Dubai Layover

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I had a long enough layover in Dubai that I was able to get a visa, leave the airport and take a bus downtown for a few hours. It was a really glitzy city with beautiful architecture. I arrived in the morning before it was to unbearably hot, and wandered around the souks. They were really impressive with the masses of gold and rich fabrics. I don't think I've seen so many textile stores and tailors in one place. The citizens of Dubai are sharp dressers...though I can't imagine where the women might where some of those gowns. They looked like one big piece of jewelry. I took a boat across the "creek" and spent some time mosque viewing. My favorite was the brilliant turquoise one. It was a bit odd that in the morning I saw maybe one other woman out...only men. Later in the day I saw a few more women out shopping, and some driving cars, but the public sphere was definitely male dominated.

It started to get really hot around nine or ten in the morning and thereafter I had to only walk a bit, and then go into one of the fresh juice stands and cool off. The food was excellent as well...through the morning I had the avocado smoothie, but also tried the lemon mint drink and later the strawberry juice with my plate of hot samosas. I also had some nice masala chai at one of the tea stands. I spent an hour or so at the Dubai Museum, which was air conditioned and mostly underground. It had interesting exhibits on traditional lifestyles in the area, pearl diving, desert life and a replica of a traditional hut. I found the wind tunnel, made of burlap, which provided a sort of air conditioning to be quite ingenious and nice to stand in. I also walked along the waterfront down to the Sheiks old house, which is now an air conditioned photo, coin and stamp gallery. It was slightly less interesting than the museum, but did have some interesting photos of old Dubai and of village life before development. Many of the photos were of things I had just seen still going on in Africa...so that part was interesting. I didn't have time to make it to the massive mall and indoor ski resort in the desert as it was a ways from downtown and the airpot and traffic is really slow...it took about an hour on the bus downtown to the airport...but perhaps next time I have a layover I'll have time to go for quick snowboarding jaunt.

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Comments

[rrruss]

:-)
A stop-over in Dubai is never enough! Keep up the excellent blogging.