Adventures In Dubai Day 24: Visit To A Few Countries In One Mall

It was a boring day and it was so boring, my son actually watched and ENJOYED the MOST HATED show that I personally hate FOR BABIES-- Tellytubbies...

Then we had a boring late lunch cos we both woke at 12 noon that day... it was maggi noodles in tomato sauce with tomato soup. Max was coming home early cos he had a office lunch.. and afterward, we are going to IBN Battuta.. it is a shopping mall designed after the travels of a famous arabic traveller, IBN Battuta (click in his name to read up about him on wiki)

Max dropped us off at some place and when we went in, we realized it is some sort of shop like Ikea called Homes R Us... so we had fun posing with furniture:)

When we walked furthur in, we realized that we are in the part of the mall called INDIA COURT. See the indian elephant.. and the little "indian boy" posing there:P hahahahaha...

It was really nice and there was some sort of playground there.. I am not sure if we have to pay though so I din let Ace play there as I only had 100DH with me and forgot to get more money from Max.. and I am not sure how much i would need later for dinner or whether there is anything I would want to buy...


So Ace ended up just posing with the ride..muahahahahaa...

Then because I had no map, I just anyhow walk and ended up in the CHINA COURT. I must say it is a very very strange experience to walk into this place decorated like the chinese palaces we see in tv shows.. and we dun even get to see this sort of decor in sgp.. while we see so many shops all around...


There was some sort of JUNK (as in a ship) in the China Court and there was a Shanghai Market that was on... it was like a pasar malam with alot of kiosk and by then we already found a map.. I realized alot of the food is located here and asked if Ace wanted to eat here.. however, it was unfortunate that the shops kept burning those arabic incense and so it was really very smelly.. until Ace complained and said he wanted to vomit.. so he refused to eat there.. so I told him we will walk and find if there are other places to eat..


Along the way, there was a mini exhibition about Zheng He.. and some things he collected like the wooden giraffe he received when he travelled to Africa.. andsome decors about chinese inventions.. in the lower right corner, that is a minscule chinese chariot.. somehow no matter how the chariot turns, the man on top is always pointing to the SOUTHern direction... cool right?:P

And they have all sorts of nice sighs everywhere.. even near the toilets!:)

Then we moved on to the Persia Court...

Here, they had an exhibition on the astrology related equipment that the islamic scholars used to measure like when the moon will be full and when would be their new year..


It is all so beautifully tiled..... Pity my camera cannot capture it all cos i was mainly in a hurry to look for food.. cos along the way, Ace kept reminding me, "Mummy, I am very hungry already.. after a while I will be grumpy and angry... " and started whining about him being tired lah.. hungry lah.. thirsty lah....

He forgot his hunger for a good 5 minutes though when he saw this BMW racing car bed.. he says his bed at home is not as cool as this.. he was so excited he even wanted to "add petrol" to the car and asked me to take photo of it..

I saw a sign that pointed towards the Egypt Court and it said there is a food court somewhere.. so I just followed the sign and we passedby yet another Hello Kitty shop... and a shop tat sells pink camel stuff called Camella...


In Egypt court, there is an exhibition about IBN Battuta.. I briefly went through it and read the slightly more interesting parts to the already hungry and growing angry Ace...


And then, finally, I see light at the end of the tunnel! I see a FOOD COURT and as I walk into the FOOD COURT, I see mac donalds! Such a life saver! hahahahahaha..

However, ordering food here is a very unpleasant experience. Let's just say that you have to relax your standards and cannot compare sgp with dubai because it is a different culture. Here, the service staff take their own sweet time. They are mostly friendly and oblidging but they are slow and sometimes very silly...

The lady in front of me ordered a happy meal. WHen the staff took out a tray for her, she indicated that she wanted to takeaway and the staff actually gave her a dirty look before keeping the tray... AMAZING!



And then it is my turn right. I told the person I wanted a happy meal.. cheeseburger without patty and add lettuce. He looked at me stunned.. and I had to repeat my order slowly.. and then I think he already keyed in somethign wrongly... so I waited another 3 minutes while he got his manager, restarted the machine and rekey in my order.. and there was not a single word of apology because being asked to wait is the most natural thing in this part of the world.. everyone does things according totheir time plan and their speed.. not according to yours.. even if you are the paying customer.....

And then he spent another two minutes quarrelling with another staff who came out and the two of them quarrel about some work procedure IN FRONT OF ME with the manager standing between them AND NOT BOTHERING TO STOP THEM! Another amazing thing!

Anyway, I finally got my order, I checked the slip and both said CHEESE BURDER, without patty, add lettuce but when i opened my burger, THERE WAS STILL BEEF PATTY INSIDE! Can someone wake up their idea? Can I complain to Mac donalds HQ?

So I told Ace I am really upset with their service here and explained to him what happened.."Then what did you do?" He asked me... "I gave them a black face to let them know I am unhappy..." I told him....

After eating his meatless burger for about a minute... he told me, "Mummy, do you know you still have your black face leh..." So I thought Ace is right, no point spoiling my day over this and I chose to resume my good mood...

Then onward we went to Atulansia Court (I think it is an olden name for Turkey)

They had this exhibition about flying contraptions...

An an Arcade that Ace loved:)



But all they have here is this fountain.. so after that, we walked backwards to Eygpt because I promised Ace to go back to THE TOY SHOP we saw there on our way to finding dinner...


Yipee! Back to the toy shop where there were alot of toys.. and Max joined us shortly while we were there...


Check out the lifesize doll called MY BEST FRIEND... and then there was a slide and a trampoline outside where Ace had fun jumping up and down..


Then we walked around a little and Max saw this really nice jacket on sale.. matched the shirt i bought him ;) But he din buy it in the end because he says white colour is difficult to take care cos Max always mix his whites and other colours in washing.. (bah, the colour of his white towels here is all SAND COLOUR LOR)

We went back to the food court to get dinner for the both of us and we were so happy to find Lemongrasss Express there! Max ordered green curry for himself and some sort of mushroom noodle soup for me.. both are yummy!

And then Max bought some donuts for Ace... they were going for 2 for $10 and 6 for $20.. so of cos we bought 6:)


Then we happily went shopping in "MAX".. that's Ace doing the, "What is my dad's name doing on the store logo" pose... Halfway though, Mr Ace Buzz Lightyear wanted to poop and LS in the toilet... that is him trying his best to POOP....

One more Hello Kitty shop!

Then it was time to go home...

Max bought Ace another set of two guns from The Toy Shop Sale.. and the two of them started a shooting war again.. hahaha

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