Adventure to the souk at Dubai Creek

So, on Friday, Christine and I decide to take an adventure to the Dubai Creek area. We are unsure of what we will find but are eager anyway. Christine has a book about Dubai and we looked at information there. Using the GPS, we choose Dubai Creek Park to begin. Well, when we got there, the entire place is empty. Quickly realizing this is not where we want to be, we decide to ask the lady at the entrance of the gate. She has no idea what we are talking about so we head back to the car and head to the Dubai Museum thinking it may be closer to what we want. We find the museum and park. Initially thinking we will visit the museum, we head that way and take some of these pictures. At the entrance, there are lots of men standing around and we walk to the door and one guy says "no open. 2:30". 

So we leave and head to the area we THINK might be the souk. Passing a mosque, we see several men leaving and someone washing the floors. We go through an ally that looks like we should run the other way but we keep on. Finally, we spot the creek off to the right and head that way. We walk through some more ally ways that have vendors on each side selling their items and bombarding us with questions about buying their items. We finally make it through that area and get to the area to take a water taxi across the creek to the other side where there are more vendors and a larger souk. These pics are of us boarding the water taxi and crossing the creek. We crossed the creek for 1 dirham each (36 cents). 

Me, on the water taxi

Christine, on the water taxi

These are boats are on the side of the creek and have tarps that cover them. People live there. We figure it is the men who navigate the water taxis back and forth that live in these "boat houses". 

We arrive at the Grand Souq "Diera" and are immediately met by a man who says come to the Spice souk. Christine is looking for spices for her daughter so we follow him. It is a dark alley but we smell the spices so we know we are heading in the right direction. 

 

Sure enough, we find the spice souk and these 2 pics show 2 of the men who are selling the spices. The second picture is the boy who was insistent on selling me a pashmina and wanted to take a picture with me. I didn't buy the pashmina. 

At the spice souk, Christine found spices for her daughter and frankincense and myrrh for her Sunday School lesson for Christmas (she is going home for Christmas).

I also learned that rock salt is used as deodorant here. 

Leaving the souk and heading back to take the water taxi all these little birds are perched on the rail. It didn't matter how many people came up, they just kept sitting there. They didn't seem to be afraid. 

Crossing the creek again, it begins to rain. We get very excited since we haven't seen rain since August. We were like kids excited about the rain!

 

National Day Celebrations

This week has been crazy!! Celebrations have been happening for the upcoming National Day. National Day is December 2 and this country will be 41 years-old. These people are extremely proud of their country and it is apparent as you travel around the city. 

On Tuesday, I went to the Post Office to pick up a package from my parents. As you go in the Post Office, these 2 displays are located INSIDE. The displays depict traditional artifacts from this country. Many of the artifacts I recognized from seeing on a regular basis or at an assembly we had at school where the girls were shown older artifacts that are not as commonly used today. 

Also, on Tuesday, the grade 2 girls did a dance for the entire school. They were so proud of their dance and did a great job. They had been practicing for about a week. Here is about a fourth of the grade 2 girls lined up waiting on the music to begin. 

On Wednesday, there were many activities for the girls to be a part of. These included henna, lots of dancing, food, more dancing, more food, and lots of playing. Here is the henna I had done. 

On Thursday, there was a 3 hour assembly celebrating National Day. Many of the girls danced and some read passages or sang passages from the Quran. All of it was in Arabic but I recognized some of the "songs" from the Quran that the girls recite during our regular morning assemblies. Also, gifts were given and of course there was plenty of chocolate dispersed. 

I've already mentioned how proud these people are of their country. Here are 2 cars that have been decorated to show their pride. The first car has a flag attached to the top along with stickers all over the body. In the window is a wrap that pictures the Sheikh. The second picture is a car at the mall that is completely "wrapped" with the flag and pictures of the Sheikh. These 2 cars are "mild" compared to the one I saw at the mall but was to appalled that I forgot to take a picture. It was complete "wrapped" with pictures of the Sheikh, flags everywhere, mirrors covered, and feather boas in red, green, white, and black wrapped around the luggage rack on the top of the SUV. It was quite shocking!!!