Posted by Kanga.
If you are old enough to remember the Cold War, this store name probably has more meaning than they intended.
When you run out of vacation spots on Earth, there’s always Uranus.
Posts Tagged ‘Dubai’
Road to Singapore
June 24, 2012Posted by Kanga.
We are safely in Singapore on vacation. It took a while to get our internet connection worked out, so I am already behind by 3 or 4 blog posts. So, let us begin. Here is how we got here.
It began with how to get from Fujairah to the Dubai airport. We could impose on friends to drive us. We could taxi all the way. Or, we could take the bus. The taxi ride from our apartment to the bus station = 5 AED ($1.36 US). The bus costs a whopping 25 AED ($6.80 US) per person. Our flight was at 9:30 am the next morning, so we had opted to stay overnight to make it less stressful and to avoid having to get up early.
Above is the bus station. Below, inside the bus.
We left at 9:15 pm and arrived at Union Station (just blocks from where we used to live) by 10:55 pm. We then took a taxi to our hotel near the airport. (Taxi from Union Station to the hotel = 20.50 AED / $5.58 US.) The bus ride was quite nice. The seats were wide enough to be comfortable. The Dubai taxi driver struck up a conversation beginning with “you have a nice beard” and including where are you from, do you have children, what work do you do, and how long have you been here – all the standard questions. Paul asked questions as well. The taxi driver was from Pakistan/Afghanistan and has been in Dubai for 10 years. His family is in Pakistan. They also discussed Fujairah – weather, housing costs, etc.
Once at the hotel, we splurged on dinner, both having steak. Very tasty, but not cheap (290 AED/$79 US).
If you are concerned about our cats (I know you are), a friend is checking on them daily and we have a web cam set up above their primary napping place so that we can check on them occasionally ourselves. That should alleviate our anxiety and guilt somewhat.
Because We Can
April 23, 2012Posted by Kanga.
Why build a twisted skyscraper? Because we can.
One might think there would be little need of “dewatering” in a desert climate, but apparently not.
“Safety is No Accident.” That’s pithy.
What is “sustainable transport” in a desert Opec country? Desperately needed, that’s what.
Hot Bread – Bread Line and Mr. Copy.
Hot Bread’s cupcakes may be the most delicious, but only probably.
The Stables
April 22, 2012Posted by Kanga.
We stopped into The Stables for an afternoon snack.
The second story is a lovely pub decorated in a horse riding motif.
Including booths like horse stalls.
Being Saturday afternoon, there was football (soccer) on the big screen.
DaddyBird was happy to discover that the onion rings were actually made of sliced onions. (There are too many fake onion rings in this town.)
I had an apple rhubarb crumble.
Even the dishes were sad when it was gone.
The prices were quite reasonable. Two beers, onion rings and apple rhubarb crumble came to 70 AED ($19.00 USD)
Dubai Tourist for a Day
March 26, 2012Posted by Kanga.
I’m on two weeks vacation now, but we are staying local. We needed to go into Dubai to do some bank business at our original brach, which only took a few minutes, so we had the rest of the day to be tourists.
So, we went to the Dubai Museum, which is in Bur Dubai, the oldest part of town. It is housed in Al Fahidi Fort. Admission is 3 AED ($0.81).
The museum also has an underground section. It is very well designed, providing a recreation of a market and city streets. There are also pearl diving, boat building and fishing displays. The problem is that the museum was set up in one shot and is not being updated or developed. (At the very least, they should dust the stuffed animals.)
We headed over to the Dubai Creek where we met this lovely stray cat. She enjoyed some getting some attention.
We took an abra across the Creek to the Deira side. The price is still 1 AED each ($0.27) There was a parade of tourist buses unloading travelers transferring to the abras.
Then we took a walk down the creekside where boats load cargo. We did this same walk about three and a half years ago. There was significantly less cargo, but that may or may not be a sign of anything.
We road back across the Creek on another abra.
We ate dinner at Bayt Al Wakeel restaurant which has a wooden deck that hangs out over the Creek. It is a nice view, but I cannot recommend the restaurant. The service was not particularly good. The bread was not freshly baked. The meat (both chicken and lamb) was tough. And, worst of all, they chased away the stray cat.
All in all, it was a pleasant day.
To see all pictures from the day – click here.
EAFOL Day Two & Three
March 11, 2012Posted by Kanga.
Darren Shan read sections of both his older works and not yet published works. It’s interesting to watch a round faced, cherry cheeked man read about zombies eating brains.
Dubai area poets, The Poeticians, read their own works. Hisham Wyne’s experimental piece required audience assistance so that his hands would be free (for his harmonica).
The youngest Poetician, Farah Chamma, wrote and read the most powerful pieces.
David Almond read from his new novel The True Tale of the Monster, Billy Dean. It is written phonetically, which I think I would find very frustrating to read. It was easy enough to listen to, though. 😉
Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham are a husband and wife writing team. She does the research and comes up with story ideas. He is the wordsmith. Their recent book, The Cloud Tea Monkeys (which I mentioned in the previous post) was illustrated by Juan Wijngaard, a painter of Portugese/Dutch decent who lives in the US. They spoke about their writing process as well as the contribution of the illustrations. They also shared another book that will be published later this year.
Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
March 9, 2012Posted by Kanga.
This weekend is the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai. We will be dropping in each day. Here is day one:
Qais Sedki, author of Gold Ring, was interviewed by Hisham Wyne. Qais took his love for reading, his love of manga, and his love of the Arabic language and put them all together in the first Arabic manga series. Two volumes are available in Arabic and volume one has just been released in English. Qais is also interested in animation of the story, but he doesn’t want an animated form to keep people from reading the story. This is also the reason for delaying the English version. He wants people to read in Arabic. It is great to see such a strong advocate for reading. We first met Qais at last year’s EAFOL and have enjoyed getting to know him. I hope to have him speak to my students soon and share his love of reading. I hope it is contagious.
Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul is the sixteen year old author of Galagolia. It is a fantasy novel that she has been working on for years. I’ve only read the first chapter, so can’t give an evaluation, yet. Dubai is a spunky girl.
Kinokuniya Book World is providing the book sales for the festival this year and the selection is great. We purchased several wonderful books (and one dud).
The Pearl Diver by Julia Johnson, illustrated by Patricia Al Fakhri – a picture book about traditional pearl diving. This is wonderful and I will be using it with my students soon. In fact, I plan to buy a class set. (ISBN 97819067688881)
My Own Special Way by Maitha Al Khayyat (spelled Mithaa Alkhayyat on the book) illustrated by Maya Fidawi, translated by Fatima Sharafeddini – a early reader chapter book about a young girl’s struggle to find her own style. Really sweet illustrations and story. Unfortunately, I don’t think my male students would find it of interest, but girls will eat this up. (ISBN 9781444003208)
The Arabian Nights by Wafa’ Tarnowska, illustrated by Carole Henaff – A retelling of the classic Arabian tales of Shahrazade. I’m looking forward to reading this one and hope that it will be one that I can share with students. It won the Smithsonian Notable Books for Children Award 2010.
Bride’s Story v.1 by Kaoru Mori – a graphic novel set in 19th century Mongolia. I have developed a fascination with Mongolia after reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford, so I couldn’t resist this one.
Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham, illustrated by Juan Wijngaard – a picture book. I haven’t read it, yet, but the illustrations are amazing. (ISBN 9781406333862)
Saluki: Hound of the Bedouin by Julia Johnson, illustrated by Susan Keeble – a picture book about, you guessed it, saluki dogs. I haven’t read this, yet, but after reading The Pearl Diver I expect this one to be well researched and written, as well. (ISBN 9781906768904)
Now for the dud:
Here Comes the Poo Bus! by Andy Stanton, illustrations by Noelle Davies-Brock – a picture book about poo. Being a classy, sophisticated person, I can’t pass up a book about poo, but I should have stopped to read it before purchase. There is no real purpose to this book other than to say “poo bus” multiple times while reading aloud. The “poetry” is inconsistent, switching from ABCB to ABAB and back, with some missing syllables here and there making for a lack of rhythm. I used to have a collection of awful children’s books. I would have added this one.
The Search for a Burger in a Foreign Land
February 24, 2012Posted by Kanga.
It took three years, but I’ve developed a yearning for a good American burger. It’s not impossible to find here, but they are few and far between. Yes, there are Burger Kings, MacDonald’s, and even Hardy’s here, but I am talking about a REAL burger.
The top candidates, so far, are, Biggles (Dubai):
Small in circumference, but it was a handmade patty, not a thin, flat pre-made one. And, it comes with a cute beany.
Ace’s (Fujairah):
The problem with this one is the giant bun, which proudly touted in the menu. I start by moving the patty to the side of the bun and then cutting off the excess bread, downsizing the bun to a more appropriate circumference.
Also a contender is Gourmet Burger Kitchen (Dubai), but I do not have a picture. They have good sized burgers with savory patties and put lots of interesting toppings on them.
To be avoided are the Shake Shack burgers (Dubai). They are tasty, but small and WAY over priced.
We recently had burgers at the Harbor Club (Fujairah) which were classic in toppings and the meat was savory. There was a large portion of good fries as well.
Our most recent discovery is Burgerfuel (Dubai).
They claim to have engineered “the ultimate burger” and they are close. This is the “BF monster” which includes cheddar cheese, slices of beet (or beetroot as they call it here), mango, avocado, beef bacon, tomato, lettuce, & pickles. You had me with beet, mango and avocado. One of my favorite veggies and two of my favorite fruits. Put some asparagus on there and I might be devoted for life. The one weak point of this burger was that the beef patty was not as savory as it should be. It needs either salt & pepper or to be flame broiled, maybe both. (This large burger costs about the same as the Shake Shack tiny burger = better deal)
None, however, have conquered the Carolina Alehouse Burger. Oh, how we pine for thee.
Let the Haggling Begin
January 29, 2012Posted by Kanga.
We recently visited Global Village. We were impressed to see some new developments, namely an information booth close to the gate including maps of the village and someone to help you find what you are looking for.
In addition to that, there are paper maps you can take with you. (If you are not familiar with Global Village, it combines amusement park rides with international shopping and food booths.)
You can tell it is the midst of winter from this booth selling stocking caps, scarves, gloves and mittens. Average daily temperatures are 70-75F. It’s cold! It’s amusing for us to be walking around in our shirt sleeves enjoying the cool evening while passing people in down coats, caps and scarves.
Our favorite pavilion is Yemen. The booths are mainly spices, honey, and jewelry. They have the most beautiful jewelry. In the past two years I’ve bought pearls (white & black), garnets, turquoise, lapis lazuli, and jade. This year I just picked up a few colored stone pieces and one pearl necklace. The sellers remember us, especially because we have never been comfortable haggling and usually pay way too much. Last year, I bought nine pieces at one booth taking all my cash and putting an end to the shopping. We knew immediately that we had paid too much, because they began to add “gifts” to our purchases.
This year was different. First, we went to several booths, ending at the booth where we have dropped all our money in the past. I bought only what I really liked and haggled at least a little for everything, except the bluish tear drop shaped pearls (first price was 50 AED/$13.61 US).
I have a weak spot for rings. The first one is costume jewelry. Cost me a whopping 20 AED ($5.45 US) The black pearls are real, but the setting is cheapo. The other two are silver settings, so will last longer. The stones are onyx, emerald and ruby (according to the seller) although obviously not large or high quality stones. They cost me $49.00 and $54.00. Probably still too much, but I can live with it.
The above four pieces were bought by DaddyBird. The square piece is an incense burner. The camel is a small oil lamp. The other two pieces are candle holders (could be used for incense). They can be closed up for easy travel and opened for use. The starting price for all four was 2,200 AED and DaddyBird spent quite a bit of time and stubbornness haggling the price down to 400 AED (approximately $27.00 each). Is it a bargain? Maybe not, but pretty good for a first serious attempt in haggling.
The sellers seem to enjoy the haggling process. It seems to make them happy that we argue with them and make counter offers. We are definitely not pros at it, yet, but we’ve made a start.
Living the Travel Channel 