This ain’t jazz but it’s good
Proof I’m on beach for Arif
Proof I’m on the beach
The beach
This morning I found my Gap beach top which I bought few years ago in London. Perfect navy blue covered top to wear over a bikini to the beach. This top inspired my blog today. It’s been a long time but I have finally hauled my arse to Jumeirah beach which is five minutes from my home.
One of the great things about living in Jumeirah is the beach but due to work and life I just don’t have time to waste sitting tanning for a few hours on the weekend. But the time came today that my pathetic grey tanned body needed to go back to being gloriously tanned like an Indian woman’s tanned body should be.
Now if your coming to Dubai you may think that going to the public beaches is a no go area but here are my handy tips to ensure you are safe and not arrested.
1. Don’t have sex on the beach. You can’t do it in Europe or elsewhere so why do it here?
2. Public displays of affection is a bad idea so don’t do it.
3. If you get questioned by police don’t hit them with your flip flops.
4. Stock up on haviana flip flops. They are the only respectable foot wear in this town.
5. You can wear a bikini but Indians/patans/arabs will stare at you.
6. If your blonde and have big tits and don’t like to be stared at cover up.
7. If pervs try to take your photo with their mobile grab it off them, take out the sim card and snap it in half. Or throw in the water.
8. You can hang out with men but don’t be flirty and stupid.
9. The beach by the Burj al arab and Jumeirah beach hotel Is always packed, full of pervs and the sea is very rough.
10. The beaches further down towards Dubai are emptier and less full of pervs.
11. Mamzar is a beautiful park but I got surrounded by patans which was gross.
12. All u need in your bag is suncream (face one separate), evian can of spray, towel, mat, book or phones with books in them, fags, water and food. Anything else is a waste.
13. Cover up going to and from beach. You can’t be skimpy off the beach.
14. Hotel beaches are only to be used when you have friends in town and you get in with them. Why would you pay 250 AED (£40) to go to a beach??
15. In the summer the water is a salty bath so great for cleansing your body for free.
16. No outlets deliver to the beach. It’s a pain in the arse.
Any further tips you may have would be appreciated.
Now I’m off to freeze my bum in the water (yep it’s cold right now)
Benihana Kuwait: The Bloggers respond
Bloggers respond! We are reposting Mark’s original post today to protest Benihana Kuwait’s action and urge the company to drop its unfair and stupid lawsuit.
My Benihana Experience
A few days back I posted about Benihana opening up at the Avenues and yesterday night I decided to pass by with Nat and try it out. The service wasn’t too bad for a restaurant that’s just been open for a few days and the staff were really friendly. The restaurant itself is made up of islands and bars with a grill in the middle of each one. You sit around the grill and the chef will come to your table and prepare the food right in front of you which makes things entertaining. It’s actually why I prefer sitting at the bar in Japanese restaurants in general, since you can talk to the chef and watch them put your dish together. The problem with my experience last night though was with the food, it was disappointing to say the least.
We ordered beef negimayaki for starters followed by an Orange Blossom maki and a Hibachi Chicken. The negimaki arrived looking good and was probably the best thing we had there even though I prefer Maki’s negimaki which has a richer teriyaki sauce. The Orange Blossom was very ordinary, wouldn’t order it again. Now the Hibachi chicken which is basically grilled chicken, that was the worst. The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible. Even after I had the chef add some more teriyaki sauce in hopes of improving the taste it didn’t work. I tried to dip it into the sauces that came with the chicken but it was hard to figure out if they were actually making things worse or not. Nat only ate one piece of chicken and left the rest while I needed my protein since I’m on a strict diet and forced myself to eat my whole plate (I can do that) but the after taste was really bad. Even the rice and the veggies that came with it tasted bad AND were under cooked. Once we left I considered picking up a frozen yogurt from Pinkberry even though I hate frozen yogurts but I just needed something to get rid of the aftertaste. A few moments later we ended up at Chocolate Bar ordering the gooey chocolate cake (bye bye diet).
I shot the two videos above of the chef preparing our meal. Benihana are known for the live shows they perform when preparing your dish so I was expecting to see [This] but ended up with the above . Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn’t. Their sashimi and maki’s are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.
Amrita spa – Raffles Hotel
Today I decided it was time for my every two month hair cut. Due to the thickness of the hair and laziness, going for a haircut is best not planned. I used to go to Maria Dowling and was a loyal fan for four years but due to the fact that you had to book so far in advance became painful when there is a lack of order in my life.
Then I decided in March to get the Entertainer book for pampering and start testing other hair salons. Not only would I get my next session for free also the cost would be less than Maria Dowling who is one of the most expensive salons in Dubai.
Today I looked in the book and decided to go for a bling salon to get my haircut. The venue Raffles Hotel, Amrita spa. The venue is lovely and very tranquil. I was a bit early so sat in the empty salon (no staff in there which was strange). Then after 10 minutes I was offered tea. Thought it was strange but said fine. What turned up was boiling water and a White box containing various types of herbal tea. Bit too healthy for me but what the hell. My choice was Moroccan nights as you can see:
The hairdresser was friendly and cute without being pervy. He had been in Dubai for 7 years so we could have a good ole rant about life here but also about why still remain here.
His bonus points came for listening to me and taking in what I wanted to be done to my hair. I only required a trim and layers cleaned up which is what I got. The blow dry was as well what I wanted. I don’t like it when my hair is straightened and curled at the end. He did it just as asked.
The cost for wash cut and blow dry was AED 319 which is pretty steep but luckily it will be half price thanks to my voucher.
If you want to spoil yourself in beautiful surroundings and be the only person in the salon this is the place for you.
3.5/5
Pamper pamper
One of the great reasons for living in Dubai are the many salons and spas that allow us to pamper ourselves for a much cheaper price than in the UK. This pampering fest is appreciated more when you buy the Entertainer – a book full of vouchers to buy one get one free for different services from waxing, manicures, spa treatments, etc.
The choice of pampering is huge and varied. From posh spas in the top hotels to the dodgy salons in the alleyway.
If you follow me on twitter you will know that I have been testing a multitude of venues around Dubai each week. Predominately my research is based on manicure, pedicures, blow drys, hair cuts and massages.
Some have been surprisingly good like nail point in Dubai Marina and some incredibly poor such as Tchip (Ibis MOE) and the nail salon in Times Square; so bad that I can’t recall their name.
I have said for a while that I will review these places and I will do after I have finished my hair cut today at Raffles Hotel Amrita Spa (hair cut and blow dry).
You know that I’m no good…
Last night there were four major concerts happening in the UAE…. Eric Clapton (Abu Dhabi), RAKmatazz (some Indian thing – Dubai), Elissa and co (Lebanese singers – Dubai) and finally Amy Winehouse (Dubai Festival City).
I went to see Amy. It was a bad choice.
Here are the reasons:
- Amy Winehouse’s voice is not meant to be for open air hearing.
- There were only two large speakers at the stage – in an open air venue!!
- The sound guy didn’t want to put her mic up, even though she’s got a quiet voice.
- The sound stage bit (with the big Fred Perry sign on it) was too far forward and too wide meaning that most of the audience had to stand way back.
- The venue is shite and not well signposted – yeah we know where to park but what about where is it exactly??
- The venue was shite.
- The queue for alcohol was ridiculously huge. Considering it was Amy WInehouse and most of the audience was British, you’d think they would know that they need more alcohol stands.
- The food was overpriced as normal.
- Did I mention how bad the venue was??
There was a lot of booing but it was mostly from drunk men who didn’t want to be there in the first place and needed an excuse to lash out as they couldn’t lash out at their girlfriends/wives.
To be fair it wasn’t Amy’s fault. She kept on singing even with the boos and she looked pissed off and upset just as much as we were. I’m sure that there will be a huge backlash on her as she is an easy target, but the people to blame are the organizers and her management. They should have known what her voice and songs were like and chosen a better venue. She would have been more suited for one of the closed arenas like the Madinat Arena or even better Jambase or the Westin bar which plays jazz.
I went to Black Eyed Peas here five years ago at airport expo. That was horrendously bad; from the venue, the transportation and more importantly the group. They did not sing properly the whole time they were there. At least Amy sang her songs and tried to sing them so we could hear.
When the majority of the audience had left she played her more famous songs which we could actually hear (not loud but we could hear). With less of an audience, less of chatting and less of the booing it was actually quite good, but by then we were cold and fed up and just wanted to go home.
Here is a video of what she is supposed to sound like in concert in a small venue with a smaller audience. So let’s just say she aint meant to be a big stage performer.
Next up on the concert timetable is Dubai Jazz Festival, 30 Seconds to Mars and finally Stevie Wonder. Lets hope it gets better.
Check yourself, before you wreck yourself
I just amended my previous blog regarding a certain shop in Al Manara. I had to protect myself and ensure that they didn’t try to sue me for complaining about the way I was treated by them two years ago. They are rich enough to sue my arse and I want my hard earned money to go to my holiday fund rather than for them to buy some more designer swag so I self-censored myself.
If you read my tweets and occasional FB status messages you would know that I am pretty open and unpolicitcally correct. Even my tag line on this blog says “I say what I think and write as I speak” (or something like that). So you can imagine that I am pretty peeved off for having to edit my blog.
I have had to delete a blog previously as it was regarding my ex-boyfriend who was a local. Nothing really derogatory in it, except that I dumped him on said blog, but friends immediately told me to remove it as he could give the blog piece to the police and get me arrested if he felt like it. Luckily as much as we weren’t meant to be together, he wasn’t a spiteful man so i’m free to still blog.
The deleting of the ex-bf blog was self-preservation. The editing is due to the Benihana Kuwait matter which has riled us bloggers no end this week. The piece from @mark248am (http://www.248am.com/mark/kuwait/my-benihana-experience/) (I don’t know how to be clever and make it a click widget so just copy and paste the link boys and girls) was not as negative as some reviews can be in this day and age, but he has now been sued by Benihana for his blog piece.
I have a bad feeing that other corporations, that have no real grasp of social media will take this as a benchmark to start suing others who give negative reviews about their products and services. Instead of embracing social media and its power in this world, they will try to stifle the opinions, creativity and openness which arises from the use of social media.
My reason for blogging is two fold – I was told that I was taking up to much of my tweeps twitter time line with my ranting and raving and also I needed a proper outlet to write. I had lost my writing mojo for many years, but this forum that I created allowed me to express my normal self for my friends and other members of the public to see.
If I was to lose this platform would I implode? Most probably not.
Would my blog be missed? I don’t really think so.
But would I be happy? Most definitely not. So if I can gain happiness from something like my blog who is anyone to stop me from being happy?
For now I will ensure that I don’t get too negative, but hopefully this stupidity will cease so that we can all go back to being our normal ranting/raving opinionated bloggers.
The new cool hip part of Dubai
There is a new cool hip area in Dubai and it hasn’t been built by Emaar. What is this area you might ask?? I will tell ya… AL MANARA.
You might be scratching your head, trying to figure out where you have seen this name. Al Manara is the last bit of Jumeirah before you get to the Mall of Emirates and Madinat Jumeirah. It’s between Al Manara Road and Al Thanya Road SZR side (not beach side). Predominately residential it has loads of beauty salons, Choithrams and a speeding camera just next to the area that has caught me too many times.
Recently Reem al Bawadi deigned the area suitable to open its new ultra big second restaurant which has meant my quick alternative onto Sheikh Zayed Road (Dubai side) has been thwarted with Lebanese/Syrian/pretentious wank Arabs parking like muppets and walking in the street in defiance when I have been driving past. I’m not annoyed! Nooooooo!
We also have the famous Emaraat petrol station with the 24 hours Mcdonalds. You cannot go there unless you are in a glam outfit and if you decide to wear your Yankees top on top of you pjs at 3 in the morning to get an ice cream sundae, the Mcdonalds crew will grin and make a comment. Emaraat has been good to me, except for the petrol attendant that keeps conning me of a few dirhams every week (I will get him fired soon if he keeps conning me). The lovely people in the bakery section try and keep me a fresh croissant and make a decent coffee and the lady at the till knows what I am asking for mumbling away in the morning half awake. But it was time for a change in our area…
And change has finally opened!! This week is the soft opening of two new outlets next to Reem – Al Zawaya and Crumbs. Al Zawaya is a little (when I mean little I mean tiny) supermarket which is very convenient for us Al Manara folk as we can get fresh milk and water and other bits and pieces which looks fresher than the corner shop by the mosque and feels more right to buy from rather than from Emaraat. I went in today to check out what was on offer. There were the normal stuff you would find in a tiny supermarket but the big massive bonus is that they deliver. So when I cannot be arsed to go get water from the Emaraat at 2am I can call the supermarket! Huzah!
Crumbs is a French/Lebanese bakery looking a bit Shakespeare’s like. The soft opening was just that and they were a complete mess but it looks promising, especially as the owner also owns Reem. The costs are high – pain au chocolate and Croissant were 8dhs each and they are a bit hard. I guess I can warm them up before eating but it’s not to my French liking. There were condiments and expensive pasta to buy (who buys this pasta??) but also mouth watering deserts which I need to try. Also they do breakfast and meals so when i’m feeling lazy (which is every weekend) I can go there for some brekkie. The only downside was that the cappuccino I ordered take away was 22dhs (ffs!) and also they had to go to Reem to make it as the machine wasn’t working in Crumbs. Not a good start but the coffee tastes good.
These two new outlets could brighten up my life if the service improves but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt (as both places asked me to) and also as they only just opened. If all good, my parents will be in heaven as they love going to these type of shops in the morning for a wander when on holiday.
There is also a Canon shop in the same row of shops. But unless you have a Canon (which I don’t have anymore) you wouldn’t be too bothered. The only thing I can say about the shop is that the Canon themed car drivers are maniacs on the road.
Also in Al Manara is an amazing massage place (end of Al Wasl near the Enoc petrol station going towards Madinat). I can never remember the name, but if you have a really really bad back they will sort you out after 2 hours of pain and unknotting all for 300dhs.
There are the numerous beauty salons in the area as well. Aroushi is good and clean but the waxing lady keeps asking me if i’m pregnant which is piss annoying. The Thai centre had a slippery floor and they were rude to me when I went to ask what services they provide. There are others but I haven’t tried them out yet.
Also there is my lovely laundry guys. They know my name, the know how to fob me off when I ask for them to dry clean my stuff in a day and they have only once lost something (a belt – not too bothered really).
The area might not be as glam as Downtown Khalifa or as overgrown by malls as Jumeirah 1 and 2, but we’re getting there. Soon we will have a Jones the Grocers (not too excited if they are overpriced like in England) and a bookshop (also not over-enthused now that I have discovered reading books on my iphone) but still its making the place more vibrant. Now all we need is a cool relaxing non pretentious bar to go to after work and this place will be sorted and a Wild Peeta outlet (hint hint @wildpeeta and @gourmetsharwama).
If you are in the area give me a holla!
Shelo9's Cheeky Rantings 