Dubai!

Just a selection of Katja's gorgeous photos. You will see more mosque and desert photos in other posts, but I can't resist putting these up.

Check Out the UAE!

I have lots of posts from my trip to Dubai/Abu Dhabi. Not all appear on the page at once, so please click "older posts" to see more cool stuff!

The Indoor Ski Slope in Dubai

Impossible to believe, but here's the proof: there is skiing available in the Middle East. Dubai, land where anything is possible, has the only indoor ski slope in the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. It's huge and looks pretty fun... couldn't quite bring myself to try it...

Loaded

The other day I was carrying four kinds of currency. That felt cool.

A Little Bit of Arabic

Everything in Dubai is bilingual Arabic-English, ads, government propaganda, product labels, menus, traffic signs, everything. My personal favorite is "Please keep away from exhibits." That's right. Come to the museum but stay away.

Dubai Creek: Abras and Dhows

The Dubai Creek is a small waterway the traverses the city of Dubai, separating Dubai from Diera, another community. Now, of course, it is all just Dubai. To cross the creek one can take an abra, or a water taxi. These wonderful little boats are efficient, cheap (1 Dirham, like 20 Eurocentimes or 35 USD cents) and give one a sense of being local. You get on the abra and wait for it to fill up with passengers. Once the boat is full the driver motors away from the dock and bangs his wooden box, indicating that it is time to pay. He bangs it until he sees that everyone has handed in his or her Dirham.

A dhow is a larger sailing vessel used primarily for importing and exporting goods to and from Dubai and other Middle Eastern and African ports of trade.

Gold Souk

Souq means market and what better than to bargain-hunt for than good old gold? The gold souk is apparently world-famous (though I had never heard of it before I started doing researcho n Dubai...) and people come from all around to haggle over all this jewelry. You can have something designed for you or you can buy what is available. There are seriously streets of shops like these above.

Spice & Perfume Souk

The Spice Souk in Dubai is so cool-- it felt like the old authentic kind of culture that existed pre-1990. You can smell the spice souk even before you get to it, and once you're in it's almost overwhelming. Spice shop owners beckon you in and explain to you what are in the giant sacks and bins. Once you're at the third shop and you impress the owner that you know everything (that's indigo, used for dyeing, that's alum used for deodorant, that's sulfur used for skin and allergies...) they just let you browse and take pictures. I bought chamomile for tea, sandalwood for burning, a hand-picked curry mix, the most delicious Iranian dates on Earth, and some Iranian saffron.

The perfume souk is just down the road and there are dozens of shops where you can mix your own scent, they can mix a famous scent for you or you can find new and spicy eastern blends. I opted for a simple flowery-smelling perfume. They sell everything in gorgeous glass and gold bottles... and small plastic viles like the one I got.

The Arabian Gulf

I love this photo because how many times do you see a sign telling you how many miles it is to Oman?

Frangipanier-- my fave!

So... we call it the Persian Gulf, but in the UAE (United Arab Emirates just in case) they refer to it as the Arabian Gulf.

Which Door?

Just for fun!

Ode to Hummus

I should confess that I ate about a gallon of hummus while I was in Dubai. I couldn't get enough. So delicious. I can never buy it in a tub at the grocery store again.

Burj Al Arab: The World's Only 7-Star Hotel

If I didn't already say it, burj in Arabic means "tower." The Burj Al Arab is this giant ship-sail-like hotel jutting out into the Gulf that shines like a beacon of wealth and luxury. Technically with five stars, the Skeikh of Dubai proclaimed that this is the only "7-star hotel." You can't get in unless you're a guest. Or unless you're Katja and Katie who pretended to be waiting for friends who were staying there, then sneaked in but had to avoid security guards in two places. We went though the lobby and then wound around the inner garden courtyard until we found away out to this lovely restaurant on a boardwalk, the 360 bar, and had a nice fruit juice and enjoyed the view.

The service in Dubai is impeccable. Whether you're spending the wad or having a modest lunch, you're bound to be treated as royalty. Everything you've heard about world class service is true. Waiters pulled out my chair for me, they filled my water glass for me when it was low without my asking, they switched out Katja and George's ashtray ever 10 minutes, "Madame" this and "Madame" that... royalty!

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque- Abu Dhabi

I'll keep the commentary to a minimum. Getting to the Mosque was a nightmare-- NO signage! Once arrived we really enjoyed the visit. Everyone must remove shoes and women must wear the abaya in order to enter the mosque, which we did. A beautiful mosque, biggest in the UAE and the 8th largest in the world, I think I prefer the outside to the inside, but both were lovely. The giant main prayer room is only for men, and as men and women are not permitted to pray together, we also visited a very pretty ladies's prayer room. Below are separate men's and women's washrooms.










The 99 names of Allah: