My birthday
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2009
1
3
6
Trip End
Feb 26, 2009
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Monday, February 23, 2009
After our curry breakfast and cake! great way to start the day! we caught an abra (little boat) across the creek for a whole 2dhs/20p each to see the fish market, where there was an amazing selection of fish and lobster and huge prawns etc etc
We then went for a walk around Deiras gold souk, spice souks etc. Deira is a lot quieter and more spaced out than the other side of the creek. The spice souk was a lot smaller than we expected with most of the little stalls being cheap tat or plastic toys or household stuff etc. The gold souk was what you would expect - so we went for a look at the amazing displays but did not go in as we were not there to buy ( i am more of a silver girl and the exchange rate would have made everything expensive!)
We then went to see the heritage house and the old school. It was great since we were the only people looking around. Much of the information in the heritage museum was similar to the museums we looked at yesterday, but this told the story of a family in a emarati house setting. There was information on lifestyle and traditions of modern Dubai, traditional games played by children etc. Once again there were mannequins posing in many styles telling the stories and in the courtyard we were offered dates and breakfast.
Next door is the Al Ahmadiya school, which was built in 1912 by a Sheikh, where rich pupils payed and poor pupils learnt for free. They learnt the Koran, maths, writing, science and pearl diving. In 1962 the school had to move as was ovecrowded and the building starting falling into disrepair until 1995 wen the city authorities made it into a great museum - once again with air con, mannequins, videos etc. We both found it fascinating to see how the students had been taught so long ago and how the place had been restored. It is a beautiful building with wind towers that cool the halls.
We then took a walk up the creek before catching an abra back to Bur Dubai and having some Egyptian food -humus and pitta and fried cheese beside the creek before catching a taxi to Madinat Jumeirah - a modern "authentic" looking Arabian style building which had lots of coffee shops and souks.. was very modern and air conditioned. THe buildings were set around a lake where you could see Burj Al Arab so we obviously had to take a few snaps. We didn't really fancy buying anything when the price tags were all up at about £100 - that is what happens when you are surrounded by 7* hotels! Was good to see the outside of it for the first time - and gutting that you have to make an appointment and spend a lot of money to go inside it as it would have been great to see!
we then got a taxi to Mall of the Emerates - the largest mall in Dubai which also contains Ski Dubai...The mall is like anythingyou would find in the UK with many of the same names - unfortunately the exchange rate meant that nothing was very cheap and an ice cream at haagan dass would be £7 so resorted to a McDonalds ice cream for £1. We spent ages walking around the mall and watching the skiers on the huge slope inside the mall. THe real snow was very compacted but the Arabs had warm outfits over their clothes - although they still wore their headscarves over the top. For 150dhs/ £30 you could play on the snow with sledges and down toboggan runs etc. Really strange to see when it is so sunny outside!
We headed back to the hotel and ended up going to the Arabian Coutyard Hotel where we went for a beer and went upstairs to eat a delicous Thai meal under the stars overlooking Dubai museum (the meal was about £30 150dhs which wasn't too bad considering the beer was £10 for 2). It was a really lovely night and the end to a perfect day.
