18 Jan '07-00:37


A cheeky little stopover in Dubai

I was incredibly disorganised and mayhem ensued as I tried to get things sorted before I left - a special thankyou to Steve for coming around and getting the pedals off Edward when I couldn't! I was a little scared as I said goodbye to everyone, but once I walked through the gates that was whisked away and replaced by confidence. After the chemical test I am without fail subjected to, I boarded the plane and we headed off to Dubai. I sat next to Dave, a Melbourne Arhichitect currently living in London who beat me at the inflight trivia and watched a few movies and then hit the sleeping pills (drugs already...).

I stashed Edward in left luggage - the box was rattling more than I would have liked but I decided to let that go - and hopped the bus to the city where I checked into The Pacific Hotel, which seemed to be right in the middle of things. After a nap I wandered out onto the streets to check out Dubai. I'd ditched the map before I even left the hotel because I didn't know which direction it pointed in, most of the streets weren't on it and there was no scale anyway, and It only took me a little while to figure out which way the traffic goes (its opposite!). It was sort of lonely at first, just me, walking around with no one to talk to, but after a while I forgot to be lonely as I passed by The Manboob Restaurant, The Kwality Trading Company, found myself in the fish maket (which today was playing the role of a vegetable market), checked out the gold souk (more just a bunch of shops under cover which is filled with guys trying to offload handbags - I only realised I was actually at the souk when I overheard a Canadian on the phone) and discovered the spice market (which smells awesome and sells anything from frankenscence to myrh to breast enlarging soap). This morning I went on a boat ride up and down 'The Creek' on a boat.

Dubai isn't exactly what I expected, but its a really interesting place. For example, when I was having a juice this morning, a guy came up and told the juice man he would fine him because the footpath outside his shop was too messy... so he he had to come out with a broom and clean it up. There aren't many women on the streets, and everyone I talk to seem to have moved here from Pakistan, India or Ian etc... there don't seem to be any originals floating around!

Anyway this has gotton really long... so I'm off to the airport now, bound for Egypt!

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Comments

13 comments:

Enjoyed the stopover in Dubai - looking forward to Cairo!
Mum - 18 Jan '07-03:16

Yo!

Sounds like you saw heaps. It's wierd in Dubai, eh? Did you like the road works, where they dig up sand, not dirt.

Just... Other.
ails - 18 Jan '07-03:39

Hey, good to hear you got there OK. Looking forward to checking out the cyclists
Ben - 18 Jan '07-04:50

glad to here you got started

george
jibi - 18 Jan '07-09:14

Hey Flic
Well done for getting started! It's shaping up well if you're already having adventures on the plane. I'll keep checking this every day and live vicariously through you. Take lots of pics for me, please!
Beq - 18 Jan '07-15:17

Good luck Flic!
iambaisekeli/amaferanga/Mike - 18 Jan '07-16:46

Not what I imagined either, but you paint a great picture! Missing you already! xoxo
Amie - 19 Jan '07-14:26

Hey dude, sorry i missed to going away, hope ya having fun, kkep us posted.
Evan - 19 Jan '07-22:41

Geez, Hope you didn't dip your toe in the creek.....bad pollution....nice to know you had a nice time.....can't wait to go myself now.....and as for Cairo.....u got your visa yet? Missing your lycra shorts?
Ian - 20 Jan '07-15:20

By the way can I complement whoever created this website for you - excellent idea and very good!!!
Ian - 20 Jan '07-15:26

Probably the worst joke in the world but totally apt for your journey in the desert........and as for hundreds and thousands......see if you can find any of them in Egypt.....

There's these two French Legionnaires in the desert, and they've been separated from their unit and are lost. The've been wandering for several days without food and water, and are nearly resigned to the fact that they will soon die from dehydration, when as they reach the top of a sand dune, they see a big, bustling market laid out before them.

Naturally, they can't believe their eyes and think it's a mirage, but as they draw closer, they can hear the stallholders' cries, and they eventually reach the market and realise that it's really there.

So the legionnaires rush up to the first stall they can and cry to the stallholder, "Stallholder, we have been travelling in the desert for many days, and have had no food or water. We shall surely die soon unless you have some you can sell us. Tell us, do you have any sustenance for us?"

The stallholder shook his head and replied "I'm sorry, french legionnaire type people, but all I have to sell is a load of bowls full of jelly,topped with custard and cream, and lovingly sprinkled with hundreds and thousands of pieces of fruit and cake."

The legionnaires look at each other, mildly surprised, and move on to the next stall, where they ask the stallholder, "Mr purveyor of fine foodstuffs and the like, we have been travelling through the desert for days, deprived of the necessary beverages and foodstuffs which are required for survival. We shall surely die soon, unless you can sell us some skins of water."

The stallholder looked at them embarressed, and confessed "Gentlemen, tragic as I admit it is, I have none of the ingredients necessary to life for which you ask me. All I have to sell is this large bowl of jelly topped with custard and cream and sprinkled with hundereds and thousands of pieces of fruit and cake, with a little cocktail cherry in the middle at the top, there," he said, pointing out the glace cherry. "I cannot help you."

The legionnaires look at each other in desparation, and run on to the next stall, where they demand of the stallholder, "Look, mate," (cuz they'd stopped talking funny all of a sudden) "we need water or we'll die. We've been travelling without water for days and need some now. Do you have any you can sell us?"

The stallholder looked at his curl-ended shoes in shame as he confessed, "Sorry, fellas, all I have to sell you is a bowl of jelly, with custard, cream and hundreds and thousands of pieces of fruit and cake. I can't help you. I'll have to condemn you to a long and lingering death through dehydration."

The legionnaires were really worried by this point, and they went through the market, stall by stall, asking each stallholder whether they had any water they could sell them, and thus save their lives, but each stallholder gave the same reply, all they had to sell was a bowl of jelly with cream, custard and hundreds and thousands of pieces of fruit and cake.

Dejected and resigned to their grim fate, the legionnaires left the desert market and walked off into the setting sun.

As they did so, one turned to the other and said, "That was really odd, a big market in the middle of nowhere, and all they sold was bowls of jelly with custard, cream and hundreds and thousands of pieces of fruit and cake."

The other turned to face his companion and replied, "Yes, it was a trifle bazaar."
Ian - 20 Jan '07-15:31

I canīt believe youīve made it this far!!! Not that I ever doubted you of course :)

Sounds like you are having an amazing time of it already, canīt wait to read more instalments and see lots of photos!

See you in August (canīt believe you wonīt be home when I get back...)
Maz - 21 Jan '07-20:15

In my opinion, material of this article is very useful.
Gaven - 14 Jun '10-01:23

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