Construction and Mirrors

We spent an evening in Dubai, and the overall impression is of a place in flux. Everywhere there were tall mirrored skyscrapers surrounded by building sites. Of course there was also a 5 star hotel every 100m.

How did I know I was in Dubai and not some other random airport? Well apart from the chrome plated citrus airport that looked like a modern version of a Roman temple, it was the man in the flowing white robes, with a flowing white cloth on his head calmly holding up his hand and walking in front of the bus expecting it to stop.

Suprising thing about Dubai? Dean had his haircut by a Phillipino man, our tour guide was Pakistani and the bus driver was from Bandladesh. I didn't realise it would be such a multinational city. I think people go there to get rich or to serve the rich...including the royal family. The king had his face plastered all over everything, including prominent billboards on the highway.

We visited a gold souk (market), and I lost count of the number of times we were asked if we wanted a 'copy watch' followed by a list 'TAG, Longines, Rolex etc' and if we declined the watch it was 'we have bag as well, luis vuitton'. NO! The best thing about the market, apart from the amazing display of ostentatious yellow gold, were the spice shops. We only went into one, but we tried about 5 different pistachio flavours! Including lemon, cinnamon and extra salty - as if pistachios aren't salty enough! I wanted D to try and bargain for our bag of nuts, but he just offered 10 units (canät remember currency name!) and we walked out. I watched one lady walk out in faux disgust, and the guy then chucked his little serving trowel before they agreed on a price. Fun!

Then we saw the stock sitting on the dock of Dubai Creek waiting to be exported. Looked like a scene from the 1920's. Covered haphazardly in tarpaulins, in poor excuses for boxes, it made us wonder about the quality of our pistachios and their storage pre shop days...

next stop MAribor.

WE started reading the New Testament. Both still about Matthew 4...only 27 and 3/4 books to go. I'm getting excited - finally - about all of it. Looking forward to sharing more exploits.

T