At the Creek

....In continuation of what mum and I did while she was here....  (I could write a whole travel book with the amount that we packed into our week together)

Thing #566: We got to visit the creek with Etienne and enjoy the sunset together.

Before the sunset:

I really like those pictures on my mum.

She's a beautiful lady!

During the sunset:

Baba's Favorite Part

of her trip was....

Anybody ever heard of...

Dubai Drums?

I'm not even sure I remember how I found out about it, probably by stumbling through the entertainment book one night.

When my mum was here a few weeks ago we went to their Djembe class on Monday night and it was absolutely wonderful!  If you live in Dubai.... all I wanna say to you is: "GO!!!!"

I had never played the djembe before and afterwards my hands looked like this:

RED

AND THAT IS A GOOD THING because it means that I learned a lot and had so much fun in the process.

The inspiration for all of this came from Baba, who is an excellent drummer.

And who has inspired so many women to drum through leading a drum circle in Connecticut!

And now she's inspired me.

The Dubai Museum

It wasn't until my mum came out that I really did some of the touristy things around Dubai....  Like go to the Dubai Museum, which was wonderful.  We even got to see some traditional Arabic boats that reminded us of Gig.

The Dubai Fort

Who's that?... Just kidding.  It's Baba... I know.

A traditional place to sleep in the winter.

A baby's cradle!

The Souks with Baba

One of the best things my mum and I did was go to the old souks by the creek.  It was so fun!  I got to see Baba haggle for some textiles and we even got some dresses made by a tailor.  Here are some pictures from one of the shops:

The Sharjah Monument

When my mum was here we took a trip to Sharjah, one of the other Emirates, to go to the Arabian Wildlife Center:

It was amazing and full of all sorts of desert wildlife.  I couldn't take any pictures inside and it actually made it even more enjoyable as we walked around and read about all of the animals.  I focused on the animals instead of focusing my camera the whole time.

And on the way there, we found a gem in the desert....

the Sharjah Monument:

Driving up to it.....

Getting closer.....

And there it is!

I would have never seen it if my mum hadn't come to visit!

The Lost Fish of Atlantis

While mum was here we took a trip to Atlantis to see the lost fish.
The lost fish are a lot like the lost boys in Hook: kind of rowdy.  There was one that even looked like Rufio.

And the Story Begins...

It's important to ease into new time zones.  If you arrive late at night, it's best to arrive tired so that you can sleep the first night.  If you arrive early in the morning, it's important to stay up most of the day in order to wear yourself out.  Everything has a strategy.  Everything.  That's why Baba and I hit up Cafe Ceramique the first night she was here to eat a little dinner and to paint a little pottery...

Baba arrived early in the morning and by this time you could tell she was ready for bed!

I was absorbed in my artwork.

I mean... Look at that fence.

A Masterpiece.  And the finale of Baba's first day in Dubai.

M&M's on a Rooftop

Last week I went to a walk-up movie with some friends.  It was just like a drive-in movie except without a car.  And it was a little unfortunate that it was a walk-up movie because I tripped and fell on the stairs... it didn't show the rest of the movie goers my true aptitude for walking.  Like I said unfortunate.

But check it out: Wafi, one of the malls here, holds this walk-up, sit-in, watch-out movie experience called Peanut Butter Jam.  And while you're watching the movie, you get to sit on M&M bean bags.

Quite nice, right?

To make things better they were showing Meet the Parents.

And I got to share the experience with these girls:

Night well spent.

Golden Camels

A Winter Wonderland

There's always a possibility that someday I'll be able to show you pictures from the inside of this winter wonderland.  But until that hypothetical day, I'll show pictures from the outside looking in.