I was at Dubai Mall, a.k.a. one of the largest mall in the world, a.k.a. a perfect place for heavily pregnant women – if they are the masochist type! “Where is the Kinokuniya Bookstore?”, I asked the concierge. Pristine was done with the Roald Dahl books she had at home and wanted to pick a new one.

The concierge looked at me, my belly, changed her expression from welcoming to worrying and replied: “2 levels up madame, then long way straight ahead, to the right.”

…and she added: “How many months are you now?”

I’m on my last month of pregnancy, thank you very much.

“Oh madame, you should not even thought of coming here at this stage! Take care!”

And boy she was absolutely RIGHT.

The walk to the bookstore was tough, as if I’m carrying those heavy metal rains. To add insult to injury, Kinokuniya Bookstore is a massive 68,000 square feet paragon book gallery.

I swear I had a few minor contractions last night!

You don’t even want to know how far I had to walk to get to the bus stop to go home! I am not going to that mall again – until I give birth, at least.

And while we were there, we passed by the huge aquarium where Pristine screamed: “A car! A car! A car inside the aquarium!”

It’s a mini cooper and I don’t have any idea what’s the story behind it. We went down for a closer look.

Nothing like a sting ray swimming about to prove that the mini cooper is indeed underwater.