This morning, we had planned a guided walking tour of the gold and spice souks, but could never make contact with the local company to confirm, so we hopped on the Metro inside Mall of the Emirates and just enjoyed the walk ourselves. It’s in the old part of Dubai, so a bit of history would have been helpful, but….
Few crowds maybe because it’s a weekday and it had been raining, not sure. But there were plenty of vendors in your face plying their wares. Roping you with cashmere scarves they are pushing (gently remove it and say ‘no thanks’) and an amazing number of young men stepping in front with photos on their phones of ‘purses, watches, sunglasses’ just step back here. yeah, forget about it.
I really don’t like that aggressive approach at all, but Jessica and I smile and say, ‘very pretty, no thank you.’ It really stresses Dallas though. His Aspergers kicks in high in these types of situations, so i tend to limit his exposure – it makes him cranky.
Lots of pretty things, but i have no need for gold or spices and i’m not educated enough to haggle for any of it, so i buy nothing.
Typically cloudless and sunny, we were greeted to cloudy and windy with air infused sand and dust!
Up early, but slow start. Jessica is off to work at her kindergarten teaching job at Dubai American Academy literally a five minute walk from her apartment to her classroom! Today, (Thursday and the last day of the week) was parent-teacher conferences, so Dallas and I were treated to a real tour of her classroom, school, and met a few of her teacher friends.
After spending some time wandering around the area, we were back to the apartment for a nap.
Jessica returned in the mid afternoon and she had plans to walk our feet off.
First to Dubai Miracle Garden – the wind was wicked with sand and dust absolutely a challenge for eyes and throats. Some people were wearing face masks. Yes, the garden is touristy, but judging from the number of families, I suspect many were locals looking for a bit of color and escape from the concrete jungle of everyday. The air quality inside the garden was aided by tall trees surrounding the park.
Dubai Miracle Garden – Emirates Airline has teamed up with Dubai Miracle Garden to construct the world’s largest floral installation through a life-size version of the Emirates A380, covered in more than 500,000 fresh flowers and living plants. When in full bloom, the aircraft structure will have an unprecedented total stem count of 5 million flowers and will weigh over 100 tonnes (take-off weight of an actual A380 is 575 tonnes).Dubai Miracle Garden – small replica of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, surrounded by masses of beautiful flowers infusing the whole area with pleasant sights and smells.
Just before dusk, we drove then to Global Village – This park opens at 5pm, because truly it is best enjoyed after dark to appreciate the lights, sounds, action, and each country providing quality dance exhibitions all included in your ticket. Mostly, this is a chance for countries to sell and promote their wares, but it was fun to peruse the stalls. Bear in mind, we Westerners are not all that used to hawkers and they are in full force. Just politely say no thank you (sometimes multiple times) and move on or jump in for the thrill of snagging a great deal.
Tannachton Farm 