We went to Dubai yesterday. It's definitely more the glossy, Jetsons city I expected. We took a taxi from Abu Dhabi to the Dubai Mall, where we wandered around and checked out their aquarium. There's a gold souk there, and I checked out a couple of stores, but didn't buy anything.
Then we took a taxi down the "creek" area, which is actually a lot larger than a creek. There's a historic district there and they still use a lot of the dhow boats to cross. There's a souk there, but since it was Friday, everything was closed.
Then we had a taxi drive us past the Burj al-Arab hotel so we could a picture on the way to the Mall of the Emirates - home of Ski Dubai!
At the MoE, I saw a store selling nothing but the tiniest bikinis. And the woman shopping there was completely covered with just her eyes showing. I wanted to take a picture, but I wouldn't want someone taking MY picture for shopping in a store that seems out of place for me, so I refrained from doing it to her.
At all of these malls, I didn't buy much, as it's all the same stores we have in Canada, with similar or higher prices.
I did buy a pair of sandals, though. I have met a new friend here from Egypt, my Arabic Translator. [He's actually a technical guy, and there's no need to have a translator here -the common language among all the different nationalities here seems to be English , but for the purpose of this blog, he'll be hereby known as AT.] AT invited me out to a bar on Thursday night. I really wanted to go, but I only brought hiking shoes for work in the warehouse, Columbia sandals for walking around on weekends and runners in case I ever get a chance to do some running. None of these are acceptable attire for the clubs here. Other clothes I have may not what I would wear for a night on the town at home, but it would satisfy the dress code here. So I am ready for next weekend.
And if I don't get a chance to go, hey, I bought shoes! What girl would be sad about that?
This morning I went to a shopping center here in Abu Dhabi that's a little less westernized. But again I didn't buy anything, since although the products were all from different eastern areas, they are all imported, and about the same selection and quality I can find in Canada if I really want it.
The taxi driver was an interesting character. He was from Pakistan, and his wife just delivered their first baby last night. He was so excited! He kept asking me why I don't have children, I just told him I can't have them to avoid the discussion of not wanting them with a complete stranger with different cultural values. He didn't seem to understand that, though, and kept asking. He also said he had another Canadian woman in his taxi a few days ago who was 5 months pregnant and not married. Not married!! She had told him that in Canada it's not a problem to be pregnant and not married, and he wanted confirmation. I agreed that it's not a problem in Canada. He countinued to be shocked, saying that in his country a woman would be killed. "How can you have a baby with no husband?" I was thinking maybe she had a wife, but I wasn't about to get into THAT discussion.
I was going to go to the Iranian souk to do some more shopping, but it was rather difficult to get a taxi and it was stinking hot (36C+), so I decided just to come back to the hotel and hang out by the pool and beach.
I'll now be leaving in about half an hour for our dune bashing trip.
Trying to add pictures in a specific order seems to also contribute to the internet issues, so I am giving up and just posting as is. Here are some random pics from our day in Dubai. The last 2 are the flower petals in the toilet (before I used it) and the valet parking at the Mall of the Emirates.
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