Tim’s 31st Birthday

Tim’s 31st Birthday was on 23rd Sept and I now managed to find time to blog about it. His birthday was on a weekday so I decided to invite him for a meal at Zuma. 

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Zuma is a sophisticated twist to the Japanese cuisine and was founded in 2002. It has 11 venues globally and is one of the best restaurant in the world. Zuma is located near Rosewood Hotel and Galleria Mall in Abu Dhabi.

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So here is what we ordered from their menu
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Spicy Beef Tenderloin 
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Black Cod
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Unagi
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Green Tea
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Salad: Spicy Fried Tofu
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Cold Dishes: Slice Seared Tuna
On the weekend, we drove to Fujairah and stayed the night at the Intercontinental Resort. We took Scuba Diving class, well I did because Tim already has the license. We went swimming and had dinner by the beach. On our last day, we decided to go for a massage and use the spa facilities and on our way back to Abu Dhabi, we made a stop at the local market to buy fruits and vegetables. We really enjoyed our stay at the hotel and the service was over the top. We highly recommend you visit the hotel.
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FUJAIRAH – ROAD TRIP WITH THE GIRLS

My friends Christina and Katherine are leaving the UAE and will be moving to Europe by the end of July. So we planned a road trip to Al Aqah Fujairah and booked our stay at the Intercontinental Resort.

The adventure started at 5AM when I had to drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. I picked up Christina at around 6:45AM and drove to Mimi’s place. We then had breakfast at 8ish and picked up Katherine at 10AM and embarked to Fujairah.

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We made a quick stop at the petrol station to get coffee and few snacks and arrived at the hotel at around 1PM.

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We had an awesome time hanging out by the pool, walking on the beach, we even had dinner at a fancy restaurant and enjoyed we enjoyed the hotel’s breakfast the next morning with unlimited COFFEEEE. ICE COFFEE, AMERICANO, LATTE, CAPPUCCINO, MY FAVOURITE TURKISH COFFEE……..

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We had the best time ever and wished we did it before rather than a farewell get together.

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I highly recommend the resort. It’s a 5 star hotel and has all the facilities and private beach access with the view of the mountains.

We had an amazing girls trip which was definitely needed.

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UAE – Christmas Eve by the Desert and Beach

UAE: Christmas Eve by the Desert and Beach

Ever since we were children, Tim would celebrate Christmas with his family back in England while I celebrated it with my mum’s family in UAE. This year was a special kind of Christmas for both of us. Tim’s mum ‘Shirley’ is visiting us for the holidays and my uncle and cousin are staying in UAE to enjoy the festive season.

What more can you ask for than celebrating with the ones you love. We love everyone back home in England and Philippines but it was nice to have some of our families celebrating together. 2 months before Christmas, I made reservation at a hotel located by the Indian Ocean in another Emirate called Fujairah. We booked 4 rooms in Sandy Beach Hotel & Resort at a place call Al Aqqah which has a strip of amazing resorts.

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We took two separate cars, my brothers and uncle ‘Alpe’ accompanied my cousin ‘Mark’ and of course Shirley and I rode with Tim. We had an unfortunate moment when one of Mark’s tires broke down and found it difficult to find a tire shop open on a Friday morning. FYI, UAE’s weekends are on Fridays and Saturdays because Friday is a Holy day not HOLIDAY but HOLY DAY and the majority of the country attend the Friday prayers. Luckily they managed to find a shop that was about to close so they quickly got their tires fixed and we all continued our road trip to Fujairah.

It took us 2 hours to reach our destination however since check in was at 2PM, we decided to stop at a historical site. We visited Al Badiyah aka Al Bidyah Mosque and my brothers performed their Friday prayers in that ancient 15th century mosque. It’s the oldest mosque in UAE and was built with stone and mud. The view of the farms from the towers and area was spectacular and although you are surrounded by dry nature such as the rock mountains, the place is a must to visit. It’s located near the mountains and farms overlooking the sea.

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Anyway we continued our journey to check in at the hotel. Tim and I went kayaking around snoopy island * while the others went to nap because they needed the energy for the mini party we were going to have late night. At around 7PM, I borrowed Mark’s car and drove 20 minutes to another area called Khor Fakkan with my uncle and mother in law. We bought KFC and Pizza Hut family meals for dinner and also picked up a third cousin who lived there to join us for the Christmas party. The night lasted till 1:30AM after playing cards against humanity. My uncle won the game and YES he is dirty minded LOL. (google the game its hilarious)

The next day, we got up really early to have breakfast and also went for a morning swim and afterwards said our goodbyes and checked out from our rooms.

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*Note: it’s called snoopy island because it looks like snoopy laying down.

Below are the location maps of the hotel, the mosque and Khor Fakkan for your reference.

Hotel:

 

Mosque:

 

Khor Fakkan:

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