Back Among My People...

Dubai, U.A.E.

On our way to South Africa we were privileged to spend two days among my people in the Middle East. I have not been back to the Middle East since living in Damascus in 2001, so it was very exciting for me and felt like coming home in some ways. It was also a great chance to introduce Charles to my obsession. I was so excited as we drove through the streets in our taxi (driven by a woman) to see all the Arabic signs, the old men hanging out doing nothing in random places along the streets, hearing the call-to-prayer, seeing the millions of satellite dishes on the buildings and just being back.

On the first day, we hung out at the hotel pool while we waited for our room and caught some sun (something we haven't seen in ages since we live in London). Then we ventured out and decided to explore. We ended up on an abra (a boat) cruising up and down the main waterway and seeing the city.

Here is the port where the abras left from. It was quite busy because many are used for public transportation like a bus. For some reason, we ended up on a private one without realizing what happened, but it was nice not to deal with the crowds.

Here we are with our old man boat driver

View from our boat

This made me feel right at home...

This was a little tourist attraction in a re-created bedouin village. I tried to get Charles to ride the camel there anyway just for the sheer entertainment it would be but he said he would rather do it in Egypt or somewhere better. My reply: Ok, and when are we going??? I'm ready!

a random mosque

We went to a public beach that looked pretty close to the famous sailboat hotel (a 7 star hotel, costing $2000 a night). We thought we would just walk to the hotel from the beach. It ended up being a very long way and we never actually made it to the hotel.

Sammy walked almost the entire way on our journey to the sailboat hotel (a good hour or two). It was so hot but it was a nice way to pass the time. Abby slept in the buggy the entire time. What different personalities they have.

Other highlights:
--We walked around the spice souks which were tiny in comparison to anything in Syria, Egypt or anywhere else but it gave Charles a good idea of what it was like.
--We ate at a Tex Mex place near our hotel which turned out really good much to our surprise. It was the LAST place we wanted to eat while in Dubai but a Lebanese place was too far away and the Indian place was not open so we had no other choice especially with two hungry little ones.
--Charles drank coconut milk straight from a coconut. The man who sold it to us, took a knife and carved off the top and popped a straw in it. It sounds better than it actually was but at least we now know.
-- Our female taxi driver who picked us up from the airport in her pink taxi wearing a pink uniform, started flirting with another taxi driver as we sat at a stop light. This was very unusual for me to see but amusing at the same time. Gotta love Dubai, baby!


Pictures of South Africa still to come....