Blogs from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 128

To Cairo (2003): I traveled to Egypt in September 2003 after the SARS was just over. We arrived in Dubai at midnight after a 6-hour flight from Bangkok on Emirate Airlines. We had to transit in this city for a day on the way to Cairo. My trip was a long time ago, so my photos may look old now. It was also the first time I visited an Arabian country. Despite a short transit, we still had enough time to visit some places in Dubai. We were amazed by the development of this city, which used to be a desert 30 years ago. The Burj Al Arab Hotel was the highlight on our visit. We then went to Jumeirah Mosque and Bastakia Citadel. When other people on the tour were busy shopping at the market, ... read more

We left Melbourne at about 7pm, and then had a quick stopover in Singapore for a few hours. Then we were off to Dubai for a day. We arrived at about 5am, and got through the airport pretty easily. We went to the hotel to sleep for a few hours, and then decided to do a day tour of the city. We visted the Jumeria Beach Hotel, The Burj Al Arab, and The Jumeria Mosque. After the tour, we headed back to the airport, and got our flight to Egypt.... read more

Although I made no notes, who could forget the fabulous shop of wood furniture, exotic carvings, and miscellaneous other things? Peggy was used to dealing with the vendor, so they went off in pursuit of whatever it was she wanted. I trailed through the aisles, marveling at the mainly Indian tables, chairs, chests and carved ornaments. Everything was almost jumbled together with space for walking amongst the innumerable items for sale. As Peggy and John were completing their negotiations, I discovered a box with dozens of painted china cupboard/drawer pulls. Immediately I wanted them for my kitchen cupboards and drawers. Closing my eyes, I mentally calculated how many I would need. Then I dug through the collection to select as many different patterns as possible. My own negotiations commenced with the vendor. In the afternoon, we ... read more

April 19 This morning, I went to the Western and (relatively) touristy shopping malls on Jumeirah Beach Road. There seemed to be a preponderance of UAE shoppers; all the goods were either Western or pitched at tourists. Nevertheless, Peggy said that Magrudy’s Bookstore in the Magrudy Mall is the best in Dubai (at least in English). MagGrudy Mall is an “outdoor mall”, more like a market of stores in an approximate square. The selection was extensive, with an excellent travel section and quite a few local history and travel/picture books. The latter are expensive, however, and the pictures are very commercial, i.e., stylized and not reminiscent of what I’ve seen. I did buy a book, set in Al Ain , one of the UAE cities. (Peggy remarked that it’s not that good.) I a... read more

During the day, I wrote travel notes and enjoyed reading in the cool of the apartment, with a swim later in the afternoon. Every afternoon, after either a rest or a snooze, I go to the swimming pools in the apartment building. There are often a family of Indian children playing in the pool when I arrive. This afternoon there were also some English children and some sun bathers. Usually I am the only adult swimmer, although John often swims later in the day. I read and swim in the intervals of taking a dip and go back to the apartment after a couple of hours. From anywhere in the city, to return to the apartment you just tell the taxi driver to go to the Lulu Centre, which is about 3 blocks from the apartment. ... read more