t do anything … I just revel in it!
25 September 2008 at 00:19
I can totally back a lot of this post from experience - although a lot of the Dubai attractions mentioned here were not invented when I worked and played in Dubai in the late 80s into 1990, I certainly remember having great fun exploring the Wadis. When a friend first referred to ‘wadi bashing’ I was a bit worried as it sounded like a violent tribal game but the thrill of riding through the wadis (dried up river beds in the desert) in a 4×4 was brilliant. I say dried up but the best bit is coming to a part where there is still water from recent rainfall etc - swimming in fresh water (as opposed to sea) is a real novelty in the UAE - lovely. You also get to visit East Coast places like Fujairah, where you wouldn’t necessarily want to live but are very nice.
19 May 2009 at 10:48
hi
am a company in kuwait and i would like to open a shop for mandariba duck in kuwait throw your company in dubai please can you help me with this
thanks
hamad malallah
8 April 2010 at 12:34
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