Dubai- Day 6

Prayer Tower

(I have some cool video with the prayer chant)

Julie,

Today was an awesome day! Our morning not so much since we started out an hour earlier than usual. We had class all morning and then lunch and another speaker. This speaker was Sheikh Sultan Al Qassemi and he was great. He was really entertaining and he was also real about Dubai meaning, he was realistic on what is happening in Dubai right now. One of the most surprising things about this region is their reality avoidance. Every speaker we have had and everyone we talk to from the area are very upbeat about Dubai. They say, "look we have the tallest building in the world, look at our palm islands, look how fast we are growing," but when you say "What about the 50+ billion dollars of debt that is coming due over the next few years" they just totally ignore it. It is very interesting. Definitely a different way of doing business.

After the speaker we started our "culture dash". They took us on busses to the Dubai Museum which is right next to the textile souk (market). We spent the next two hours roaming through the spice market, textile market, and the gold market. Mixed in with all of those are toys, clothes, watches, hats, bags, etc.

My teammate Matthew haggling for spices

The Souks

Me on the boats you take from the textile souk to the spice souk.

Boat Trip costs $0.30

It was really interesting. On the street would be lines of stores to buy at but also while you are walking down the street there will be guys that walk up to you and say "you wanna buy rolex, gucci, shirts lacoste, polo?" There would be a new guy asking us every two feet. We decided to see what they have and boy was that an experience. When you agree to go they escort you down a side alley and into a stairwell. You go up like 3 or 4 flights and then they get to a metal door and knock. A guard guy then opens the door and you walk into what is probably normally an apartment building and there is all sorts of knock off stuff. It was pretty funny to see. The first one we went into was CRAZY. When they opened the door there were 3 tv screens showing security camera angles of the hallway we approached in. There were like 10 guys sitting around in the room. It was kind of nerve-racking, but funny at the same time.

After a couple hours on the markets, we went through the Dubai Museum. The museum was just okay, but the really cool part was as I was walking through I heard a lot of Russian spoken. There was a native Arab guide that was speaking Russian like a native Russian. When I walked past him and caught that he was speaking I decided to hang around for a few minutes and then all I could keep saying was "that's so cool." I felt like it has been so long since I heard Russian on the street. It was great!

Dubai Historical Museum

After the Museum, we head to Dubai Mall--The largest mall in the world! And it was AMAZING! We were there for about an hour and half and we walked all over the place and I would guess even with that we only saw about 20% of the entire thing. They have a really cool water fountain that does show every 20 minutes like at the Bellagio in Vegas. We also saw a full hockey rink that would normally look huge, but looked tiny in this massive mall. Lastly, there was a GIANT aquarium. So big that you can pay to be lowered down in a cage and let the fish and sharks swim all around you. It is UNREAL!

Waterfall inside the Dubai Mall

Cool color floor in the mall

Ice Skating rink in the mall

I wish Mason could have seen these lego figures

This picture doesn't do the tank justice. It is HUGE! Its like

30 to 40 yards long, seriously!

As you can see from all the pictures we had a really good day and it was so fun to experience this part of Dubai. The things I wish I could show you were some videos I took. There was a video of the prayer tower and prayer chat for the Muslims. It is really cool to hear the chant going on while the world still goes on about its way. Another video is riding the boat between markets, and another video is of the guys leading us up the stairway to the "secret" rooms at the top. The last video is of the water show outside the mall. Unfortunately I can't upload any of them because of the internet here, so I will have to show them to you when I get home.

I love you so much and can't wait to see you in a few days.

Love ya,

Brock