day 3: safari i'm not sorry

We packed a lot into Tuesday. As we became more familiar with Dubai's layout, our planning & navigating improved. And again, we had a completely diverse experience from beginning to end on day 3. We woke up early that morning to head to Lime Tree Cafe - a favorite among expats. It wouldn't be right to come to Dubai without checking out some of the expat hangouts since that is such a big part of Dubai's culture. Lime Tree did not disappoint, al fresco dining at its best.

i love a savory breakfast

fresh fruit smoothies and juices were all over Dubai. i was totally ok with this. 

After breakfast, we walked over to the Jumeirah Mosque for their public tour. It's the only mosque in Dubai that is open to the public. It turned out to be less of a tour and more of an Islamic cultural talk. I was fine with that because the mosque itself wasn't much to look at. I know embarrassingly little about the Muslim faith and culture so I found the hour-long talk to be interesting and informative.

learning how to properly wash before entering the mosque

shoes off. head covered. let's do this.

prayer demonstration

Hearing the call to prayer each day and watching Muslims' devotion to religion was both challenging and sad. Would I wake up every day before dawn to pray? Probably not. Ok, definitely not. I value sleep more than I should. So in that sense, it was challenging. On the other hand, I'm saddened by their false belief in a works-based faith. It reminded me even more of how miserably I would fail if my salvation were based on my own works. I'm so directionally challenged, I'm not even sure I could figure out which way to face toward Mecca (although there is an app for that). I'm so thankful for grace and mercy.

Here is part of a call to prayer that I recorded from Rob's balcony:

I digress. After the mosque visit, we headed to Safa Park. Here is one thing I didn't expect in Dubai - green! Dubai is full of sprawling parks. They also grow flowers (almost exclusively petunias) all over the place. I repeat, they grow flowers in sand. Lots of flowers. I don't even want to know what they spend on water.

the world's tallest building hanging out in the clouds

oh hey, jon was on this vacation too 

and here's why he wasn't in most photos - he was too busy taking them

just strolling in the park

flowers

more flowers

flowers everywhere

We walked around the park, and stopped at a little cafe for a light lunch and some more al fresco dining. I had my 2nd fruit smoothie of the day.

i'm not sure what's more exciting - the fruit smoothie or the croissant 

It was time to head back to the apartment so we could prepare for our desert safari. This goes on the list of things we actually did book before arriving in Dubai. Most people choose a dune-bashing experience, but I had visions of Jon turning green in the back seat of a cramped SUV so we went with the more genteel open-top vintage land rover option. I'm so glad we did.

Our guide Semah picked us up around 4 p.m. and we were off. We were paired with a lovely British couple. They were enjoying their second week of vacation. Jealous. Since you stay with your group the entire time, it was nice that we got along with our new companions. Desert safaris in Dubai are what I would consider a "Disney experience." It's not exactly real or authentic, but it sure was fun!

After arriving at the desert conservation area, we switched from van to land rover and from tourist to turban. I looked absolutely ridiculous in mine, but it served its purpose of keeping my hair from flying all over the place.

away we go!

Semah liked to drive fast so we ended up getting the best of both worlds - a fun ride over the dunes without the motion sickness. We stopped to climb up the dunes, take some photos, and learn about the plants and animals that helped the Bedouin people survive in the desert. All of this was happening near sunset so we had the added bonus of watching a beautiful sunset over the dessert.

desert animals

Semah told me to jump so i jumped

running up sand dunes = big fun

Our next stop was a falconry show. Falconry is huge in Dubai. It's an expensive endeavor (sport?) so no wonder it's popular in Dubai. A falconry show is basically just watching a falcon hunt for & catch his "prey." Turns out falcons are pretty fast so I was adequately impressed.

The last stop was the desert camp. It came complete with very nice, modern bathrooms (like I said, Disney), tents/carpets for eating, and a host of activities. Dinner was lamb, rice, chicken, and a bunch of other traditional desert dishes that I'm failing to remember. It was all very good. After dinner, we enjoyed the entertainment of a traditional Arabian dancer. We also went on a camel ride, smoked some shisha (Don't worry, Mom, shisha doesn't make you high - it's just fruity, flavored tobacco smoked in a water pipe), and I got a henna tattoo.

only Jon would find diet coke in the desert

henna!

We got home around 10:30 p.m. - slightly sandy & fully exhausted. It's a good thing we had a lazy morning planned for the next day….or not.

Bonus: Desert Outtake! The safari company took some "official" photos before we got started. They had 3 set poses they insisted on doing. They were so eager that I couldn't say no. The end result is a series of slightly awkward, but mostly hilarious photos that feature my "this is really dumb & corny" face.

day 2: souk to nuts

On Monday morning we headed back across the Dubai creek to explore the spice and gold souks. The souks (Arab markets) date back to the 1940s when traders from India & Iran literally set up shop in this area. Today, they mostly serve as tourist destinations - many locals shop elsewhere - but since we were definitely tourists, we couldn't resist.

We spent the morning browsing the spice souk - our favorite of the two. Since this was our first visit to the Middle East, the souk experience was completely new to us. I enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of all the delicious spices. We did more browsing than buying, but we did come home with some saffron. Saffron is one of the world's most expensive spices, and it's definitely pricey here in the U.S. In Dubai, it's imported from nearby Iran and is much, much cheaper. I think there is some saffron risotto in my future.

The sellers in the souks had two techniques they used to entice us to buy their spices. They loved thrusting spices in our faces and asking us to guess which spice was which. I aced these pop quizzes because I own a spice rack so I'm basically an expert. Their other technique was to guess where we were from. This was always a little entertaining. Australia? English? England? We got that a lot (until we opened our mouths, of course) - I think it must have been Jon's red hair and my albino skin.

I can't blame them for thinking we were from the mother ship. While there are a lot of European tourists in Dubai, we ran into very few American visitors. Most of the Americans we met were there for work - banking, engineering, etc. I suspect this is because Dubai is far away, expensive, and mostly viewed as an add-on destination or layover stop. For Europeans or Russians, however, Dubai isn't nearly as far. They have been the ones to put Dubai on the map as a true resort location.

When we told the sellers we were form the U.S., we got two general responses: Obama (understandable) and Florida (please, no).

We bartered for 2 scarves. I hate bartering. I wanted to buy a Persian rug, but most of them are woven in Iran, and it's illegal to bring them back to the U.S. Of course my risk-averse lawyer husband wasn't willing to take the chance of having them confiscated at customs. Trade embargoes are dumb.

subtle

The gold souk wasn't nearly as fun. It was so over the top that I couldn't really enjoy it. I had reached sensory overload at this point. It was also starting to get more crowded as the morning wore on.

We had plans to go to an Iranian restaurant for lunch, but when we got there, it was closed. Oops! It took a little while to come up with another game plan, and to find a taxi - we were kind of in the middle of nowhere at this point. Our backup plan ended up being pretty awesome. If there is one thing we research extensively before traveling, it's food. We love to eat, and we really love to eat on vacation. Calories don't count on vacation, right?

Bu Qtair was a spot we heard about before arriving in Dubai. It wasn't much to look at - just a trailer sitting in the middle of a dirt parking lot, but the food was amazing. We were the only gringos in the restaurant, and it took us a few minutes to figure the place out. They have a catch of the day, and that's what you eat. To this day, I still have no idea what fish we were eating. It was served with rice and curry sauce. They graciously gave us plastic silverware even though everyone else was eating with their hands. [We learned how to properly eat with our hands later in the week]. Yum.

lunch. would you eat this?

i would!

After that, we strolled down to the beach and walked along the water until we hit the Jumeirah Beach Club. We had drinks by the pool, and reached that wonderful point in a vacation when the stress of home melts away and you feel completely relaxed. If I could figure out a way to bottle that moment, I'd probably be rich.

pimm's cup - an ode to everyone who thought we were English

This is what I loved so much about Dubai. In the morning we were wandering through traditional Arab souks, and in the afternoon, we were enjoying fruity drinks by the beach. I still can't wrap my head around the diverse experiences we had all in the same destination. It's not what I expected. I love being pleasantly surprised.

That evening we walked across the street with Rob to eat at Ravi, a local Pakistani chain. Rob was such a good foodie host because he always knew what to order. He hooked us up with a fantastic spread of traditional Pakistani food. I was the most enamored with the simplest thing on the menu - the tea. Turns out it's just lipton, milk & sugar, but it was delightful.

Rob specializes in candid photography.

Pakistan, where has your tea been all my life? 

Day two was in the books. At this point we were mostly over our jet lag and just settling into the destination. On Tuesday & Wednesday, we would really hit the ground running.