Dubai Adventures
There were four things on our list of must dos when we took a weekend in Dubai-1. Burj Khalifa 2. IKEA 3. the Karama district and 4. Dubai Mall. I'm sure everyone is familiar with 1 and 2- we posted about a thousand pictures on Facebook of the Burj Khalifa, and Jason previously posted about it. Ikea is the same the world over, so I won't focus our Dubai story on something that you can experience in the US. What I am going to focus on is our adventure to the Karama district and Dubai Mall.
1. Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall is ginormous. We watched a Megastructures show on the Dubai Mall, and were amazed at the work and planning that went into such a huge undertaking. We didn't see 60% of the mall due to time constraints and its enormity, but what we did see was overwhelming. The first thing we had to do was eat. We were starving, and walked to the restaurant section- not the food court section- and found a Texas Roadhouse. Holy Crap! Texas Roadhouse in Dubai- yes! Absolutely. Unfortunately, we couldn't wait the hour to get a table, so we walked in to the next place that wasn't too nice for kids, which happened to be IHOP. We noticed that there was a balcony section, and being from Texas, decided to eat on the patio in the 96% humidity and 96 degree heat. We weren't skeered. We were rewarded with an amazing view of the Fountain show outside of the Mall. We sat, ate pancakes and beef bacon, and watched the fountains dance. It was awesome. I was so happy to experience that and share it with the kids. They thought it was the coolest thing ever!
The main atrium of the mall has Cartier, Tiffany, Rolex, and something else fancy schmancy on the first level. However, when you look up, you can see Victoria's Secret on the second level and Payless Shoe Store on the third level. The vast differences between floor one and three made me giggle.
The girls are an oddity here, well, they're an oddity anywhere, but they stand out with their blondish hair, blue eyes and fair skin. A few native ninjas asked to take their picture with the girls. The girls felt like celebrities.
There is a huge aquarium with a plexiglass tunnel that you can walk through, and it is located in the center of an atrium. You have great views of the aquarium from all three floors. The tank is stocked with sharks, sting rays, and schools of fish.
2. Karama
This is where our adventure turns into an actual adventure. We were told that there is a specific district of Dubai called Karama district that's like Chinatown in NYC. We drove around like tourists looking for some seedy shops that looked like they would sell fake handbags, watches, etc. I kind of expected someone to approach me and ask me if I was looking for handbags, but they didn't. We had researched the district as much as possible online, and kinda sorta knew what should be expected. Walk into a shop, ask if they have any OTHER handbags, and that's when the scary magic happens. It would have been scarier if we hadn't read a few posts about it, but I kept thinking that my mom would be pissed if she knew I was doing that. With my kids.
Once we asked about OTHER handbags, they called someone to come and get us and take us up to an apartment. Yep. Strange city, strange dude, strange apartment. We crowded into a very small elevator in a tenement building, and followed a man into a room with a lot of locks on the doors. Special knock, the door opens, and there are many shiny purses, wallets, watches, sunglasses, shoes, and jewelry. We spent an hour in that seedy tenement looking at purses that (if real) cost more than most people make in a month. We left because the guy wouldn't come down on his price to where we wanted. Disappointment.
We went into another seedy shop and repeated the process. This time, we were driven to an underground parking garage (true story) and went up to another apartment. But this one was amazing. Magical. It was a labrynth of many apartments that had been rented and doors had been cut into walls and secured with heavy duty magnet locks and video cameras. There was a Louis Vuitton room, a Prada room, a Chanel room, a Hermes room, a Chloe, Juicy, Jimmy Choo, Burberry, and a room of scarves and wallets. It was amazing. They even had professionally lit display cases. So there we were, locked inside a labrynth of apartments in Dubai with someone who deals in black market goods shopping for a handbag. I may or may not be the proud owner of a real or not real bag, wallet and purse. They gave us business cards with maps and phone numbers on it to bring our friends and family. It was a successful and safe adventure for the whole family.
I would love to post pictures, but my old phone is not cooperating. My next post on Abu Dhabi will be 98% pictures and very few words.
Oh, and the title of this post- "God Bless America (in Arabic)- Every morning at school, the kids line up like in the 80's movie Gung Ho and do calisthenics and sing the Emirati National Anthem. I saw Landry singing along one day and asked her about it. "Landry, what were you singing this morning?" "Oh, we sing God Bless America every morning in Arabic."
Masaa alkhair wa ma:a salaamah
Rachel
There is a huge aquarium with a plexiglass tunnel that you can walk through, and it is located in the center of an atrium. You have great views of the aquarium from all three floors. The tank is stocked with sharks, sting rays, and schools of fish.
2. Karama
This is where our adventure turns into an actual adventure. We were told that there is a specific district of Dubai called Karama district that's like Chinatown in NYC. We drove around like tourists looking for some seedy shops that looked like they would sell fake handbags, watches, etc. I kind of expected someone to approach me and ask me if I was looking for handbags, but they didn't. We had researched the district as much as possible online, and kinda sorta knew what should be expected. Walk into a shop, ask if they have any OTHER handbags, and that's when the scary magic happens. It would have been scarier if we hadn't read a few posts about it, but I kept thinking that my mom would be pissed if she knew I was doing that. With my kids.
Once we asked about OTHER handbags, they called someone to come and get us and take us up to an apartment. Yep. Strange city, strange dude, strange apartment. We crowded into a very small elevator in a tenement building, and followed a man into a room with a lot of locks on the doors. Special knock, the door opens, and there are many shiny purses, wallets, watches, sunglasses, shoes, and jewelry. We spent an hour in that seedy tenement looking at purses that (if real) cost more than most people make in a month. We left because the guy wouldn't come down on his price to where we wanted. Disappointment.
We went into another seedy shop and repeated the process. This time, we were driven to an underground parking garage (true story) and went up to another apartment. But this one was amazing. Magical. It was a labrynth of many apartments that had been rented and doors had been cut into walls and secured with heavy duty magnet locks and video cameras. There was a Louis Vuitton room, a Prada room, a Chanel room, a Hermes room, a Chloe, Juicy, Jimmy Choo, Burberry, and a room of scarves and wallets. It was amazing. They even had professionally lit display cases. So there we were, locked inside a labrynth of apartments in Dubai with someone who deals in black market goods shopping for a handbag. I may or may not be the proud owner of a real or not real bag, wallet and purse. They gave us business cards with maps and phone numbers on it to bring our friends and family. It was a successful and safe adventure for the whole family.
I would love to post pictures, but my old phone is not cooperating. My next post on Abu Dhabi will be 98% pictures and very few words.
Oh, and the title of this post- "God Bless America (in Arabic)- Every morning at school, the kids line up like in the 80's movie Gung Ho and do calisthenics and sing the Emirati National Anthem. I saw Landry singing along one day and asked her about it. "Landry, what were you singing this morning?" "Oh, we sing God Bless America every morning in Arabic."
Masaa alkhair wa ma:a salaamah
Rachel
