March | 2009 | Living the Travel Channel

Archive for March, 2009

Lessons learned

March 15, 2009

Had my purse stolen tonight and aside from a few minutes of panic, it was a very pleasant experience. Let me set the scene for you.

We were having a lovely meal at an Iraqi restaurant on Al Muteena Street. This street has a parkway down the middle of it with palm trees and park benches and is quite populated in the evenings. The men who work in Dubai while their families are back in their home country hang out in the parks in the evenings since they have only crowded shared living quarters to go to otherwise. We were sitting at a table on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant enjoying the evening (it won’t be too much longer before it becomes too hot to do this.) I am usually quite paranoid and careful about my purse, but not tonight. I know better, but I put my purse in the seat next to me. [insert contrite hanging of the head here] So, in the middle of our meal, a man grabbed my purse and took off running. I yelled. The man at the next table next took off after him. I took a few steps, but as Paul sped past me, I realized the futility of my attempting to run anywhere. (Yes, he can speed when properly motivated. It was a sight to behold.) I spent the next few minutes trying to contain my panic as I realized that everything was in that purse. EVERYTHING. But, once I saw how many of the bystanders joined in the chase and the commotion it was causing as this guy tried to run down the parkway crowded with men who had nothing better to do than give chase, I relaxed a little and started telling myself “In little while, Paul will be back with my purse. Everything will be okay.” That thief did not really stand a chance. He did get away, but not before someone snatched my purse back from him and gave it to Paul.

Things I found out after the dust settled – the purse snatcher had been sitting at another table scoping out the situation, so this was quite premeditated. The man at the next table who took chase was the restaurant owner or manager. How’s that for service? He apologized to us for the incident. What has he got to apologize for???

The sad or amusing thing (depending on your perspective) is that the guy is not only out the contents of my purse, but his sandals flew off his feet as he sped away. He’s poor and shoeless.

The feedback we have gotten from people who have lived here a long time is that this is truly rare. I suspected as much based on our experiences so far and the strictness of Arab law. It is not like the American “slap on the wrist” system. People get punished here and then sent back to their country of origin.

Lesson #1 DON’T BE CARELESS with my purse.
Lesson #2 It’s rare, but there are a few thieves here.
Lesson #3 They are not tolerated and bystanders WILL take action.

It is nice to depend on the kindness of strangers.

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Silly roundabouts

March 13, 2009

Here are two of my favorite silly roundabouts. In this first clip we have just turned into the Outlet Mall. We can’t turn into the parking area until after we have gone around a dead end roundabout. It was very windy that day, which is why I started recording. This is the day when we saw someone washing a car in this parking lot in this wind.

This next clip is a slip road that connects two major roadways. We take this route often. We can’t just merge onto the road at the left where we want to go. We have to first turn right, go around a roundabout, then back the way we came to where we can finally merge onto the road. The “soundtrack,” if you will, is coming from the car radio. We usually listen to an Emirati station even though we don’t understand a word (yet). This snippet seems to be the call to prayer.

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Three totally unrelated things

March 13, 2009

Cars here have strange names. This is probably the cream of the crop – the Nissan Sunny SuperSaloon.
Here’s the KFC and Pizza Hut signs somewhere between here and Ras Al Khaimah.
How did we know what floor of the shabby parking garage we were on? Why by the “2” drawn in crayon on the wall next to the elevator buttons, of course.

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"Fast" food

March 13, 2009

This is Paul’s chicken sandwich from the mall food court restaurant. Notice that it is two real chicken breasts, not a reconstituted chicken patty. It cost a whopping Dhs 18 ($4.50).
Below is my large pizza. The dough was hand tossed and it was baked fresh for me in a brick oven. Cost me Dhs 35 ($9.50). The crust is the thinnest I have ever had. It is crispy and almost like a cracker. Yum.
Who needs to go to the food festival? Every day is a food festival in Dubai.

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Sand storm

March 13, 2009

You may have heard of the sand storms in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on the news. We are not experiencing anything as disruptive as that, but here are pictures of the view from our balcony this morning.

Contrast that to the fog back in December.

And a sunny day in January.

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Answers to your questions

March 12, 2009

Questions have been piling up, so here are some answers.

Are we coming back “home?” and will we bring the furniture we are buying with us? ***Don’t really know. Here’s the deal. We came here with the intention of staying until it is time to retire, which should be around 20 years. 1/2 of the first year down, 19 1/2 to go. So, we are buying good quality furniture that will last. Now, most anything could happen and we might not stay the full 20 years. We do intend to ship the best pieces to wherever we might move. It will cost a bundle, because they are hardwood and heavy and worth it.

Jon and anyone else is welcome to visit. We recommend January. The weather is wonderful then and I have two weeks off, perfect for sight seeing.

The toys are made in China. No, they have not been tested for lead content, but I wasn’t planning on putting them in my mouth.

Why do all the toys (so far) have flashing lighted eyes? ***No idea. Perhaps they are part of a plot to overstimulate children.

If men gather for kushti wrestling, what do women do for fun? ***Unknown. There are probably interesting things going on, but we haven’t discovered them, yet.

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There be furniture here!

March 9, 2009

We got matching bedside tables. They are 33″ wide and 21″ deep. I am so glad that my alarm clock won’t be falling off onto the floor anymore. (I was using a chair previously.) I only wish we’d thought to get a third matching one to go under the television. Next time, I guess.

Here is our lovely new bookcase. The sides have cut out camels.

The back is painted dark blue.
And our books have nestled into their new home. Ahhhh.
They are happy to not be laying in piles on top of the ironing board anymore. And, if I ever find an ironing board cover, I might get some ironing done.

We got these items at Lucky’s Furniture and Handicrafts in Sharjah. We recommend it!

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Most fun I have had in a long long time

March 8, 2009

Last Wednesday we went to a goodbye dinner party for Adrianna at her favorite restaurant, Special Ostadi (not to be confused with Ostadi Special, which is right next door). It is located in Bur Dubai (across the Creek from where we live). It didn’t take very long to drive there, but took a lot longer to find parking.

The restaurant is a “hole-in-the-wall” with real character. There are a wide variety of clocks, old cell phones, and baseball caps hanging on the wall. (The clocks don’t necessarily tell the correct time.) It was crowded and busy. We hadn’t even stepped in the door and joined our party when the waiter/owner saw Paul and said “Holly man!” Not sure if he was calling him “holy man” or “Harley man,” but once again, it’s the beard. When another of our friends arrived, an attractive young lady, the only open chairs were hard to get to and the waiter offered to carry her over everyone’s head to a chair. She was a little creeped out by that. It was late and I couldn’t eat much if I wanted to sleep, so I just had the 3 dirham soup ($0.80) and nibbled on the cucumber appetizers. After the meal comes unlimited free tea. He gave me quite a time about getting free tea when I hadn’t paid for food. (He didn’t know we are big tippers 😉 I nibbled on some of the meat others had and it was really yummy, so we will have to go back when I can manage a full meal. Additional friends kept showing up and it was a very fun evening. The teasing escalated when our Syrian/Russian friends (Rami & Sami) showed up. The waiter brought a plate to one of them, told him it was a special salad, when in reality it was the peelings from the appetizer vegetables. He brought out two small plates of dates. One had two dates — this was for four of us — the other plate was heaping with dates — it was for Adrianna only.

It was one of those evenings when your stomach muscles hurt the next day because of all the laughing.

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Closer than they appear

March 8, 2009

“Objects in the the mirror may be closer than they appear.” Actually, I’d like to know what the literal translation of this is. I bet it isn’t exactly that.

There’s a PSA campaign currently. The sides of buses are painted bright yellow with sayings like “Changing lanes suddenly can be confusing.” or “Speeding is not thrilling when it goes out of control.” We saw a bus driver being confused by someone changing lanes suddenly just last night. Seems to me that speeding is at its most thrilling when it goes out of control.

They should be drilling into people’s head that children should be belted in. We are frequently seeing children roaming around the inside of moving vehicles and/or sitting in the driver’s lap. Considering the cultural emphasis on family, it is strange that the importance of child seat belt safety hasn’t occurred to them.

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