Sapphire86:


You say it grudgingly... why na? But thnx

grudgingly ke? if your papa go let me carry you I no go think twice o

loomer:


grudgingly ke? if your papa go let me carry you I no go think twice o

Awwwww smiling sheepishly in my hotel room

Sapphire86:



Awwwww smiling sheepishly in my hotel room

�����
I'm glad I could make ya smile.

anyways how you dey enjoy Dubai?

loomer:


�����
I'm glad I could make ya smile.

anyways how you dey enjoy Dubai?

I'm enjoying it just fine... lots to see, eat and buy

Sapphire86:


I'm enjoying it just fine... lots to see, eat and buy

eat and buy must involve.
naija no dey carry last.

next yeah I hope to visit Disney in France.

hwfa give us pictures na

loomer:


eat and buy must involve.
naija no dey carry last.

next yeah I hope to visit Disney in France.

That place is also on the agenda

To those who want pictures, I'll see what i can can because I'm not really picture person by default

I'm loving this.. Pls try with pictures.... Any how

Sapphire86:


That place is also on the agenda

heard from a colleague of mine that it's quite expensive.

hammed71:
hwfa give us pictures na

I have started loading... be patient pls

Reminds me of the way someone loves shopping in Dubai..... could it be me�

chicoMX:


From an etisalat sim-card to a shopping spree, very nice!

Wonder why you had to carry lots of cash on you, just to get an etisalat sim card.

.....

Let's digress a bit and talk about the malls in Dubai. So the biggest mall is obviously the Dubai Mall; next is the Mall of Emirates (MOE), followed by the Deira City Centre and then you have the Mirdif City Center and last Al Ghurair City Centre. Al Ghurair is the smallest mall in Dubai but it's about 5 or times the size of Ikeja City Mall. It is one of the oldest malls but it is more beautiful than Dunes Abuja or even Jabi Lake Mall. It is huge and beautiful.

Al Ghurair mall is home to Swissotel Al Ghurair, it is a 5 star hotel - beautiful and of course expensive. What it means is that you can from the hotel connect to the mall and as of today, the mall has 5 entrances/exits.

Contrary to what i thought some days back that the food stores were centered around the food court area, yea it is true but what i didn't know was that there are food courts on every floor of the mall and today i went to all floors. The last floor had KFC, Italian Pizza, Wendy's (American franchise) Mc Donald's and many, many more. It was organized and peaceful. Nobody was harassing anybody 'please these chairs belong to KFC only) like they do in Nigeria. I had lunch today at Mc Donald's so dinner will be somewhere else.



*sorry for the picture angle, it will get better.
P.S. if you enjoy the story, comments and or like.

..... (cont'd)

Woke up very early because I’d like to get to the dining room early. Breakfast is served from 7 – 10:30am; I noticed that I am the ONLY black and a female at that in the hotel and when I arrived the Cinnamon Room (the name for their dining room) some days back at around 9am or so, people were just staring at me. I felt very uncomfortable, so I decided to head to the Cinnamon room early and leave early. Of course, I wouldn’t have done so if I had company but what can I do? I said I was going to leave the hotel by 10am to go to Deira City Centre (DCC) for shopping but ended up leaving by 11am because the spirit of sleep was operating heavily in my life. Today was metro day; I decided to take the metro to DCC and return by cab due to shopping bags. Metro experience was really, really nice; it was my 3rd time on a train and 2nd in Dubai; I mostly travel by cabs (London never jam me yet). I really don’t know how to explain the metro system in Dubai other than it was timely, effective and costs less. 6 Dirhams got me to DCC within 2 minutes of getting my ticket; now I know I’m gonna ‘metro’ a lot these next few days.


Finally, I’m entering DCC and in my mind I was like ‘viola, my old friend’ and as expected, the whole mall was on sales! I don’t know how they were going to make profits, but I know that revenue would skyrocket. People were on ground ready to take advantage of the discounts, but the mall wasn’t crowded like Balogun market during Christmas period. Malls are everywhere so it wasn’t like there was any particular reason for everyone to camped at the same place that’s why Ikeja City Mall is always a no-no for me during weekends, festive periods and public holidays. I can’t endure traffic to enter mall, pray to locate parking spot and wander aimlessly at the mall because there is nothing exciting going on. Upon my ascent with the escalator, I found my Etisalat store and in my mind, I was like ‘today na today, I’m getting my sim’ but I was in for a surprise. I asked the man who was in charge of ticketing about the sim and he asked if I had my passport, to which I responded ‘yes’. Just when he was about printing my ticket number, I asked him the cost of a sim and he said ‘105 Dirhams’ and as a prudent person I sharply calculated the cost of a sim, airtime and data and estimated to be at least $50, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Anybody that urgently needs to reach me can contact me on my WhatsApp. I would rather use that $50 to shop for clothes (lol).

loomer:


heard from a colleague of mine that it's quite expensive.

Paris is.... it is cash cow for the country. Highly profitable

Sapphire86:
..... (cont'd)

Woke up very early because I’d like to get to the dining room early. Breakfast is served from 7 – 10:30am; I noticed that I am the ONLY black and a female at that in the hotel and when I arrived the Cinnamon Room (the name for their dining room) some days back at around 9am or so, people were just staring at me. I felt very uncomfortable, so I decided to head to the Cinnamon room early and leave early. Of course, I wouldn’t have done so if I had company but what can I do? I said I was going to leave the hotel by 10am to go to Deira City Centre (DCC) for shopping but ended up leaving by 11am because the spirit of sleep was operating heavily in my life. Today was metro day; I decided to take the metro to DCC and return by cab due to shopping bags. Metro experience was really, really nice; it was my 3rd time on a train and 2nd in Dubai; I mostly travel by cabs (London never jam me yet). I really don’t know how to explain the metro system in Dubai other than it was timely, effective and costs less. 6 Dirhams got me to DCC within 2 minutes of getting my ticket; now I know I’m gonna ‘metro’ a lot these next few days.


Finally, I’m entering DCC and in my mind I was like ‘viola, my old friend’ and as expected, the whole mall was on sales! I don’t know how they were going to make profits, but I know that revenue would skyrocket. People were on ground ready to take advantage of the discounts, but the mall wasn’t crowded like Balogun market during Christmas period. Malls are everywhere so it wasn’t like there was any particular reason for everyone to camped at the same place that’s why Ikeja City Mall is always a no-no for me during weekends, festive periods and public holidays. I can’t endure traffic to enter mall, pray to locate parking spot and wander aimlessly at the mall because there is nothing exciting going on. Upon my ascent with the escalator, I found my Etisalat store and in my mind, I was like ‘today na today, I’m getting my sim’ but I was in for a surprise. I asked the man who was in charge of ticketing about the sim and he asked if I had my passport, to which I responded ‘yes’. Just when he was about printing my ticket number, I asked him the cost of a sim and he said ‘105 Dirhams’ and as a prudent person I sharply calculated the cost of a sim, airtime and data and estimated to be at least $50, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Anybody that urgently needs to reach me can contact me on my WhatsApp. I would rather use that $50 to shop for clothes (lol).

It seems all the malls in Dubai are always on sales, a gentleman's way to steal money from people. How did you come about your conversion rates (it's less than $50)?

chicoMX:


It seems all the malls in Dubai are always on sales, a gentleman's way to steal money from people. How did you come about your conversion rates (it's less than $50)?

105 is just the cost of sim.... data and airtime not included... by the time you add this and that.. I'm may be looking at $50

Sapphire86:


105 is just the cost of sim.... data and airtime not included... by the time you add this and that.. I'm may be looking at $50

Okay.. The pictures though, I pray they get better with time

chicoMX:


Okay.. The pictures though, I pray they get better with time

Chisosssss..... the shade is REAL Amen

Reason i dont like whipping out my camera to take pictures is that it makes me look like a tourist and sometimes i just like to blend in

Sapphire86:
I woke up that certain Wednesday feeling ‘oh, the day has finally come’. I was still running up and down doing last minute packing, attending to a dozen issues while trying to remember a dozen more still undone. I am not one for last minute rush, but this time was different – delays here and there with the visa and ticket both finally coming through less than 48 hours before departure.

I

.... to be continued

I wish all Nigerians can be like you. We are the main cause of this bribe issue. I love the way you didn't give in to bribe them. The first and the last time I bribed was 2013 and since then I have lost count of how many times I traveled but didn't give in to bribe. Na only God bless you I dey do.

Akorkor:


I wish all Nigerians can be like you. We are the main cause of this bribe issue. I love the way you didn't give in to bribe them. The first and the last time I bribed was 2013 and since then I have lost count of how many times I traveled but didn't give in to bribe. Na only God bless you I dey do.

God bless you

I hate their way of life at the airport. It's really sickening. Other country immigration officers will harass you because you are a Nigerian, then your own country sef will still be harassing you. what nonsense.

Sapphire86:


God bless you

I hate their way of life at the airport. It's really sickening. Other country immigration officers will harass you because you are a Nigerian, then your own country sef will still be harassing you. what nonsense.

Enjoy your stay in Dubai and make sure you enter Deira market and gold market too ... I am sure you have bought as many cloth at Dubai mall. The mall is massive I must say. Enjoy my dear. And make sure you don't give them 1kobo at MMA when you come back.

Akorkor:


Enjoy your stay in Dubai and make sure you enter Deira market and gold market too ... I am sure you have bought as many cloth at Dubai mall. The mall is massive I must say. Enjoy my dear. And make sure you don't give them 1kobo at MMA when you come back.

If you no get money, hide your face...

I be wan waka jumeriah 2moro

Hello Sapphire86,

Thanks for documenting your Dubai trip. Please do mind talking about your visa procurement procedures as well for prospective Dubai travellers? Thank you!

Sapphire86:
.....

Let's digress a bit and talk about the malls in Dubai. So the biggest mall is obviously the Dubai Mall; next is the Mall of Emirates (MOE), followed by the Deira City Centre and then you have the Mirdif City Center and last Al Ghurair City Centre. Al Ghurair is the smallest mall in Dubai but it's about 5 or times the size of Ikeja City Mall. It is one of the oldest malls but it is more beautiful than Dunes Abuja or even Jabi Lake Mall. It is huge and beautiful.

Al Ghurair mall is home to Swissotel Al Ghurair, it is a 5 star hotel - beautiful and of course expensive. What it means is that you can from the hotel connect to the mall and as of today, the mall has 5 entrances/exits.

Contrary to what i thought some days back that the food stores were centered around the food court area, yea it is true but what i didn't know was that there are food courts on every floor of the mall and today i went to all floors. The last floor had KFC, Italian Pizza, Wendy's (American franchise) Mc Donald's and many, many more. It was organized and peaceful. Nobody was harassing anybody 'please these chairs belong to KFC only) like they do in Nigeria. I had lunch today at Mc Donald's so dinner will be somewhere else.



*sorry for the picture angle, it will get better.
P.S. if you enjoy the story, comments and or like.

If I can add to your write up, I don't think Al ghurair Center is the smallest mall in Dubai, it is the oldest in Dubai.... true but we still have Reef mall which is smaller than the Alghurair center and there is Ibn Battuta mall, Mercato mall, the Village Mall, Burjuman mall, the outlet mall, Century Mall, festival city mall, wafi mall, Dubai Marina mall, the dragon mart and a host of others

ferhyntorlah:
Hello Sapphire86,

Thanks for documenting your Dubai trip. Please do mind talking about your visa procurement procedures as well for prospective Dubai travellers? Thank you!

u ppl hav com to derail this thread now. park one side oh.

samee72:


If I can add to your write up, I don't think Al ghurair Center is the smallest mall in Dubai, it is the oldest in Dubai.... true but we still have Reef mall which is smaller than the Alghurair center and there is Ibn Battuta mall, Mercato mall, the Village Mall, Burjuman mall, the outlet mall, Century Mall, festival city mall, wafi mall, Dubai Marina mall, the dragon mart and a host of others

Thanxs.... yes, i remember Reef Mall and a couple but are they major malls? I know there will be malls across all locations but i don't know if they are major.

..... (cont'd)

Anyway, today’s shopping was wonderful, I stayed on budget and checked out at a good time (or when I was exhausted). I really don’t know how people can spend 6 – 8 hours shopping at a mall; I give them props because it is already a job. I had no specific shop in mind as I said I’m led by discounts and so when I entered a shoe store doing ‘buy 1 get one free’ and the prices were sweet already, I was dancing in my mind. No questions asked or ambiguous grammar needed – you just buy a pair of shoes, sandals or slippers and pick another one free (of the same quality and type) and I did just that! Then it was New Look store time and as usual 30% off the items in the store and further reductions on already reduced items. I thought to myself ‘how will their profit look like?’ but why should I take Panadol where clearly there was no headache? And so it was in all stores some with ‘buy 1 get 1 free’ or ‘30% off’, ’30% - 90% off’, ‘buy 2 get 2 free’ and even ‘50% off’ everything. I got carried with the deals that I forgot my bag at the shoe section (yes, careless me ). It took a while for me to even remember (don’t abuse me please ) and when I located the bag, EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING – my dollars, dirhams, passport and even phone were still intact! Now, I don’t want to think of what would have happened had it been it had happened back home (I don’t feel like mentioning my country; let me still be loyal) but these residents in Dubai are real legit mehn! I really couldn’t believe my carelessness or even foolishness but in all I thank God that HE got me! It really was time to leave the mall after that incidence.


Strolling to the food court to pick up lunch before cabbing back was really exciting. There were American franchises, Chinese restaurant, Indian restaurant, you just name it, it was there and well organized. I decided to stick with my usual Dubai ritual which was Chinese takeout because in Nigeria, Chinese was a luxury, here in Dubai, it’s nothing special and very affordable. You really do not have to break the bank to eat well. I ordered my food to go and minutes later was talking towards the taxi area of the mall – there you have taxis lined up waiting to take you to your destination. All those cars that ‘awon’ boys in Nigeria will be forming like they have arrived, are used for cabs in Dubai and they are new, not ‘Tokunbo’ (pre-owned) first grade. My luxurious trip back to my hotel set me back 15.50 AED while metro was just 6 AED! I would have used the metro but for my bags but going forward since sales across malls in Dubai end today, I won’t be buying much. I just will be sightseeing.


Chilling in my hotel room which eating Chinese and watching Marriage Boot Camp online, I knew I had to take advantage of the evening at the Al Ghurair Centre which was a walking distance from my hotel because today marked the last day of the 3 days sales across malls and prices may/will revert to normal come morning tomorrow. I got dressed and headed for the mall, changed money along the way and proceeded to enjoy the last moments of the sale. I was just walking from store to store looking at what I could buy for myself as well as family and friends. The mall was still popping as at 6pm with people trying to lock down their last-minute shopping. I saw denims for 29 AED (29 AED imagine!) but they were all big sizes; I was so burned. I got lost at a certain period because there were so many shops with so many exits and entrances – one thing about their malls is that one road does not always lead to the market. There were so many brands all competing for the Arab piece of cake. There was a particular beauty store selling perfumes and makeup not offering even 1% discount and it was like a grave yard – nobody was in it! Having spent all that I had changed and bought gifts for everybody on my list, I was satisfied because I knew whatever I had left was for me and me alone! It was time for me to pickup dinner and head back.

ferhyntorlah:
Hello Sapphire86,

Thanks for documenting your Dubai trip. Please do mind talking about your visa procurement procedures as well for prospective Dubai travellers? Thank you!

Hi,
Honestly, there is no story there. Sometimes, it can be easy for some; sometimes it can be stressful for some. I just applied and paid, and that was it.

Sapphire86:
..... (cont'd)

Anyway, today’s shopping was wonderful, I stayed on budget and checked out at a good time (or when I was exhausted). I really don’t know how people can spend 6 – 8 hours shopping at a mall; I give them props because it is already a job. I had no specific shop in mind as I said I’m led by discounts and so when I entered a shoe store doing ‘buy 1 get one free’ and the prices were sweet already, I was dancing in my mind. No questions asked or ambiguous grammar needed – you just buy a pair of shoes, sandals or slippers and pick another one free (of the same quality and type) and I did just that! Then it was New Look store time and as usual 30% off the items in the store and further reductions on already reduced items. I thought to myself ‘how will their profit look like?’ but why should I take Panadol where clearly there was no headache? And so it was in all stores some with ‘buy 1 get 1 free’ or ‘30% off’, ’30% - 90% off’, ‘buy 2 get 2 free’ and even ‘50% off’ everything. I got carried with the deals that I forgot my bag at the shoe section (yes, careless me ). It took a while for me to even remember (don’t abuse me please ) and when I located the bag, EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING – my dollars, dirhams, passport and even phone were still intact! Now, I don’t want to think of what would have happened had it been it had happened back home (I don’t feel like mentioning my country; let me still be loyal) but these residents in Dubai are real legit mehn! I really couldn’t believe my carelessness or even foolishness but in all I thank God that HE got me! It really was time to leave the mall after that incidence.


Strolling to the food court to pick up lunch before cabbing back was really exciting. There were American franchises, Chinese restaurant, Indian restaurant, you just name it, it was there and well organized. I decided to stick with my usual Dubai ritual which was Chinese takeout because in Nigeria, Chinese was a luxury, here in Dubai, it’s nothing special and very affordable. You really do not have to break the bank to eat well. I ordered my food to go and minutes later was talking towards the taxi area of the mall – there you have taxis lined up waiting to take you to your destination. All those cars that ‘awon’ boys in Nigeria will be forming like they have arrived, are used for cabs in Dubai and they are new, not ‘Tokunbo’ (pre-owned) first grade. My luxurious trip back to my hotel set me back 15.50 AED while metro was just 6 AED! I would have used the metro but for my bags but going forward since sales across malls in Dubai end today, I won’t be buying much. I just will be sightseeing.


Chilling in my hotel room which eating Chinese and watching Marriage Boot Camp online, I knew I had to take advantage of the evening at the Al Ghurair Centre which was a walking distance from my hotel because today marked the last day of the 3 days sales across malls and prices may/will revert to normal come morning tomorrow. I got dressed and headed for the mall, changed money along the way and proceeded to enjoy the last moments of the sale. I was just walking from store to store looking at what I could buy for myself as well as family and friends. The mall was still popping as at 6pm with people trying to lock down their last-minute shopping. I saw denims for 29 AED (29 AED imagine!) but they were all big sizes; I was so burned. I got lost at a certain period because there were so many shops with so many exits and entrances – one thing about their malls is that one road does not always lead to the market. There were so many brands all competing for the Arab piece of cake. There was a particular beauty store selling perfumes and makeup not offering even 1% discount and it was like a grave yard – nobody was in it! Having spent all that I had changed and bought gifts for everybody on my list, I was satisfied because I knew whatever I had left was for me and me alone! It was time for me to pickup dinner and head back.

Princess, what do you do for a living?

madam sapphire try and get the price of a Samsung galaxy S4 for me pls.

Trenton:


u ppl hav com to derail this thread now. park one side oh.

Mr Trenton, in your medulla oblongata, you think you have said something?