45 degrees heat can be limiting to what you plan to do, coupled with poor Lili who is still not 100% so we planned our day leisurely over a tasty breakfast in the hotel.  I probably had the best sleep of the holiday last night, albeit not long enough, although having a nap yesterday morning made our stay more like 3 nights instead of 2 nights.  We got up early so we could have breakfast together before Hugo had to head off to his trip up the Burj at 8:30.  Breakfast was good, but for the standard of hotel I thought it could have been a bit better in comparison to the Sofitel in Melbourne for example .  There was nothing wrong with the quality or variety – it just wasn’t as extensive as some.  I tried to stick with local and ate from the Arabian section, which had a baba ganoush, two different hummus (one plain, one with parsley, garlic, and pomegranate pearls on top). There were also felafel, breads – like pizza with dukah or cheese, some beans called ‘foul’ which was amusing, labane, and fresh cucumber, onion and tomato.

After Hugo left, we headed up to our spacious suite and continued  chatting with Lili for a while talking about the holiday and possible future plans and before we knew it Hugo returned beaming full of excitement of his experience up high.  He has some great pictures, which I shall grab copies of to give perspective of Dubai. The visibility extended to the edge of the city and the beach, however not further afield.  At this point Lili needed to sleep again so we headed back into the mall to do some gift shopping and deeper gold hunting.

I spent some time last night on the reviews of the old gold souk and they were definitely a mixed bag with a majority not enjoying the experience due to unlicensed sellers hassling you outside the shops and in the lanes. Others say that the touting is all part of the experience.  There are warnings not to buy from them (touters) as they sell fakes and poor quality. Thankfully there are strict and good controls for all ‘shops’ which is great so it maintains buyer confidence.  Dubai is trying to market itself as a hip and prime holiday destination and the last thing they want is a reputation for ripping off tourists. Back to the ‘souks’ there are also some in the Malls, and according to reviewers the price is generally not really any different. The main difference is that there is a wider selection at the ‘old’ souk.  So armed with that information I was setting out to see if I could find something I liked in the mall, before later in the day taking a trip to the old souk, including the spice souk for the experience and potentially a surprise bargain.  Hugo and Lili may join us later for the trip out to the souk if Lili is up to it.  It is Ramadan today, so not everything will be open unfortunately for us timing wise.

Its always a surprise and weird experience emerging from the cool airconditioning to the desert heat. You forget where you are after you have spent time in your comfortable temperature controlled hotel environment. Today it was just hot, with little to none of the breeze from yesterday.  I think I prefer the hot blow dryer fan than the still calm heat.  Either way it is hot, however it is not as humid as Asia and strangely I find it a little less oppressive than the higher humidity and lower temperature.  I still have no desire to spend more than a few minutes out in it regardless – I would expire if it were much longer!

We headed straight for the Gold Souk part of the mall and I left Vern at a seated area at the end with his trusty iPad, whilst I walked the aisles peering in the windows to see if I was tempted to go inside.  There were a lot of diamond and high end shops, and I was mainly after a nice chain and a pair of white gold earrings to replace the one I had lost in France.  Consequently there were not many shops I entered for a closer look – or I simply was not wowed by anything in my price range.  There was plenty to wow about though, Vern had passed comment on how many dollars worth I thought was in the Souk or even one shop – gosh way more than our house alone on some items in a single shop, and more zeros than I know how to add up!

I ended up back at the shop we went to last night and spent about 2 hours trying on a small combination and getting totally confused as to which one I wanted to settle on.  I was the only customer in that time, and I had 4 attentive staff serving me.  Mind you that seems to be the way they do it – if there is no one else you will get a whole staff fussing around you, and even if there are more customers they don’t seem to favour one on one.  They were writing prices down for me on a sheet of paper so I could go away and have a break to make my mind up. They were not into negotiating on price, but telling me their best price straight away.  I could have negotiated perhaps but the prices being quoted to me were very fair and in line with the reduction of 30% off ticket price that is the norm, so I did not bother. Vern appeared whilst I was umming and ahhing and said it was time to meet Hugo to go to the Souk – I couldn’t believe it was 4pm already and that I had been at it about 2.5hrs.  At that point I thought it best to make a snap decision and chose the one I had kept going back to the most, just in case the old souk did not turn up anthing and I missed out all together.

Back at the hotel Lili was not feeling up to going out so the three of us got a taxi out to the old Souk area.  Taxis are really cheap over here – it only cost 34 AED which is about 12 dollars for a good 15 minute trip.  It was nice to a be dropped off right outside the shops and we stepped out into the late afternoon warmth – bracing ourselves for walking around in the open air – still over 40 degrees and desert dry.  We made our way slowly  like at altitude so as to adjust and not overheat. It is so hot here you do not feel your sweat as such.  It seems to dry as soon as it comes to the surface so it would be really easy to dehydrate I think if you didnt constantly drink a lot of water.

The touters swarm around you as soon as you arrive, offering you watches, gold, bags, pashmina and spice. I didnt find them too bad – they had a bit of cheerfulness about them which elicited a reciprocally polite responses of no thank you with a smile as we naviagted our way through the Souk.

I found the selection there to be larger in the lower to mid range priced items.  One range that was different included some huge almost like decorative chain mail over tops (of course not being low to mid range price bracket). The general feel of the items was that they were not quite the same quality as the mall.   They still looked good, but they just didnt have the same style, design or feel.  I had a look at a couple of earrings but when it came to the haggling for price – which is expected to be more active here – the price was not as good as the mall for a couple of similar items.  This actually made me feel really good about buying my statement piece, and I got to thinking whether I should go back and get a couple of other items.  Lili had teased me questioning whether I would rather regret not buying, or regret buying.  I confirmed that I would rather regret buying than not – especially given the prices here are very good.  As mentioned in yesterdays blog, from rough calculations you can expect to get 18ct new items for the price of 9ct second hand items.  Pretty exciting to magpies like me.

We completed a brief wander and look – and I will add the looking was very attractive as the actual shops are airconditioned so you can get some relief from the heat!  Very good for getting customers in shops LOL. We walked a further 200 meters or so to where we thought the spice markets were.  As we approached we were met with some wonderful sweet and spicy fragrances – it was marvelous.   There were however not many shops open – a lot were closed so we didnt see the nice mounds of spices one might expect.  I think this was due to it being a Friday, and their primary day off for Ramadan. For the tourist trade gold would be potentailly lucrative however not spices so I think they observed their customs.

We did stop however at one stand to the delight of a keen shop person.  Despite explaining  that we couldn’t buy as we were heading home,  he insisted on telling and showing us what he had.  I asked if I could take a photo and he said sure – I paid him some small change out of respect for his goods and took a click or so and he continued to bombard Hugo with an in-depth tour of his stock – including camel milk chocolate free samples.  It was rather nice so Hugo bought some of that and then he took us inside to show us more items like fruit and spice teas in decorative tins, that smelt divine and were so fruity my mouth salivated. I would have loved to have bought them but was not confident I could take it through customs with fruit pieces and flowers in it. He also showed us two home scents for burning like a natural dark wood pieces and another sticky incense mix which were so very nice – woody, spicey and sweet and a far cry from karma sutra type sticks or religious ones you get in ‘herbal’ shops at home.  Again I would have loved to have bought some, but there was no show of getting that through customs.  Time was pressing on and  I had to become quite insistent that we should leave and rescued Hugo. The salesman reluctantly bid us farewell gifting us a local delicacy of chocolate covered and almond filled dates. I can recommend that combination.
Generally the people here are very polite but distant.  Unless you are in a shop, they don’t talk to you although will definitely have a good look at you.  There seems to be quite clear etiquette on behavior for example no talking on trains, and offer seats to seniors.  I was offered a seat and Vernon was also by a man that was his junior. People do not cram or push on lifts or to get ahead on walk ways.  Having said that, the politeness it is not done with a smile or with warmth – they are very serious stoic types I would say almost cold and distant.  Customs and airport is actually horrible – you do not feel welcomed at all. Within the service industry like hotels they have a lot of expatriates and they are quite different and behave with the professionalism and warmth you would expect. The only other exception we have come across in our short time is the sales people who are not at all slow in coming forward.

Whilst on observations and interpretations its kind of refreshing in an odd sort of way and quite different over here. I like to see the men in their traditional white robes and head pieces walk along side their wives in the full black burkas (haven’t seen a full mesh eye one, but full face with only eyes visible is very common). Whilst the feminist in me does not understand or agree with the emphasis on female modesty of wearing burkas, it is nice to see it balanced by men also being nearly fully covered verses the modern dressed male with a burka in tow as is often seen in Western countries.  The absence of alcohol and all the other codes of behavior make this a restrained but very clean and safe environment. There are no beggars, no graffiti, no druggies, no drunks, no down and out looking Ferrells or bad attitude teens or older.  No skanky dressed tourists or obnoxious behaved ones.  Quite a contrast to the general atmosphere in Amsterdam (or other cities). You could debate it many ways, it can feel cold and robotic but when we wandered around late each night you see throngs of families and couples out and about till all hours enjoying themselves and an absence of constant police or ambulance sirens….  just saying its very different.

Back to the day at the old Souk, we hailed a taxi very quickly and headed back to the hotel and a chirpier Lili for our sunset swim in the infinity pool on level 5.  An added bonus to the coolness and time effectiveness of the taxi, was the interesting sights of the city, driving amongst the tall buildings.  We saw a number of traditional wooden boats in the river, and if we had more time we would have taken one of those across to our side. This will have to be another time, as we were on a mission to get home before the sun set, and did so in perfect time.  It was beautiful to experience the warm sandy yellow hazy sunset illuminate the landscape and see the night lights come on. The water of course was very nice – refreshing  against the outside temperature but actually quite warm and easy to get in.  Once the sun goes down you definitely get to enjoy outside a bit more – although it was still in the mid 30’s.

After our water time we showered and headed out together by taxi to a highly rated and reasonable Lebanese restaurant a short 10 minute drive away. It was pretty busy and we could only get a seat up on the smokers floor where there were some diners and others on the  big shisha  pipes.  Unfortunately Lili’s health started to deteriorate with bad stomach cramps so she couldn’t enjoy the lovely spread we had jointly ordered.   Hugo ate as quickly as possible and headed back to the hotel with Lili, whilst Vern and I finished off our meal at leisure – eating of course more than we should and still leaving over one persons meal worth behind.

We made sure we ate all the delicious greens and vegetables as we are still in vege deficit.  As a group table we ordered a plate of mixed dips, chicken livers in pomegranate sauce, beef and eggplant kebabs, chicken and hummus shawarma, domades, dandelion leaves with fried onion, and some spinach or dandelion pastries. The dips consisted of hummus with parsley, garlic, a cucumber and yoghurt dip, chunky eggplant in tomato, a tomato and light chili tapenade style and Lebanese babaganoush. Complimentary on the table were olives and  pickled gherkins and a man came around with fresh hot little white flour and a very black wholemeal puffed flat bread and topped up our bread basket as much as we wanted.  I had an avocado shake (no wine) and Vern had a juice.  A large bottle of water was served complimentary and Lili had a fresh mint tea (which they brought an extra plate of leaves up for her at request).  All this feast came to about $25 NZ each which is very reasonable.

A note on my drink which was the nicest Avocado smoothie I have ever had – in the middle was a lot of a soft slightly grainy farmers cheese – like fresh ricotta, and on top blanched almonds and honey.  Avocado shakes are hard to explain in flavour but it was slightly thick, and very creamy and a hint of sweet.  It was not strong in avocado flavour – just yummy creamy and very good.  I must do some playing with a recipie when they are in season.  It was a mini meal in itself – would have been so nice for breakfast.

When we could do no more justice to the meal we left and got a taxi to the other side of Dubai mall to watch the Dubai water fountain display. On leaving the restaurant there was a Lamborghini parked outside, so even though it was cheap and cheerful either the owner did well and had called in; or the well off like it as well.  It was pretty full all evening with more coming in when we left – and we were the only Europeans there. Always a good sign!

We timed it well and only had to wait 5 minutes before the water show.  It was a little bit of a let down as I was expecting a more colourful and multi media display like you see at Disney land but it was simple plain white light jets doing a dance for 3 minutes to music.  The setting was lovely with the different buildings illuminating the night sky and we enjoyed being near water which like greenery is in short supply amongst the modern desert city.

After the fountain I had about 35 minutes till the shops closed at midnight – so I again made a rash decision and told Vern I was going back for more gold as I had a feeling I would regret it if I did not.  It didnt take me long to go back to my favorite shop and procured some goodies that I had been looking seriously at earlier.  I also returned to another I had visited and purchased some earrings for nearly 50% less than what he offered me the same ones yesterday. My secret to that is to look like I am undecided and about to walk out … if they think they have lost you and are keen to sell, they will come back with a special offer for you.  I now have to sell off some of my other existing pieces back home to top the budget spending up, but I am sure I have a good deal and will enjoy my new treasures like Smaug.

By the time we got home it was after midnight so we set the alarm for our early start and pack, and I finished off the last of the wine in the bath as I cant pack that now can I?  Looking at myself I am appearing a tad tired which is not surprising as I have been pushing the limits throughout the holiday.  Right now I am focusing on a nice 12 hour stint in my bed when I finally get home to rejuvenate.  In the meantime I just push through, dig deep into my reserves and keep going squeezing in and maximising memory making every waking minute and for as many hours of the day I can.  Vern does not know how I do it – I think being a mother we have an inbuilt stamina for looking after babies and coping on less sleep.  The past two days he has fallen asleep on the couch when we have been talking about 3 times!

As the holiday or rather adventure ends my only regret is that I didn’t take many night shots – especially here from the top of the hotel or my room.  The  amount of traffic and views would have given fantastic light trails – perhaps that will be another time? On reflection the way we do holidays I don’t feel I am really able to take photos as well as I would like – or do the scenery or trip justice photography wise. We are just too time poor and without adequate time to set up and scope the photo. There is a difference to going on holiday and going on a photography trip,  or living in or visiting a place and doing some art behind the lense.  I also have concluded that given this new realization that I will approach my holiday photography differently in future;  without such high expectation of results.  Hopefully this will release me to enjoy my photos for what they are – holiday memories not technical achievements or art – hobby work.

Flying over Sydney at sunrise on the way home

So this adventure ended the next day, as we departed Dubai at 10am to arrive home 16 hours later, New Zealand time 11am the following day.  Another blast, more fantastic memories and still the desire to do it all again.

Next time, and I really mean it – we will slow down the pace and endeavour to shift around less often.  Staying somewhere a minimum of 3 nights, and ideally 5 nights where possible and it makes sense.  I also think we may not be in the position to take a 2 month break, so we are thinking 6 weeks and only two countries! Watch this space to join us next time and see if we manage it.

Wishing you happy travels, inner peace, love and the good health to enjoy it!

XXOOXXXX

View out our room of the sky walk

The lounge room of our suite

Sun getting low

Funky building

Lili and Hugo – yes they have swimwear on

Gold over tops?

Lights on the Burj

Dinner

Sunrise heading over the Tasman