Been a bit quiet on here you reckon? I do too. I've been enjoying relaxing in a home environment with Jen, Dave, Sam and Anna (& their dog). It's been so great to have a break, with such a great family, in such an interesting city.
Dubai, to me, is a place of absolute contrasts: is the playground (well and work-ground) for the rich and famous but some workers' conditions are controversial. Flowerbeds are being tended for hours and watered often while 10 km away there is desert. The Arabic culture is strong but roughly 80% of the 1.3 million people that live in the city of Dubai are from other countries eg. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines (there are also about 100,000 British/Western expats in the city). The law is strictly Islamic; women have there own seating in buses for example - and yet prostitution is 'allowed'.
Anyway, despite all these interesting (& sometimes confusing) features, I have enjoyed my time in Dubai so far. One of my favourite experiences is taking rides across the river (Dubai Creek) on the Abra boats. The fare is 1/2 a dirham (bout 15cents AUD) which you pay the driver directly when he makes loud tapping noises. The funniest thing though is the high crash rate because these guys are always in a rush to get in and out of port so they can get more passengers. I think out of the 6 trips I have taken 4 of them have crashed into others. I love these short trips though - it's such a busy river! If you've been to Bankok, it's like that, just there are no big V8 engines on the back of the boats, so these are much quieter.
Me with the 'Creek' in the background
River traffic - the abra passenger boats
The city 'has risen from the sand' as one man I spoke to said. It is quite amazing - basically in the 1970s (after the Brits left) the sheikh decided to open the area to tax-free investment and various other schemes to encourage business investment. The area took off and the population has sky-rocketed. The inner-city has a very Indian-feel and there are Indian supermarkets and of course many of the workers in the souks are Indian.
The souks (markets) are great and (sorry to say) the pashminas and jewellry are cheaper than Turkey! As is the gold - yes I couldn't help myself. And with the current shopping festival on, with a ticket from my purchase, I go into the draw to win a kilo of gold. I checked that they could definitely send it to Australia :)
So after New Years I spent time getting to know Dubai's various shopping areas (they are the focus of the city after all!). The shopping centres I visited (Mercato, Ibn Battuta Mall) beat Indrooroopilly Westfield with style, hands-down 0-100 (with Indooroopilly really deserving to do a nudey run for losing so abysmally). I went to the bar in the Mall of the Emirates - most famous for the ski run (SKI DUBAI - website). Pretty cool to be in the bar overlooking the ski and tobogganing runs (with obligatory skiing/snowboarding videos running over the bar also). The bars I visited in Dubai tend to be expensive - eg. bottle of beer for 25 dirhams approx $7 AUD - but maybe this is understandable considering the strict rules about alcohol (and the fact that non-muslims have to pay for a license to buy a limited amount of booze).
Ibn Battuta Mall - beautiful sky decorations with stars
Mercato Mall which is decorated like Venice - note the buildings, bridges and paintings of the canals,
A definite highlight was the day trip 'the family' went on in the 4wd Merc. We did a trip over to the east coast of the 'rhinocerus horn' to an area called Dibba - which spreads over a few different emirates apparently, including Fujerah. We stopped at some road-side markets which was really fun! So much fresh produce as well as arts and crafts. I bought a bag of nectarines and they were lovely and sweet, the coconut juice I bought to taste must've been good coz Sam finished it in about 60 seconds flat :). Anna and I bought some lovely cushion covers for less than $10 AUD and we were off again, driving through the mountains. After some lunch at a beach-side resort we continued our drive and visited the oldest mosque in the UAE called Bedya mosque. The resident imam was very interested to find out if we had mosques in Australia and gave Anna his mobile number to call him if she ever learned of an imam vacancy!
Choosing and negotiating cushion covers in the road-side markets on the way to the east-coast.
No, I don't want some of your bread - I have salty, buttery corn thanks!
Wow so much pottery! And blow-up toys and coconuts :)
Me, Anna and Jen in our Muslim get-up outside the mosque.
I really liked all the colourful carpets.
The beach where we had lunch - not as hot as it looks though.
We got back into Dubai around 8pm at night and we were all exhausted. I thought it was a great day though, I was happy to see some of the desert landscape.
The next day I went into town and hung around the river, listening to the muslim prayers. It was quiet around lunch time due to Friday prayers and I couldn't even get information about the buses to Oman because they info people were praying... It was nice and laid-back and I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of all the comings & goings up the river - except... when I twisted my ankle!!! Was just walking and didn't see the paving stones slightly lower. OUCH!!! Managed to limp on though and back across the creek to (slowly) explore an Indian area of town before meeting Anna to go to the Dubai Museum. It was very interesting to see photos and learn how Dubai has grown since the 1960s. Camels can go for 2 weeks in summer and 3 months in winter without water - how bout that!! After this we went across to the Gold Souk and bought some jewellry, very pretty. Then it was back home in a cab and out with Sam and his friends to a local bar - it was completely packed!!! With expats!!! Spoke to a nice English bloke for a bit and Anna and I played 'spot the ethnic background' because there was such a range of people there. Dubai is like that - a big melting pot :) The next day (06/01) I just hung around home trying to rest my ankle. We did go out to watch sunset at the gorgeous Jumerah Beach Club - ahhhh lovely - a glass of wine, bean bag and a dj mixing tunes in the background. James, you would have loved it (don't know if you would have fitted in in your 80s gear though). What a perfect way to end a day!!!! BRILLIANT
Me getting to know an Arabic bloke in the Dubai museum (hey! It doesn't matter he's plastic!!).
The Gold Souk craziness!! Sam is a little worried?
Sunset at the members-only Jumeirah Beach Hotel - Burj in the background.
Dubai, to me, is a place of absolute contrasts: is the playground (well and work-ground) for the rich and famous but some workers' conditions are controversial. Flowerbeds are being tended for hours and watered often while 10 km away there is desert. The Arabic culture is strong but roughly 80% of the 1.3 million people that live in the city of Dubai are from other countries eg. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines (there are also about 100,000 British/Western expats in the city). The law is strictly Islamic; women have there own seating in buses for example - and yet prostitution is 'allowed'.
Anyway, despite all these interesting (& sometimes confusing) features, I have enjoyed my time in Dubai so far. One of my favourite experiences is taking rides across the river (Dubai Creek) on the Abra boats. The fare is 1/2 a dirham (bout 15cents AUD) which you pay the driver directly when he makes loud tapping noises. The funniest thing though is the high crash rate because these guys are always in a rush to get in and out of port so they can get more passengers. I think out of the 6 trips I have taken 4 of them have crashed into others. I love these short trips though - it's such a busy river! If you've been to Bankok, it's like that, just there are no big V8 engines on the back of the boats, so these are much quieter.
Me with the 'Creek' in the background
River traffic - the abra passenger boats
The city 'has risen from the sand' as one man I spoke to said. It is quite amazing - basically in the 1970s (after the Brits left) the sheikh decided to open the area to tax-free investment and various other schemes to encourage business investment. The area took off and the population has sky-rocketed. The inner-city has a very Indian-feel and there are Indian supermarkets and of course many of the workers in the souks are Indian.
The souks (markets) are great and (sorry to say) the pashminas and jewellry are cheaper than Turkey! As is the gold - yes I couldn't help myself. And with the current shopping festival on, with a ticket from my purchase, I go into the draw to win a kilo of gold. I checked that they could definitely send it to Australia :)
So after New Years I spent time getting to know Dubai's various shopping areas (they are the focus of the city after all!). The shopping centres I visited (Mercato, Ibn Battuta Mall) beat Indrooroopilly Westfield with style, hands-down 0-100 (with Indooroopilly really deserving to do a nudey run for losing so abysmally). I went to the bar in the Mall of the Emirates - most famous for the ski run (SKI DUBAI - website). Pretty cool to be in the bar overlooking the ski and tobogganing runs (with obligatory skiing/snowboarding videos running over the bar also). The bars I visited in Dubai tend to be expensive - eg. bottle of beer for 25 dirhams approx $7 AUD - but maybe this is understandable considering the strict rules about alcohol (and the fact that non-muslims have to pay for a license to buy a limited amount of booze).
Ibn Battuta Mall - beautiful sky decorations with stars
Mercato Mall which is decorated like Venice - note the buildings, bridges and paintings of the canals,
A definite highlight was the day trip 'the family' went on in the 4wd Merc. We did a trip over to the east coast of the 'rhinocerus horn' to an area called Dibba - which spreads over a few different emirates apparently, including Fujerah. We stopped at some road-side markets which was really fun! So much fresh produce as well as arts and crafts. I bought a bag of nectarines and they were lovely and sweet, the coconut juice I bought to taste must've been good coz Sam finished it in about 60 seconds flat :). Anna and I bought some lovely cushion covers for less than $10 AUD and we were off again, driving through the mountains. After some lunch at a beach-side resort we continued our drive and visited the oldest mosque in the UAE called Bedya mosque. The resident imam was very interested to find out if we had mosques in Australia and gave Anna his mobile number to call him if she ever learned of an imam vacancy!
Choosing and negotiating cushion covers in the road-side markets on the way to the east-coast.
No, I don't want some of your bread - I have salty, buttery corn thanks!
Wow so much pottery! And blow-up toys and coconuts :)
Me, Anna and Jen in our Muslim get-up outside the mosque.
I really liked all the colourful carpets.
The beach where we had lunch - not as hot as it looks though.
We got back into Dubai around 8pm at night and we were all exhausted. I thought it was a great day though, I was happy to see some of the desert landscape.
The next day I went into town and hung around the river, listening to the muslim prayers. It was quiet around lunch time due to Friday prayers and I couldn't even get information about the buses to Oman because they info people were praying... It was nice and laid-back and I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of all the comings & goings up the river - except... when I twisted my ankle!!! Was just walking and didn't see the paving stones slightly lower. OUCH!!! Managed to limp on though and back across the creek to (slowly) explore an Indian area of town before meeting Anna to go to the Dubai Museum. It was very interesting to see photos and learn how Dubai has grown since the 1960s. Camels can go for 2 weeks in summer and 3 months in winter without water - how bout that!! After this we went across to the Gold Souk and bought some jewellry, very pretty. Then it was back home in a cab and out with Sam and his friends to a local bar - it was completely packed!!! With expats!!! Spoke to a nice English bloke for a bit and Anna and I played 'spot the ethnic background' because there was such a range of people there. Dubai is like that - a big melting pot :) The next day (06/01) I just hung around home trying to rest my ankle. We did go out to watch sunset at the gorgeous Jumerah Beach Club - ahhhh lovely - a glass of wine, bean bag and a dj mixing tunes in the background. James, you would have loved it (don't know if you would have fitted in in your 80s gear though). What a perfect way to end a day!!!! BRILLIANT
Me getting to know an Arabic bloke in the Dubai museum (hey! It doesn't matter he's plastic!!).
The Gold Souk craziness!! Sam is a little worried?
Sunset at the members-only Jumeirah Beach Hotel - Burj in the background.
View of the Burj with its light display going. Pleasant on the eye for sure.
1 comment:
Hey Claire! Great blog. It also saves me having to write a group email explaining what I've been doing :-) I hope the UK weather isn't getting you down (I won't talk about my days at the beach) and will email soon with Thailand ideas. x
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