Dubai-from the Ethiad to the Great Stunt Show

i started out early once again, looking for the Jumeirah mosque, which was on a different bus tour-still on a hop-on hop-off bus. I hoped this would be a more historic tour, then the more modern one from yesterday, where I saw the world's tallest building.

So I had a long free breakfast at the hostel, where I met a few others-one who was travelling from India and stopping here for a few days (she lived in Virginia), and another who was on spring break from College (he was from New York). After a leisurely breakfast, I once again took the tram to the metro to another mall-which is called the Mall of the Emirates. Here I was to catch another hop-on hop-off bus, which would take me to the Mosque.

I rode the bus for approximately 1/2 an hour, and arrived at the Mosque. Before arriving, the tour guide mentioned that tours are given at 10:00 am every day, and there is no admission after that day. I took that to mean that tours are given STARTING at 10:00 am every day-but as I found out when I got there-it is actually 10:00 am they are given. (it was now about 11:15). So I walked around the property a little bit-and I decided what to do next. As the mosque is near the beach, I went to a beachfront shopping mall, and then walked back towards the hop-on hop-off bus.

I then discovered the Ethiad museum, which was in a beautiful modern building on the side of the road. I went in and the exhibits we're interesting. i saw a film in the auditorium, where i took off my shoes to relax my feel (i was the only one in the Auditorium). I listened to different leaders talk about how the UAE was created, and their feelings, (The UAE was a originally seven different states, or emirates' , including the emirates of Dubai and the emirates of Abu Dhabi) The states used to be a British protectorate, but they united after the British pulled out and they wanted the clout for defense and to deal with their relatively newfound oil reserves. While the speakers we're interesting, I also took a nap there. (the seats we're so soft). I then went out into the exhibit area-I saw exhibits on the leaders, their personal belongings, and an exhibit on the Military of the UAE. Most of the folks in the museum we're Arabs-i think I was the only white non Arab in there.

After that, I got back on the hop-on hop-off bus, and got off at the Jumeirah Souk, which was modeled after an old fashioned Souk, but was mostly modern stores, anyway, the architecture was interesting, and I got off and took some pictures.

It was late afternoon. I then got back on the bus, and went back to the Mall of The Emirates. This mall was small compared to the mall of Dubai (only 700 stores). It does have the only ski slope in the desert, complete with melting snow. I was looking for a book on the UAE, and went to Borders in the mall, but couldn't find the book. (yes-Borders still exists in the UAE).

After that, I wanted to see about upgrading my hop-on hop-off bus ticket to 7 days (from 3 days). The schedule said it would be about 50 AED (roughly 14 $). When I got there, I was told it was 100 AED (closer to $30). I was upset-but the people selling the tickets wouldn't budge (largely immigrants from the Philippines and Pakistan did these lesser paying-service jobs). I wanted to take the bus to the Dubai Mall (where I was yesterday), so I could watch the huge Fountain show which was renowned, but that bus just left, so I missed it. I just caught the next bus-because i didn't know what to do. The bus, which left int he late afternoon, just went to two places (1) Miracle Garden-which was a huge flower show. i learned it was expensive, and I already spent too much money, so I skipped this, and the next place (2) Global Village. I had a free ticket to Global Village, another perk for the hop-on hop-off bus. I didn't have much hope for Global Village-but i was wrong.

Global Village it like what it sounds like, for the most part. Pavilions from countries all over the world, selling different foods and goods. Mostly just yet another attempt at commerce. While walking around was interesting (I had almost 2 hours to kill, as I had to wait for the next Hop-on Hop-off bus to pick me up to bring me back downtown), I saw a car show, and walked around.

I did encounter two interesting things here:

The first was the Great Stunt Show-this was an attempt at American Culture, no doubt. American Style buildings we're in the background-a bank, a bar, etc, and this was a mix between monster truck show, Evil-Knivel style motorcycle rally, and a vague Back-To-The-Future style theme with some invention that allows folks to go back in time. it was rather entertaining:

And then my all-time favorite from the fair: From the Americas tent-a kiosk selling American style signs (e.g. Never mind the dog-beware of wife)

It actually was a rather enjoyable evening-I took the Hop-on hop-off bus back to the Mall of the Emirates. I was going to go back to the Dubai Mall to find a book and see the fountains-but I got on the wrong bus-which actually went towards the Marina area, where the hostel is located, so it worked out.