(Sunset in Dubai, pretty much every sunset so far has been like this)I survived my whole first week in Dubai without a drink! But I was very excited to finally go out and experience my first weekend in Dubai. Weekends in Dubai are Friday and Saturday, which was a bit confusing at first. For example, when I went to work on Sunday, I kept thinking it was Monday and wondered why so many people in the U.S. and in India weren’t working.
Going out for me is a little tricky because of my grandparents. They are very religious and they think that I have a drink occasionally, but they hate drinking. So, whenever I go out, I always say I’m going out with my cousin, and that I don’t drink at all. Anyway, Thursday night I met up with my cousin and we went to an Irish pub. I forget the name, but it is the only stand alone bar in Dubai. What I mean by stand alone is that all other bars and clubs are in hotels. Only hotels are allowed to have liquor licenses but for some reason this pub was allowed to operate outside of a hotel. And let me tell you, it felt amazing to drink a beer.
After one drink, we met up with one of Azeem’s friends and headed out to a house party at the Dubai Marina. The Dubai Marina is a neighborhood in Dubai. They basically created a massive man made marina and built literally 60 apartment and office buildings around it. All skyscrapers. I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures, but if you google search it, you will see how amazing this place is. The party itself was full of older Europeans, and it was pretty fun. They had a DJ who played good music and I got a chance to catch up with my cousin and Azeem’s friend. However, the best part of the night was when my cousin told me about the epic drunk brunches that they have in Dubai. I was seriously worried that I wouldn’t be able to do drunk brunches and day drink like I did in the states, but she described drunk brunches to epic proportions, drunker brunches than even I have been a part of in the states. I can’t wait! I got back around 4am, but I wasn’t ready to call it a night, so I went to the 24 hour hookah bar (here they are called shisha cafes) in my building and had a nice rose.
Saturday night was even better, and the nightlife in Dubai certainly lived up to its hype. I met up with a friend from New York’s younger brother, an American, and we headed to a BBQ. The BBQ was full of about 20 Americans, many from the US embassy in Abu Dhabi, and a bunch who worked for an American defense company. It was great to eat burgers and drink bud light. Now, since there was such a large group of people, and a couple people had siblings visiting from the states, they decided to rent a stretch hummer limo. My friend told me that in his 2 and a half years in Dubai, he had never rented a limo or been around so many Americans. We took the limo to a beer garden called the Irish village, which was a cool place, set up like an actual village. We had a couple drinks, then headed to a lounge called Neos. Neos is on the top floor, the 65th floor, of a hotel called the Address, which has an amazing view of the city, including the Burj Dubai. When we got to the lounge, some of the guys decided to get bottle service and Cuban cigars. It was amazing, and I doubt that I will have too many nights like that again. Once again, I came home and smoked a shisha before going to bed.
There were a couple incidences in cabs from the weekend, but I will write another blog post dedicated to social norms, race relations, etc. soon. As some of you know, I always have interesting cab rides.
So my first weekend was a huge success. I made a bunch of new friends, got invited to play on a beach volleyball team, and have a group of Americans that I can hang out with whenever I get nostalgic.
I also set up Skype with unlimited calling to the US, including cell phones, for only $6 a month, so I’m sure I will be drunk dialing many of you, because when I get home, it will be late afternoon in the US.
But look out for future posts on cabs, and European prostitutes, which is a big deal here. Some advice I got from almost everyone here is that anytime a European comes onto you at a bar or club, they are almost always prostitutes, and many places here are known as prostitute pick up joints.
Also, check out this song. It's amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjV91bKVdu0
No comments:
Post a Comment