we were able to see the ice rink, which was kind of weird. not only because you see people ice skating in t-shirts, or because it's the middle of the desert, but because it's an olympic-sized rink in the middle of a mall. what's worse - it doesn't even look that big - that just goes to show the size and scale of this place. it's totally and completely unreal and amazing. they literally have EVERYTHING.
i had just been joking that we should go to a diner for breakfast, saying "too bad there isn't one" when WHAM, there was a diner across from the ice rink. we ate in the downstairs food court, which uses real plates and silverware (and nice ones) instead of disposable stuff. the type of food available is a bit more upscale if you will, but not super expensive. for example - the upstairs food court has mcdonald's and taco bell, but downstairs has fatburger, nando's (apparently "flamin' good chicken" that you can put their hot peri-peri sauce on - we're getting on in RAK so we'll comment in the future) and soon to be balducci's among others. serge had asian, mom had a sandwich from sumo salad and i ate a yummy indian meal.
this mall is so amazing that they are also going to be getting a boulangerie eric kayser which makes THE best baguettes in paris. they'll be getting a bloomingdales and galeries lafayette.not to mention that awesome bookstore from singapore whose praises i've already sung the last time we visited. there is almost nothing they don't have or aren't getting.
they have a massive waterfall in one part of the mall with these sculptures of people diving off of it into the pool below. there is a gold souk within the mall that is gigantic and elaborate in itself, never mind the fact that it's only a small part of the mall. it's the size of a regular mall within a mall. and in the middle of the souk is a huge atrium dedicated to arabian treasures with live falcons, majlis tents, henna tatoos, etc. they even have cafes, food outlets and a chocolate lounge within the souk because it's so big.
what else? this time, we paid to go through the aquarium tunnel and visit the underwater zoo. it was really neat - tons of marine exhibits, nicely presented and explained. a much better experience (and half the price) of the aquarium in atlantis. the tunnel was okay - the total enjoyment of our experience was only marred by the psychotic 4 year old who was screaming her head off in the tunnel for fun because it made a weird amplified sound. (oh - the tunnel runs under the massive aquarium and you see sharks and fish and rays swimming around you and above you. and in the underwater zoo, you stand on top of the big tank and can feed the fish as they swarm below your feet. pretty cool.)
from there, we checked out the waitrose supermarket and discovered that they have awesome bread (not too expensive). too bad dubai is a bit far to buy bread! all in all, it was an awesome day!
what am i stupid? memory clouded by capitalism? the morning was good too! weather was okay (just cloudy), so we went over to the camel racetrack in RAK to catch a camel race. how interesting it was. julian was just fascinated with camels. only i, the "no pets for me, thanks", could have a child who most likely is going to want to adopt every animal he finds. funny how life works.
anyway, there didn't seem to much organization, but it was interesting all the same. camels hooked to other camels (training)? some with their robotic jockeys, some not. some racing, some not. i think we had probably missed the main event, as it starts at 7am (runs 'till 10) and we had arrived a little before 9. once i get the photos downloaded from my mom, i'll post. (yeah right. we all know my track record with posting photos!)
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