Dubai Explorers - Part 1
Trip Start
Oct 27, 2008
1
3
13
Trip End
Nov 21, 2008
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The hotel breakfast was quite nice, and the photo ops from the 9th floor were both excellent, and a great way to orient ourselves in the city. To the North - the Persian Gulf and a beautiful stretch of beach. To the East and West - skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, and towering construction cranes. This place is under construction - EVERYWHERE.
We agreed that we would start this day off at the beach, and headed down past the pool and gardens to the waterside
Dhow riding, Dubai style
. The whote sand was soft and warm, and we parked ourselves on a couple of lounge chairs at the water's edge. Ahhhh- this is the life! The sun was hot and the surf was exceptionally warm. In fact, the ocean felt a bit more like a bath. A very, VERY salty bath! The water was quite clear and the surf was pretty high today. I spent about 20 minutes riding the big waves up and down between laying out in the sun. Editors note: The sunburn isn't bad, but it is going to hurt when I put that backpack on tomorrow!Once the salt water got to be too much (it does get itchy), we shifted up to the pool. Or rather, the swim-up bar at the pool, and ordered up a few cervesas. You will note in one of my photos that I decided it bst to combine my drinking with the day's workout, hence the Ab crunches with beer in hand. (You're welcome, Paddy!!). The pool bar was MOST EXCELLENT, and we met a nice couple from New Jersey that we compared Dubai plans with before exiting the scene to get ready for the big event this day - High Tea at the Burj al Arab Hotel.
Having changed into appropriate attire for the locale, we grabed a cab and made our way over to the Burj. It is an impressive site, this place, and walking into the lobby of the hotel, once can understand why at $2,000
No problems finding the gold in this place...
. per night for a room, the hotel can afford to have 3 divers scrubbing the inside of the florr-to-ceiling fish tank.Taking the elevator up to the Skyview bar, we were greeted and directed to our table where our waiter proceeded to serve, in order: Champagne, fresh berries & cream, tea, sandwiches, scones, dessert cakes and chocolates. All this served with a beautiful view of Dubai city and the Gulf. Surprising how these tiny sandwiches can fill you up! I could have curled up in any corner of the bar and had a nap - though this could equally have been the result of jet-lag or the Paulander Weiss beer from the night before. Or perhaps the Pool-bar Ab crunches....
It was now 6:30pm and the sun was slipping on the horizon. After a few photographs, we made haste for Dubai city centre, destination: Gold and Spice Souks.
The taxi ride from the Burj into Diera was BRUTAL. Traffic crawled the entire 40 minute trek as it tends to every night from 6pm until 9pm (according to yesterday's driver). I am sure I fell asleep on the ride, but as soon as we arrived in the old city, I was alive and ready for the adventure. The taxi driver dropped us at the Iranian spice souk and directed us on the best path to reach also the Gold souk and eventually the textile souk
The creekside in old Dubai
.The markets were teeming with people - an organized chaos is the best description. Noisy, pungent, it was pretty much what I had imagined. Endless alleyways and tiny, crammed shops with all sorts of goods. Boxes piled high in the streets, people streaming everywhere - and people from everywhere. I am sure we would have felt as though we blended in, except that every man in the place seemed to have a fixation with Kitty's feet! No kidding - getting checked out is one thing, but this was a distinct and unrelenting draw torward her feet and by the time we were finshed souk shopping, I think we had figured out that either Dubai males have a huge foot fetish, or nailpolish is a novelty. I am on the fence with this one...
Having navigated the souk, we decided to take a dhow ride across the Creek to the West side, and from there flag a taxi for the long ride home. The dhow ride was quite something, and more about that later....but Ill have to get moving so the rest of the days events later.....
**Completing this entry**
Yes, the dhows. For 1 dirham (about 30 cents), you can climb aborad a surprisingly sturdy wooden boat and taxi across to the other side of Dubai Creek (which is a river in any other description I could give)
Huh, huhuh.... I wouldn't fly with them
. It is nothing like we would see in Canada. The boats are wobboly - doubly so with people moving and shifting about to find a place to sit or safely lean! In any case, I held on for life with one hand, snapping nighttime photographs with the other. Sadly, my night camera skills are not quite developed yet, and I couldn;t find the proper camera settings to capture the numerous mosques and souks that could be clearly seen from the dhow. Too bad!!Making landfall on the other side, Kitty and I tried to orient ourselves to where we could go to ultimately hail a taxi back to our hotel. We opted for (what I think was) Al Farouk road, running alongside the textile souk area. this proved to be a good bet, as we dodged in and out of traffic (both pedestrian and automotive) toward the Arabian Court Hotel where we found an all too hard to find taxi. Along the way, a myriad of shops selling everything from electronics to fabrics to plastic junk you'd find in a dollar store along Yonge Street. Dedicedly more Indian than Emerati, it struck me as a proper prelude to the chaos of India that we will see in a couple of weeks' time.
Having noted the approximate location of the main souk and Textile souk on the western side of the Creek, we were ready to make our way back to Jumeriah Beach
Kitty posing
.Back at the hotel, it was well past dinner time, and although it was too late to eat a complete meal, we opted to try out the Lebanese shisha bar near the hotel gardens. Thankfully, the bar was stocked with the makings of a rye & ginger (make that a double), and the shawarma that accompanied it was fantastic!! In fact, were it not so late, I would have moved swiftly onto the water pipe afterward...though the wafting apricot tobacco smell coming from the tables all around us was enough to satisfy!
A good end to day 1. Unfortunately, I remembered before bed that I had not confirmed our desert hike out to the Hatta Mountains, and that meant we would not be able to join the trek as planned tomorrow. TOTALLY BUMMED, as I was looking forward to some desert hiking and crossing into Oman. But - it did allow for some modifications to tomorrow's plan, including going back to the Creek area and seeing the souks in the daytime, and heading back to the Burj al Arab for some photos that we couldn;t get earlier today. But that's another story....
Comments
WOWwwww
Hey Boyd & Kitty , ye guys are look'n good .Shawn , based on that photo at the pool with your btl of Corona beer , just add a couple more sets of ab crunches and you're good to go !
Continue to have a safe trip and I shall check in every couple of days !
Giddy up !