Flight: Emirates EK 345 

Arrival time: 2:30 pm local time

Airport: Dubai International Airport (DXB)

We landed quiet early than expected. When we arrived, the weather was just nice. It is winter now in middle east, therefore it was around 25 degree and its windy. I tried to call and text the travel agent to ask for the phone number of the driver. We had to ask around for how to make phone calls etc and my phone had like RM10 credit only at that time. I used it all on texting that travel agent guy and i was eventually left with no credit at all to text the driver once i got his number. Damn it. We just had to do something.If we want to use public phone we had to purchase AED 30 call card. That's just really expensive so nope. Val and I finally had some guts to borrow a cleaner's phone and he was kind to help us. Thank you brother, we owe you one! The driver was actually waiting for us outside the terminal and ask us to take taxi to go to him. I was like dafuk you should pick me up here. Another thing i came through my mind was omg is he going to kidnap us! 

We just follow his request tho and took a taxi to Garhoud, the place that he wanted to meet up. Its a supermarket with shops around it, just less 200 meter outside the terminal. Thank god that we chose this pink taxis and the lady driver, Joy was so nice. She is a Filipino and she even listen to Malay songs! I was "Macam mana kau boleh dengar lagu Agnes Monica ni doh" It was funny for me because its a familiar song. Ofcourse i sang too it, but not that loud lah. 

After meeting the driver, we went to pick up another two of his guests and off we go to the desert safari! The first thing of any desert safari tour is the sand dune bashing. This is where the driver will go crazy with their 4x4 and gave us a really bumpy ride all the way to the camp site. It was fun and we screamed a lot! Once we arrive at the campsite, there's camel riding, ATV, sand boarding and few other activities you can do before dinner time. Some of them required extra cash ehem. These tourist places can be a bit There will be a buffet dinner for the guests and there's also belly dancing show. Yes, the dancer was super sexy and hot. I didn't have the time to take her picture because I was busy eating. The food was nice too. Most of them are kebab and BBQ chickens, with rice and side dishes.

After dinner and the belly dancing shows, the driver drop us off at petrol station. It was the closest to the airport (pickup point must be the same as drop off, im afraid) and we hop on a cab to Dubai Mall. I would say that Dubai's taxi is very efficient, clean and their trunk are huge enough to fit all 4 of our 20 inches luggage that we were carrying all day. So, the plan to dubai mall was to see the amazing Burj Khalifa. Dubai Mall is like out Suria KLCC. The only difference is that Suria KLCC is right below the Twin Tower whereas Dubai Mall is opposite the Burj Khalifa and it is connected to each other. Although it was at night and it was almost 9pm, there were a lot of people. Dubai mall is indeed an amazing place to shop because it has more than 1000 shops. It will take 2-3 days to cover all the shops! And it also has ice rink, a huge ass aquarium, a fountain with laser shoes etc.

 After that, we head off back to the airport with a taxi. It costs us around AED 40 per trip, Airport-Dubai Mall-Airport. But mind you, it may be more expensive if you took a taxi from the airport. Airport taxis starting fee is AED25  where as city taxi starts with AED5 only. It was short but a sweet getaway. We were too stress out with studying and coping with preparations to get to UK for over a month now. It was nice to have some fun before class starts on Monday. Bryan was the most excited person on earth to be stepping on the desert sand. He was excited about Dubai more than going to London actually!

Overall, the trip was nice especially the desert safari tour but i would not recommend this travel agent (pheonixtravelandtours, if i am not mistaken) because the driver is just not really friendly although he does his jobs. There are a lot of other travel agents that you can get online that will be offering the exact same thing but maybe with different price. It was okay for us because AED115 was affordable for students like us. But, this tour is a must go if you are a first time in Dubai!

Till then, peeps.