Gold Souk

Bruce and I visited the Gold Souk in Old Dubai. At first we weren't sure we were going to 
see anything because the parking situation was ridiculous. Picture Market Mall at Christmas time and then add a bazillion more cars. There were at least 6 cars down every parking lane, driving slowly with their hazards on in hopes of spotting someone returning to their car.  We decided to take a page out of the Golden Ski Hill-creative-parking-technique and found ourselves somewhere to park (not entirely legal). 

The souk itself was quite fascinating. Instantly we were approached by random people advertising a "back room" with rolexes, and louis vuitton purses...all real of course.  The jewelry was beautiful, lots and lots of gold. there were also pearls and many many varieties of stones. 

GBF

THE GOOD

• Sunny weather
  
• Lots of neat restaurants and bars to visit. We were invited to a birthday party at the Buddha Bar. - here is the link http://www.buddha-bar.com/new/en/buddha_db_galerie1.php

A  picture of a rooftop bar that we visited this week. 

• Meeting quite a few friendly people. I think many residents here are used to transient friendships so they are willing to meet new people and provide helpful Dubai hints and useful information. 
• Where we are living has lots of greenery and flowers. Very pretty (images to come next time). 

THE BAD

• The only way to get reliable information is word of mouth - the Internet does nothing for you here.
• Addresses don't really exist and directions often involve something like "turn left at the mosque and we're by the circular white building." 
• Waking up to beautiful sunshine only to find out that it is 36 degrees outside. This leaves one with hands (and belly) pressed up against the window wondering if it's worth venturing outside for a sweaty/exhausting adventure.
• The mosquito (and perhaps friends) who found me last night and left my legs looking like I have chicken pox...stupid bugs. Bruce of course does not have ONE bite...stupid bugs.

THE FUNNY

·      The phrase “I don’t know” is not part of the vocabulary. People will cheerfully give you exactly the wrong information or directions instead of telling you they don’t know. Bruce and I have had several funny/frustrating adventures following these “instructions.”  I now find a way to ask the same question 3 different ways so I can find out if an individual really knows what they are talking about. Sometimes it’s a language barrier and sometimes its the desire to tell you anything other than the fact that they may not know the answer. 

A couple of random images: 

One is the mood inspiring artwork in our old hotel apartment. The other is some friends that we found guarding our door the other evening. Bruce kept saying "look at the size of that moth" (it was approx. the size of my palm). We watched to see if the lizard was going to attempt to eat the moth...no go. 

Bumps and bump

I have been attending a "Bumps and Babes" group for the past couple of weeks. We meet Mondays in the Ibn Battuta mall, near a coffee shop of course. I have found this to be a great source of information and as a bonus, I now know two other women who are also due in July (one is an engineer from Calgary).

Lots of requests to see the bump.  I feel like I have exploded in the past couple of weeks. Here, you can see for yourself....

Muscat part 2

This is a picture of a souk that we visited. Steph has done a fair bit of shopping here (for herself and with visitors). It was quite funny to see how the store owners would make sure to say hello and if we walked by without stopping, they would chase after us and make sure to say hi to her.

We took a drive through the mountains and ended up at a beautiful beach. We were there at 8:30am and off of the sand by 10:30am. It was such a gorgeous day...just a tad warm. 

I found the coolest shell while we were wandering around the beach. I picked it up to take it home with me, but the shell's occupant had other ideas. 

Trip to Oman

I flew to Muscat this week to visit Stephanie, Sean, and their son Kael. Steph is an ex ski racer who has been living abroad for 4 years (Tripoli for 2, and Muscat for 2). They are in the process of moving back to Calgary so I thought I should hustle my bunnies over there for a visit before they left. So I waved goodbye to Bruce and after successfully convincing Omani air that I could fly without a doctor’s note:

“We need a note from your doctor”

“But I’m only 27 weeks and most airlines don’t require a note until 28 or 32”

“Oh, so you are 5 months pregnant?”

“Sure….yes”

“Just fine then, have a great flight”

First up is a Mosque that we visited. 

Have you even been pregnant and had to wear long pants, long sleeves, and a pashmina head wrap (i.e. toque) when it was +37 out? Yup, this is the result. So flattering… 

Hat, Tie and Mall

 People have asked to see a picture of us. Here it is...not very glamorous -it might have been a bit hot that day. I was quite thankful for my hat. It took Bruce and I a total of 45 seconds to pick that hat out during one of our mall excursions when we were still suffering from jet lag. 

This headless guy (Stuart) is an expert on science fiction stuff. If anyone has a Dr. Who tie, please let him know. I took this picture specifically for Mike - they would have a lot to talk about. 

This last picture is from one of our shopping adventures- and yes, they are all  adventures.  This mall claims to be the longest (2Km) in Dubai. They even have shuttles (carts) that will drive you from one end to the other.  You can imagine our dismay when we parked at the dark blue section of the mall (see far left) and realized that the store we wanted was in the far right, red section. Shuttle? No way, we made it in 20 min.

DONE!

I finished my course today. YIPEE. I have spent our first few weeks in Dubai locked in our apartment writing my final paper. This paper involved a description and deconstruction of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy as well as my personal views on the subject. Good times. 

Today I had to choose 2 posts from my online weekly discussion forum and provide a rationale as to why I'm awesome. Where does one start?

Anyway, now on to the good stuff....PICTURES. 

First up our rental car. 

Just kidding, here is our real rental car - a rockin' honda CRV

Now on to the Dubai World Cup. This is an annual event in Dubai and boy is in an EVENT.

People go nuts with fashion and booze. There is a "best dressed" competition for women and couples. The winners get ~$5000 worth of prizes. It is really all about the hats...yes I wore one. 

The horse races themselves were very exciting. This race doles out the  most prize money in the world. Of course, it's Dubai - land of the biggest, best, tallest, longest, most expensive you name it.  The winner of the 7th race won 3.6 million dollars. It was an american horse (horse of the year in 2007) named Cullin. What a race!  Here are some shots great hats/head gear as well as the races.