In the afternoon, we went to a hookah bar and smoked some shisha in true Middle Eastern style.
Dinner was at the Medinat Jumeira souk. Souks are traditional marketplaces that sell everything under the sun - pashminas, textiles, jewelry, spices, trinkets and more. The Medinat souk is a fake souk - it's very new and overpriced.
After dinner we went to a Cuban bar - Malecon - in Dubai Marine Club for drinks and a bit of dancing.
Today we shopped at the gold and spice souks in the morning which was amazing. Each of us bought a jewelry souvenir at the souk. Kelly bought a pretty sparkly white gold bracelet, Ariane got a white gold chain and I got an ornate gold link necklace.
Myrrh:
Frankincense:
Here Kelly is having a sample of dried and salted shrimp. It was a bit like Fear Factor, reaching into a bin of shrimp and eating one whole...sanitary I'm sure!
Some old men enjoying the Dubai sun:
The afternoon was spent at Jumeria beach, sunning ourselves and hanging out with the AIESECers we're staying with.
And having a bit of a photo shoot:
And yes, we did wear our bikinis at the beach, but it was a bit windy towards the end so we put our overclothes back on!
I'm loving Dubai and experiencing this completely different culture, although Ariane keeps reminding us that we're in for even more culture shock in Qatar, which is a much stricter Muslim country.
That's all for now, we're off to dinner at a really fabulous traditional Arab restaurant tonight!
Also the government blocks parts of the internet here due to its content being "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates."
After a bit of discussion, I was convinced it was a flashlight, but Kelly argued that it was a femmine product. Can you guess who was right?It actually turned out to be a toothbrush! Who knew? Much more practical than either of our guesses!
