25 05 2010

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25 05 2010


Well it may be the penultimate day but we are still in full holiday mode. We had a good brekkie then it was off to the red bus tour of Dubai. We went to the Dubai museum where they had a series of scenes from old Dubai. Thankfully it was air conditioned and quite informative. The trip also included a look at the old Kings shack of a house which was not worth the effort but we had a nose anyway. However one of the sheiks that apparently runs the museum got chatting to us and must have enjoyed our conversation as when we went to leave he asked one of the staff to get hats and T-shirts for us as presents! It transpires he has a house in Eastbourne and goes there every June and July for a holiday. We googled him and he owns the Irish stud called Derrinstown Stud.

We ended up for a while at the gold souk which was full of amazing jewellery which was a lot of Derhams. Beautiful to look at but scary to start bartering with. We moved on to the spice souk which was all ran by Iranians from Shiraz. Fascinating to talk to them and Wendy bought some frankincense and saffron. The people who work here are all from the same area of Iran and were fluent in many languages. We had a right old laugh and they assured me the various spices were good for hair loss and had loads of Viagra for sale as well at a very good price. It was all in good nature and even though we were pretty lost at this stage in the heart of an area of Dubai we didn’t know it never felt threatening and we even spoke about the problems Iran has at the moment and were assured it was a good place to visit like Thailand.

We were pretty hot and sweaty by now as it was about 38 degrees so headed back to the hotel for a cooling tonic water and ice. Amazingly we had a small amount of Bombay sapphire to dilute this concoction and it appeared to blend in well.

We went down for an evening meal and had lamb shank which was mouth wateringly delicious. It was evident we were in the hubba bubba capital of the world. Here they call it Shisha so in a spirit of when in Dubai do as they do we ordered a Shisha pipe for after dinner. Our flavour was strawberry and mango. We were not sure what this involved but tried our best and as you can see from the pictures it appeared to work. I would compare it to fruity entinox. After a few puffs we felt a bit light headed which lasted for about a minute and then passed. I am anti smoking but I suppose a Shisha every 53 years is allowed. We ended up a bit giggly and I thought I was fine. That is until on my way out I walked into a glass window which would have failed any UK health and safety test. As luck would have it I didn’t injure any part of my body except my head which was already under a local anaesthetic so no harm done.

Home soon, UK beware,

Wendy and Phil.

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