mall madness

mall christmas

Given the focus on shopping in my new town, it's probably appropriate that most of my adventures in the first few days revolved around malls, though I'm hoping to change that up a bit tomorrow. There's a shuttle from my apartment hotel directly to a very strange mall called Wafi. Wafi is a small complex
with pyramid shaped buildings adorned with obelisks and sphinxes and the like. There's a spa and some fine dining, some high fashion-y shops and then glow in the dark mini golf! There's a re-created souk or middle eastern market in the lower levels- feels a bit like being in the shopping area at the Alladin in Las Vegas just before they changed it over to Planet Hollywood. The mall was decked out half in Christmas and half in National Day bunting and decor. After dark they do a big sound and light show in the courtyard that was conveniently timed and located exactly where and when I needed to be to wait on the shuttle back to my apartment hotel. Not sure I would have sought it out as one of my first sightseeing stops other wise, but it was kinda cool, if a wee bit over dramatic. Drama, and

light show projections

crystals, seem popular here. It's a very blingy place. I'm not much of a sports car person, but I looked up to see which model Lamborghini it was that was so arresting at the mall valet- it was a very fine Aventador LP 700-4 I think with the cool doors that open upwards. Lots of Land Rovers and Porsche SUV type thingys out there, but this was the first seriously monster powerful looking sports car I've seen so far.

more mall light show

Met some coworkers for lunch (at a mall) and learned a few helpful things, one being that my apartment hotel is not findable with Google maps navigation and that I probably better figure out some kind of landmarks to direct taxi drivers (though I am kind of out in a weird undeveloped- for now, until they finish the semi-nearby Versace resort- patch of desert.)

pool with cave

In apartment hotel news: I opened a different cupboard today and discovered that I have a dishwasher! I also spent about an hour this morning at the pool. The water was a perfect temperature and there's a cave behind a waterfall that I can swim into!