My Niece asked......

I was asked by my niece "Whats your favorite thing about Dubai? Food? People? Culture? Clothing? Shops? Scenery? I know I might be repeating a few things but that's OK, here goes....

Dubai....my favorite thing.....well it's the culture and the architecture. It is amazing.....the designers are given free rein here as long as it can be built in concrete and steel. No wood here....to much moisture, too much chance of wood rot. Then the buildings would collapse. There is very little wood here except as accents.

I love the clothes they wear here, but as for the shopping....it's just like American Malls. For the young and expensive, except the Souks. There, you find Indian clothes, Arabian clothes, even the curled shoes. But the silks and jewelry...oh my.....those are the best. I could spend all day going through the Souks. The only thing is, the people do "Hard Sales", doesn't give you much time to think. Sometimes I want to say "leave me alone for a bit", but you can't and they watch you like hawks.

As for the food...well, it's really different and I don't care for most of it but then I am a picky eater. I prefer our foods and even those are given the Arabic dash of flavor....for instance a BLT is made with beef bacon....which gives the BLT a whole different flavor. But they do have pork here, just not out in the public eateries. I need to experiement more with the local foods.

I love hearing the language and want to learn some of it....I watch an Arabic soap opera occasionally...funneeee.....such dramatic moves by the actors and I bet if it were in English it would be thrown off the air in a minute... it's corny.....but then they are just starting things like that here. One channel has only been on 5 years and another one only 1 year. The TV shows are years behind us....we even have Moonlighting! It first aired 1985 and starred Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd as private detectives that is now considered one of the greatest spoofs of television detective shows. But it's new here. My soap opera from home was Young and the Restless.....at present here, it is at March 2004. So TV is wayyyyy ancient here and all the shows in the morning, they repeat all day long, the same shows. Not much variety. In some ways they are advanced and in others they are way behind.

It is interesting to look at the scenery......glass, tan and green.....those are the colors. They are going into adobe colors now, but that's it. Still, knowing that each piece of greenery is separately irrigated to keep it alive, you appreciate it even more. You really look in wonder how one green thing can possibly be living in a desert. The Sea is the bluest blue I have ever seen and the water is warm. The beaches are white and clean.

I still have alot of sight seeing to do and can't wait to do it, but hubby wants to see it also, and I will wait for him on his days off to share it with me.

I just love being here!