Living the Travel Channel

Truck!

I was sitting on a bench in the mall, waiting for Daddybird and resting my sore feet. I felt so sorry for this manikin. Not only is she badly dressed, but she looks very uncomfortable. Poor thing!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173047/Chinese-fakeaway-After-copycat-Roller-products-got-lost-translation.html

These are hilarious, although most make too much sense. I particularly liked “McDuck” and “Unbelievable. This is not butter.” I got a good laugh, I hope you do, too.

In future, I hope to post a montage of strange signs we see here, but first I have to collect the pictures.

We frequently buy stuff just because the name is odd or amusing. Hence, the Want sandwich biscuits.
Or the Groundnut Balls (peanuts and carmel coating = carmel corn without the corn) Yummy.
We’ll give you three guesses as to what cereal this is, but you should only need one.
And, yes, we can get some Bob’s Red Mill products here.
It is a challenge to find skin lotion here, because most brands claim to make you fairer — lighten your skin color. I don’t really need to lighten my skin color unless I want to be invisible altogether. I managed to find a non-whitening brand that works well and is very cheap. I think it was about $0.55 for 150 ml (no idea what that is in ounces and I’m too lazy to look it up).

As for canned goods (L’s comment/question), there is a very common bean here called “foul,” so there are all kinds of cans of Foul this and Foul that. Kinda off putting. The beans are very similar to lima beans, but easier to tolerate — less foul you might say.

Another food oddity, lamb feet packaged in the meat counters seem to come in threes. Not sure what happens to the fourth. You can also get a whole head (lamb’s head, that is) at the meat counter with the eyeballs still in it. Mmm..mmm.

They show Survivor on the tv here, but they also have their own version in Arabic with Arabic speaking contestants called “Tons of Cash.” The whole program is in Arabic except the title.

I know you’re saying, “No kidding,” but really it is hot here. Actually though, I’m not talking about the weather, I’m talking about the tap water. The cold tap water. Not so surprising considering the constant high temperatures here- yes, speaking of weather in this case- and the fact that most buildings have a water tank on the roof which allows the water plenty of time to absorb the heat. So when you turn on the tap for a drink of cool water to provide some relief from that heat, you find that the heat has found a way to sneak into your life once again. Well, you may have chance at some cool water at first, if the tap hasn’t been turned on in a while and that first bit of water has had a chance to rest in the pipes of an air conditioned building. But you had better get it quick, because it will soon be followed by the usual stream of quite warm water which, I assure you, is not what you were hoping for.

That is why it is vitally important to keep a bottle of water in the fridge.

I was listening to an audio travelogue about Dubai the other day in which the narrator stated, “Almost everybody in Dubai takes ‘cold’ showers.” I certainly do, with the lever turned all the way over to “C”, the water is plenty hot enough. The narrator stated that the ‘cold’ water was about 36° Celsius in the summer. I never got around to taking a thermometer into the shower with me back in the states, so I don’t know how that compares to what my usual shower temperature used to run, but it’s not cooler. She then went on to say that in really hot summers the ‘cold’ water can be hotter than the ‘hot’ water. That I seriously doubt.

While the ‘cold’ water tap may seem hot, it’s still mild when compared to the ‘hot’ water tap. A typical setting for a water heater in the States is 120° F. That ain’t nuthin’. I haven’t been able to find out what the exact setting on a water heater is here, but it’s at least 40° F higher. The water bursts out of the tap scaldingly, blisteringly hot. That’s great for making sure your dishes are clean, but one has to be very careful around that spigot when using the sink casually. If you’re too careless when you shove a hand under a faucet and don’t check the temp first, you may quickly pull it back with some 1st degree burns in it. I was rinsing out plastic soda bottle the other day and almost immediately the bottle started to shrivel and deform as if I had taken a cigarette lighter to it. No, I am not at all kidding about the bottle! I’m thinking about relabeling the faucets in our apartment. Instead of “Cold” and “Hot” we’ll have “Boiling” and “Very Nearly Steam”.

So, when I take my ‘cold’ shower in the morning, it’s as cold as I can get it to run, which sometimes is still uncomfortably warm. This is not really a problem for Kanga. She is used to taking much hotter showers than I am. She thinks I’m a wimp. Apparently I’m a polar bear and she’s a… well, you know, one of those critters that likes really hot water. (Posted by Daddybird)