14.08.17 (Monday)

I must say, compared to Corvin hotel in Budapest, customer service at Rove Hotel is excellent, 100%. Looking for a beautiful and affordable hotel near Dubai mall, downtown, don’t look further, try Rove hotel.

Breakfast was 6:30am -10:30am. We finally dragged ourselves downstairs at past nine. (Early hours of the morning after we got to the hotel from the airport, all we could do was locate the bed and crash as everyone was tired).

You know one thing I love about a buffet is the fact that you get to choose what you love to eat and you get to go for more. After selecting fruit drinks, cornflakes, croissant bread, white bread, yogurt, tea, banana for the four of us, we ordered fried eggs which was accompanied with mushroom and sausage. We really couldn’t eat much. I guess we were really tired. All I could take was the fruit drinks so I drank a few cups and I took some croissant bread and banana to the room for the kids. Don’t ask me if it was allowed…I simply did it.

I left my crew in the room and decided to go to Deira market. As I stepped out of the lobby into the blaring sun, the first thing that hit me was the heat. It was like moving towards an industrial oven. It was surreal. Wow! Really, people should hibernate during this period.

When I got to Deira market, I didn’t want any market hustler to trail me around as I felt I could locate my way to change money and buy one or two things. Yes, I have been to this market a few times in the past but today, everywhere looked familiar yet I couldn’t locate anywhere. I kept walking, the more I walked, the more I got lost. Eventually the heat started sucking away the little strength I had left. The weather was not friendly; it was actually hostile. It’s the kind of heat that humbles you; takes away every drop of pride in your body. At a point in time, I was walking with total abandonment, just so I could put one leg after another. I knew if I stopped walking I was going to faint. Then I tried to locate where I started from and I got lost even more. I decided to walk to the main road to make it easy for me to locate the gold souk where I started from.

Eventually, I did and by this time the heat had stripped me of every pride but it also returned my commonsense that I was busy looking for the market hustlers (the same people I was trying to avoid); I just prayed that God would send me a good one.

The Market hustlers normally hang around the market entrance looking for buyers who do not know their way around. They would claim to have shops around or they may take you to whatever shop you need to make your purchase but be rest assured they have a commission in whatever item you buy. At that point stage, I didn’t mind.

He took me to a shop where I could buy hair extensions. I told the seller that the last one I bought in that same market some time back was fake. He assured me he wouldn’t sell fake to me. He promised to give me two years guaranty. Then we started haggling the price. (Nigerians are one of the major tourists and customers in Deira Gold Souk particularly the Yoruba tribe; a lot of them visit the market and buy goods in bulk. Some of the local traders in the market have gone out of their way to learn how to speak Yoruba language. As you pass their shops they call out greetings in Yoruba; always to my amazement because that is my mother’s tongue.)

The hair extension seller and I went back and forth on the price, then he asked me which state I was from in Nigeria because according to him his Nigerian friends were not stingy. Well, I told him I was from the tribe that most Nigerians believe to be stingy. Finally, when he didn’t agree on the price I gave him, I told him I would come back after looking around the market. He said I couldn’t leave his shop because where he comes from, that was pure bad luck as I was his first customer for the day. I laughed and told him it was the more reason to give me the price I was asking for. Eventually he agreed.

Have you ever haggled a price with a vendor and when he finally agrees to your request then you think maybe you didn’t bargain well that you bet if you had gone lower he would have also agreed? Hmmm….maybe it was the sun that affected my brain but I paid and left. As I continued my window shopping, I saw another shop selling hair extensions. I knew I had no intention of buying another one but I just couldn’t shrug it off that I could have bought it cheaper. I stepped into the shop, the owner of the shop is a Nigerian. I asked for the price of the hair extension that I bought and it was ridiculously cheaper than what I paid. I thanked them and left the shop. I choose to believe their hair extension was fake and not genuine. Case closed; I didn’t know why I even bothered to check. I hate feeling stupid but that was what I ended up doing. I walked to the main road and took a taxi back to the hotel.

Later that evening we all took a taxi to Dubai mall. We took pictures at the Aquarium and got to the singing fountain when it had just ended. (I had told Peace about the fountain. She was disappointed that we missed it so I promised we will all come back tomorrow.)

We decided to get our dinner at the mall and take it back to the hotel. We bought Chinese food; for me it made a lot of sense: spaghetti, shredded beef and chopped chicken with spring rolls for the kids and white rice, shredded beef and chopped chicken and spring rolls for Peace and I. Compared to chicken and chips with burger (you just can never get filled eating that).

We returned to the hotel, hoping to return the next day.

30 days in Hungary14.08.17 (Monday)I must say, compared to Corvin hotel in Budapest, customer service at Rove Hotel is excellent, 100%. Looking for a beautiful and affordable hotel near Dubai mall, downtown, don’t look further, try Rove hotel.Breakfast was 6:30am -10:30am. We finally dragged ourselves downstairs at past nine. (Early hours of the morning after we got to the hotel from the airport, all we could do was locate the bed and crash as everyone was tired).You know one thing I love about a buffet is the fact that you get to choose what you love to eat and you get to go for more. After selecting fruit drinks, cornflakes, croissant bread, white bread, yogurt, tea, banana for the four of us, we ordered fried eggs which was accompanied with mushroom and sausage. We really couldn’t eat much. I guess we were really tired. All I could take was the fruit drinks so I drank a few cups and I took some croissant bread and banana to the room for the kids. Don’t ask me if it was allowed…I simply did it.I left my crew in the room and decided to go to Deira market. As I stepped out of the lobby into the blaring sun, the first thing that hit me was the heat. It was like moving towards an industrial oven. It was surreal. Wow! Really, people should hibernate during this period.When I got to Deira market, I didn’t want any market hustler to trail me around as I felt I could locate my way to change money and buy one or two things. Yes, I have been to this market a few times in the past but today, everywhere looked familiar yet I couldn’t locate anywhere. I kept walking, the more I walked, the more I got lost. Eventually the heat started sucking away the little strength I had left. The weather was not friendly; it was actually hostile. It’s the kind of heat that humbles you; takes away every drop of pride in your body. At a point in time, I was walking with total abandonment, just so I could put one leg after another. I knew if I stopped walking I was going to faint. Then I tried to locate where I started from and I got lost even more. I decided to walk to the main road to make it easy for me to locate the gold souk where I started from.Eventually, I did and by this time the heat had stripped me of every pride but it also returned my commonsense that I was busy looking for the market hustlers (the same people I was trying to avoid); I just prayed that God would send me a good one.The Market hustlers normally hang around the market entrance looking for buyers who do not know their way around. They would claim to have shops around or they may take you to whatever shop you need to make your purchase but be rest assured they have a commission in whatever item you buy. At that point stage, I didn’t mind.He took me to a shop where I could buy hair extensions. I told the seller that the last one I bought in that same market some time back was fake. He assured me he wouldn’t sell fake to me. He promised to give me two years guaranty. Then we started haggling the price. (Nigerians are one of the major tourists and customers in Deira Gold Souk particularly the Yoruba tribe; a lot of them visit the market and buy goods in bulk. Some of the local traders in the market have gone out of their way to learn how to speak Yoruba language. As you pass their shops they call out greetings in Yoruba; always to my amazement because that is my mother’s tongue.)The hair extension seller and I went back and forth on the price, then he asked me which state I was from in Nigeria because according to him his Nigerian friends were not stingy. Well, I told him I was from the tribe that most Nigerians believe to be stingy. Finally, when he didn’t agree on the price I gave him, I told him I would come back after looking around the market. He said I couldn’t leave his shop because where he comes from, that was pure bad luck as I was his first customer for the day. I laughed and told him it was the more reason to give me the price I was asking for. Eventually he agreed.Have you ever haggled a price with a vendor and when he finally agrees to your request then you think maybe you didn’t bargain well that you bet if you had gone lower he would have also agreed? Hmmm….maybe it was the sun that affected my brain but I paid and left. As I continued my window shopping, I saw another shop selling hair extensions. I knew I had no intention of buying another one but I just couldn’t shrug it off that I could have bought it cheaper. I stepped into the shop, the owner of the shop is a Nigerian. I asked for the price of the hair extension that I bought and it was ridiculously cheaper than what I paid. I thanked them and left the shop. I choose to believe their hair extension was fake and not genuine. Case closed; I didn’t know why I even bothered to check. I hate feeling stupid but that was what I ended up doing. I walked to the main road and took a taxi back to the hotel.Later that evening we all took a taxi to Dubai mall. We took pictures at the Aquarium and got to the singing fountain when it had just ended. (I had told Peace about the fountain. She was disappointed that we missed it so I promised we will all come back tomorrow.)We decided to get our dinner at the mall and take it back to the hotel. We bought Chinese food; for me it made a lot of sense: spaghetti, shredded beef and chopped chicken with spring rolls for the kids and white rice, shredded beef and chopped chicken and spring rolls for Peace and I. Compared to chicken and chips with burger (you just can never get filled eating that).We returned to the hotel, hoping to return the next day.

Gepostet von Diary of a Special Needs Mum Initiative am Mittwoch, 23. August 2017

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