Win your own trip to Dubai! and Dubai Diaries - Day 2

Written on Wednesday 31st August 2016 

Even though this was the second day of our trip to Dubai it feels like we've spent a lot longer here - possibly because so much is packed into each day or possibly because we've got so immersed in the unique culture of this awesome place that we no longer feel like strangers here.

This morning I was the first up and we let the kids lie in as long as possible as they were all so sleep deprived from yesterday.

The beds at the Rove Hotel are super comfy. For anyone that's read any of my arthritis posts or posts on previous holidays, may well remember just how important (vital in fact) it is for me to have a firm supportive good quality bed to prevent my back pain from worsening.

In the past there have been several occasions where we've headed home early from holiday accommodation purely because the bed just wasn't up to scratch.

There isn't really any excuse for it because ultimately a stay away from home when stripped to its most fundamental basic requirement is about getting a good night's sleep and yet we've found plenty of places that just don't invest in decent quality beds.

Rove know how important it is to get the very basics right and so they actually state "Our #dreamworthy designer mattresses will guarantee a good night's sleep" and they certainly did not let me down.

Ready to Rove!

We met Dainis our wonderful guide and our driver at 9.30 and headed to the other side of the creek to the old part of town. We'd been booked in for the cultural breakfast at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding. The food was traditional Emirati cuisine and in our world of sugary cereals and toast this looked far more like a savoury evening meal than breakfast but it was so delicious and used many of my favourite spices like saffron and cardamom in the various dishes.

Over breakfast we were able to ask any questions at all - nothing was considered to be inappropriate. We all learnt so much about Emirati tradition and the Muslim religion and it was eye opening to learn how so many of the principles actually make a whole lot of sense once you hear the reasons behind them.

We also had the opportunity to try on traditional Emirati dress which was great fun.

This is one place that I would highly recommend a visit to. At times in Dubai it is easy to forget exactly where you are in the world - for example, in the mall, you could think for a moment that you're in a mall in the States or Canada. But visiting somewhere where you can actually learn about the roots of the place was just awesome. Our experience of Dubai just would not have been the same without our cultural breakfast experience. So thank you SMCCU!

Early afternoon was a trip across town to Bounce. It is similar to the trampoline parks that seem to be springing up across the UK but this one certainly had more than the one near us at home.

Once we put on our colourful bounce socks, there were 5 different zones to try out. As the schools are back already in Dubai and it was midweek, it was actually quiet enough for us to have a section zoned off just for our own use. It really does feel like we are being treated like royalty here. We had our own Bounce person allocated to us to help, show us new skills and play dodge ball with us. Her colleague was also around to impress us with her wall running and wall falling skills. Be totally wowed with this video - but definitely don't try this at home!



The day wasn't done yet as we headed back to the hotel for a short rest and a swim in the pool - perfect for cooling off.

It just felt so surreal going swimming whilst being able to look up and see the Burj Khalifa from the pool!

Today has been a lot more humid than yesterday so whenever I step outside my glasses steam up. Outdoor photos are tricky because the camera lens steams up within seconds and yet the heat is not the huge worry that I originally thought it would be. Buildings are air conditioned and most our time is indoors and so it really hasn't been an issue.

The only weird thing about it us that sometimes you can see the place you need to get to just across a couple of roads and in the UK you'd just walk across in 5 minutes. Here you need to get a taxi because it is too hot to walk even for a few minutes outside.

After swimming we were off to the famous Jameira Beach part of town to Aprons & Hammers. You quite literally need aprons and hammers as well as various other tools for eating your seafood dinner.

The paella tasted amazing!

We ordered a small bucket of crabs to share and the kids really enjoyed smashing their way into the crab to get the crab meat out.

My eyes keep drifting shut as I write this at a quarter past midnight and we have another busy day tomorrow so night night.

WIN A TRIP TO DUBAI!!!

We won this amazing experience which was truly a holiday of a lifetime via Visit Dubai and Tots100 (special thanks to Extraordinary Chaos blog too as it was via Richard's comment on Sarah's blog that won!) 

The really good news is that Visit Dubai are offering another chance to win a holiday! You can read more over at A Mummy Too, The Ana Mum diary and Mummy, Daddy, Me.  There's lots happening in conjunction with Tots100so keep an eye out for the #DubaiTomorrow twitter party on September 6th 2016 for more chances to win prizes.