Around Dubai

Our travel consultant assigned us a chauffeur/tour guide to take us to wherever we wanted to around the city. She turned out to be another kabayan, Heidi, who is actually in the catering business but was free on that day. Our first stop of the day was the Central Souk in Sharjah. We chose to go there first since it was the farthest from the city. Central is their version of 168. Pero what a market it turned out to be! Endless rows of clothing, furniture, table linens, perfume and everything else under the sun. But since I was assigned to accompany Mom, we only made it to 2 stores while the rest of the group was able to walk the whole mile. At least I was able to buy the kandura Reymond specifically asked for. For those who may not know, the kandura is the traditional attire worn by the men of this region. It consists of a white gown, a white knit cap, a scarflike hanky worn on the head topped with a black 'lasso' to keep the hanky in place. Reymond fancies himself a sheikh -- ewan ko lang ha. I don't think he can have that harem he's fantasizing about! Moving on....

Mom went crazy at the Gold Souk. Apparently, gold (jewelry in general) is cheaper in Dubai. Most of the shops were managed by Indian nationals. Mom has this thing about asking each and every Indian around if they are from Keralah (pronounced as ker-lah). Ang kulit. Ang laki laki ng India and yet she has to ask them the same question each and every time. Sa ka-ka Keralah niya, nabola tuloy siya. Because of intensive over the counter negotiations, we had lunch at 3:00pm na! But it was well worth the wait. Mercato was serious eye-candy.





The Mercato Mall on Jumeirah Road was our lunch venue. The mall had European/Italian influences and if you close your eyes for a few seconds, you would actually think you were walking in some street in Europe. I made a declaration that it was the most beautiful mall I had ever been to! But that was before I stepped inside the Madinat Jumeirah.



This particular mall is in the vicinity of the Burj Al Arab, Wild Wadi and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Although most people will opt to have their pictures taken at the beach with the Burj as their background, MFV (feeling local) suggested otherwise. And although I hate to admit it. she was right once again. The view of the Burj from Madinat was breathtaking! The Burj is jumungous! As you all know, it is a 7-star hotel and the cheapest room rate is $3,000 a night. Each room has 2 floors and you are assigned a personal butler for the duration of your stay. MFV had the opportunity to enter the Burj last February and even dine inside (Tita Nini L. had a contact inside who got them in for free). For us cheapos who refused to spend 250 dirhams to enter their premises, we contented ourselves with her stories of lavishness and gaudiness. Truth be told, she was not very impressed with the interiors of the hotel. With its red, yellow and blue color scheme and diamond shaped tiles, it reminded her quite a bit of Alice in Wonderland. Kahit na, I told her. It's still impressive!

While at Madinat, we had the opportunity to meet up with family friend Fernan (and fellow kabayan) who was scheduled to start his first day of work at the Burj in the coming days. Fernan had just graduated from DLSU and he, with a group of 18 of his classmates, had entered into a study and work program with the Burj and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Galeng noh? His mother had sent him a few items thru us and we all had coffee at Costa with the imposing view of the Burj as our background. We really wanted to stay longer but we had to rush back to Deira to catch our 8pm pick-up for the Dhow Cruise along the Dubai Creek.



It wasn't all that great and the food was not exceptional BUT since we were in Dubai, we went on with the cruise lest we regret not having gone! It's a two-hour sail around the major landmarks surrounding the Dubai creek. You're served drinks and dinner plus you have the option of getting a back rub pa! Oh ha! We were even offered the services of their henna tattoo artist but we politely declined. Our cruise ended at 10:30pm with all of us dog tired. Time to rest our aching feet for another day in Dubai....