I got woken up at 5:43 to take Caleb to work and came back to the room to sleep from 7 – 8:30am. I went to breakfast, where I met Coral and her four-month-old son. Met with Eloise and Carole after and we went to Starbucks on American Alley. We met Kyle and his wife India with their one-year-old daughter Sparrow, and Keri Pate with two kids – a young girl running around, Addison, and a two-month-old boy, Eddie Jr.

Eloise drove us to Coco’s and we talked for a while waiting on the check. We got back to the room and I went to the Joz Salon on the second floor for a haircut by Naroshi from Sri Lanka. She gave me some beautiful layers and a blow dry for BD 8 in 30 minutes.

I somehow managed to drive through the souq and parked in front of the British Council and waited ten minutes for Priya’s husband to drop her off so we could drive around and find dinner; she likes getting lost with me. She suggested Lanterns – an Indian buffet that serves pani puri — in Budhiya because it’s cheaper than the one in Adliya. 

I had already managed to drive us closer to the museum, but we turned around, passed the restaurant, U-turned and then made another U-turn to find it under the new name Wholesales. We had the buffet to ourselves and before we ate Priya gifted me with a small bag and some bindi. Their purpose is to enhance the powers of one accessing their inner wisdom, to interpret things in a truthful, unbiased manner and forsake their ego.

We didn’t find our way to the National Museum until 7:45pm. We walked to the main entrance and the guard asked the room full of guards for directions — go down the road and back… the marina club. We met a couple in the parking lot that pointed to the glass building; that’s what I thought but it didn’t look busy. We decided to walk over anyway and the man there told us the place was closed and the show was canceled. That bummed us out but we weren’t ready to go home yet so we headed to Bin Khalifa Park. 

We missed the turn, U-turned by the base, then U-turned again and were able to find parking directly across from the observation tower with Koffiatto Coffee & Tea House at the top, near the art camels. We went left towards the water and fishing area, then did a lap by the fountains, workout equipment, picnics, bike riding, paddle boating, etc. We started to do another lap so we could try some of the equipment and were waiting on these two guys to finish.

When I sat down I thought the guy offered to take a picture of me with my phone, but he wanted one with me from his buddy’s phone, so Priya took a photo of that and then asked that they take one of her with me – it’s not that great, but we have the memory. We sat on the wall near the water for a bit and the car next to mine was smoking hashish and was letting the smoke out when we walked up.

We had no problem getting to the house around 9:30 and she invited me in. I took my shoes off inside. There is a pile of flip-flops on both sides of the door. She brings out a dress for me to try on and says if it fits I can keep it. She has two large pictures of her daughter, Lolly, on the wall. Her daughter’s name starts with a V but is difficult to pronounce, hence the nickname.

Priya noticed it was 10pm and asked if I was tired yet as I was still so full of energy. I could’ve stayed for another hour or two but I excused myself letting her know I had to get home to walk the dogs. She and her husband walked me to the car and said goodnight. I had no problem navigating back to the hotel.