Dubai: Gold City

From: Sarah

We're in the middle of the Middle East.  I love it. 

Dubai is completely fascinating. We are in an enormous mall at the moment. And it is just like any mall in a wealthy suburb of the States, except there are there are tons of Arab men in their white robes and headdress and the black head ropes - the whole deal.  There are also quite a few Arab women, wearing full length black burkas. All the gals cover their heads and body and some leave their faces open, while others only show their eyes.  And they carry some VERY fancy purses, which I would if it was the only darn piece of fashion I could show the world.  I think under their burkas they are wearing some very chic outfits.  Rich joked that I am staring with fascination at these men and women just as much as everyone was staring at me in India, but I'm so intriqued.

There are loads of non-Arabs here as well, making the megabucks and spending some of the bucks all around town.  Where we had lunch today was a big table of German businessmen who were sitting back and enjoying a good cup of Arabic coffee.  Outside of the mall grocery store, I saw many Western women and kids carting out the week's cartload of groceries.  Most of the people that work here in the service industry are non-Arabs.  There are many Indians and many Russians.  An Indian guy complimented me on my Indian-style skirt this morning.

The city itself is so clean you could almost eat off the streets.  My eyes really appreciate cleanliness right now, coming from India, but I think anyone would be impressed by the sparkling shininess of everything.  It is a city of hotels - every major 5 star hotel lines the main boulevard into town.  And the hotels seem to be the centers of the restaurants.  Beyond the coffeeshops and a couple Indian restaurants the only places we've found with restaurants are the hotels. 

The food has been fantastic here - extremely fresh and delicious.  We went a Lebanese cafe last night by the ocean and got fantastic falafel, pickles, grape leaves and chicken shawarma for Rich.  Today we went to a place called Goodies that had unbelievable Middle Eastern desserts and coffees.  We got gelato - lemon, blackberry, pistachio, and almond scoops.  Although alcohol isn't served in most places here, everywhere has the tobacco hookah pipes.  They look like something out of Aladdin and you can choose from various fruit flavors of the tobacco to put inside the pipe.  We have abstained but lots of people kick back to enjoy some puffing. 

But by far the most memorable part of Dubai was the trip to the gold souk.  A souk is the term for quarter or neighborhood.  The stores were DRIPPING in gold.  Store after store was full of gold, platinum, and precious gems.  There are lots of people shopping and buying.  We walked away empty handed, maybe next time.

Comments

[Tam]

Wishing you good luck on your trip back to the US! While I am looking forward to seeing you both over the holidays, I'll miss reading your great travel reports. See you in CT on the 26th! - Tam

[kathy]

If you're still there, you have to go for a ride on a riverboat in Dubai. I was there on a 12 hour layover on my way to Tanzania in July and it was all we got to see of Dubai (in the middle of the night incidently) but it was a good time -- and fascinating as so much trade is/was done through dubai on those boats.

[Shivie]

Yay - Miss Sarah is on her way back to SF...call me Sar - I,ve missed your joyfulness and smile...I love you
Shivie

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