Day 03 – Today, we’re changing hotel to be closer to the “activities” we’ll be doing the next couple of days, so this afternoon, we’re just going to the beach. There’s about 2 km of desert before we can get there, but the beach is huge, the sand is fine and the water is… boiling. We cannot believe it. It’s like we’re in a bath in wintertime. It’s not even refreshing. Also, it is super salty. So salty it hurts the eyes when they get wet. But we are not complaining, we are having a blast! Around 5:30, the lifeguards start to blow their whistles. We’re intrigued. A woman who was bathing with her baby tells us in French that they are warning people because at 6 o’clock, everybody has to be out of the water. It is forbidden to stay afterwards.
We thank the woman and Julia decides to go talk to her about parenting in Dubaï. A few hours later, Julia is still talking to Soumaya, Doo is chatting with Sylvestre (Soumaya’s husband) and Côme is playing with Lana (one of their daughters). We have just met the nicest expat family in Dubaï. Since it is getting super late and we all need a good shower to get rid of the salt and sand, we decide to plan a dinner on friday with them. They drive us back to our hotel and after a quick bite at the local Indian restaurant, we call it a night. We have a long day tomorrow…
Oh and yes! people had to get out of the water at 6 o’clock but then, once the lifeguards were gone, some went back into the water.
Day 04 – Today is Aquaventure Park day! The biggest aquatic park in Dubaï. You know the one with a ride called “The leap of faith”, an almost vertical slide ending in a tunnel through a shark tank. Doo had shown some videos of it to Côme months ago and we had to do it.
The park is located on the far end of the palm tree island so we took a monorail train to get there. The exciting adventure was already starting. Once in the park, we changed ourselves and went straight to the most thrilling slide. Unfortunately, because of 3 cm (1 inch) Côme couldn’t ride the slide passing through the shark pool so we went to the next big one he could do. And in short, Doo and Côme loved it! They have done this one about 7 times during the day. Julia however… well, suffice to say she went there only this one time. Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture to show you of the moment she realized we would free fall. We saw it at the store though, it was priceless! Well actually it was really expensive that’s why we didn’t buy it, but this picture is engraved in our memories forever and the thought of Julia’s terrorized face will always give Doo a fit of laughter… The day went on with loads of fun as we enjoyed the many slides and activities to do in the park. We came back home late at night and went straight to bed. The next day would also be a long day.
Oh and the “leap of faith” was not that frightening. Doo was a bit disappointed…
Day 05 – Today we are off to another amusement park, well actually two: Motiongate and Legoland. This time, we have plenty of pictures to show you (in the gallery) but once again we won’t be detailing the day. We also had a lot of fun of course (who wouldn’t in an amusement park) and there’s one thing that particularly stood out from the day: we were almost alone in the park. Really! We are not even sure there were a thousand people. You can see it in the pictures. There were entire parts of the parks where we were completely alone and they started the rides just for us. It was a very strange feeling. It was like we were in an abandonned theme park. We were even happy to cross path with other families. Honestly we didn’t even see 50 children during the entire day… It was really weird to be alone. The highlights of the day were the Dragon ride (it was so cool, we’ve done it about 6 times, we felt like we were flying) and for Julia and Doo the Madagascar ride that launches you super fast (once again for 3 cm, Côme couldn’t do it).
These days, Côme:
Did not understand: why you couldn’t build legos in Legoland.
Learnt: that air could propel light balls.
Loved: the ride Hotel Transylvania and the scary slide.
Julia:
Did not understand: why they built things so far from the beach/shore.
Learnt: that she hated Doo as much as loved him while free falling in the slide.
Loved: her encounter with Soumaya.
Doo:
Did not understand: how the theme parks could stay open with so little people visiting.
Learnt: 1m20 is the minimum height one must have in Dubaï for all thrilling rides.
Loved: to see Julia’s terrorized face.