Just some clean up from Dubai...

OK, OK...for those of you pestering me to see the pictures from Dubai...Here they are. And let me caveat the pictures...I'm NO photographer. I've had my camera for three years and before this trip...I've taken approximately 20 pics. So be kind! I'm sure with practice, my pics will eventually hit the "adequate" stage. For those who are just dying to hit me with some sarcasm...remember..."block" is a powerful tool.

The first three pictures are of my buddy Darryn's villa (no he doesn't own it unfortunately) that I spent a day at. Yes, now were starting to talk about new Dubai...not old Dubai where I stayed as you see in the pictures below. Darryn informed me that the owner of the villa is proud to comment on his 2500+ potted plants/trees located on the premises. Yes, it did look like a jungle. The woman(Bibi) in the top picture is their homekeeper who lives in the smaller bunk house located on the property as well. So needless to say...Darryn doesn't cook or clean. Now that's a pretty good gig.

The next couple of shots were taken from a beach I spent an afternoon at on the Arabian Sea which is about half a block from Darryn's place. The vehicles parked beside the villas shown here were quite impressive. Darryn told me the the one villa pictured usually has 6-8 cars parked at any given time...and no...we're not talking K-cars.

I'll throw a couple tidbits on Dubai here. For example...every restaurant that I dined in had Kleenex instead of napkins or serviettes. And yes, these were real restaurants...thank you very much. I figured this would be handy for the spicy food, but I really didn't find it too spicy at all. I think I impressed them staff when I emptied a half a bottle of hot sauce on most of my meals. My favourite meal was definitely chicken tikka which I would associate a lightly seasoned jerk chicken to. For 20 dirham (about 6-7 Cdn dollars, you got 4 kabobs, soup, salad, spicy rice, bread and hummus. I usually shy away from hummus, but I must admit, it was the best I've ever tasted. They also have very tasty juices by the hundreds, but I guess that's because they can't sell alcohol in most restaurants. I would have taken a cold Alexander Keith's anytime.

I thought I would add this picture as it really depicts both old Dubai and new Dubai from a retail point of view. The streets were lined with shop fronts as far as the eyes could see. A couple points on these...often they are clustered together when selling the same type of item. For example...computer shops, banks, etc are often found in a row. For navigations purposes, many of the streets are referred to the shops found on the streets...ie computer street, bank street, etc. The other thing I noticed was that most of the shops referred to themselves as "trading companies" I thought this was peculiar until Darryn informed me that the only way you can do business in Dubai is to be sponsored by a resident. Therefore, wealthy family create these "trading companies" so that foreigners can set up shop.

Now we are getting to my favourite part of Dubai...the water taxis or "abras"...or as I like to call them...bumper boats. The creek really isn't that big and I read that there were approximately 150 abras in service. Just like ants running around and bumping into each other. Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them justice since I was usually holding on pretty tight when they decided to ram each other for their preferred docking stages.

Another thing to ponder...when was the last time you brushed you teeth in warm/hot water? Prior to Dubai...this didn't really appeal to me...and since leaving Dubai...it still doesn't appeal to me. However, it's so hot over there and many of the water tanks are located on or near the roof that even when you turn on the cold water tap...out comes nice hot water. I learned that lesson pretty quickly during my first shower when turning on the hot water tap...it's scalding!! Therefore, bottled water for drinking was the only way to go.

The last two pictures were taken from my hotel room. It was a jungle in the streets. I wish my night time pictures would have turned out as they would have shown the chaos even better. So don't let these pictures fool you, most of you wouldn't have lasted the week staying in my room. I you want to take up the challenge, I'm more than happy to give you the name of the "hotel".