I ended up not falling asleep despite listening to several podcasts and surfing the web for long periods of time. By the time everyone else got up, it was about 10 AM. I enjoyed my curry vegetable pastry, Greek coconut yoghurt, a chocolate chip cookie, small orange, and a tall glass of orange juice. While I consumed my breakfast at about 6AM, I did manage to enjoy an apple later with everyone else as the previous breakfast seemed so long ago.
After some last minute packing to make sure we had all our supplies for the day. On our way to locating the bus station, we met a young Palestinian man who was visiting his father and heading off to the Mosque for Friday Prayer. He was about to take the Metro when we asked him about the closure status as it was Friday. He forgot and then went back to the apartment complex/tower to get his car. He offered us a lift to the financial district (1/2 way to Sharjah). He also told us that Sharjah was ugly and nothing was there except really old sites. We should have listened to him and made plans to visit something much more interesting. We chatted with him for a bit about his life here in Dubai for the last two years. We found out that his mother is a physician working in the US. His father owned a factory in China for building materials. He was very helpful in sharing with us the lifestyle in Dubai.
We took a taxi for the remainder of the Journey to Sharjah. We got ripped by the taxi driver and the ride took longer than expected. After arriving near the Al Hisn fort, it was right about noon so all the stores and restaurants were closed for noon prayer. We walked around in the hot sun and found no solace from the burning heat. We used up our water supply very quickly. Eventually, we went to a farmer’s market but their prices were higher than the local grocery stores. After a brief walk through the market, we got to the local bus station. We wanted to take an air conditioned ride around the city but it looked like the buses did not go around Sharjah in a circle, but mainly to different places in Dubai. By that time, the shops opened and we made our way to get lunch. We “enjoyed” the local kebab food with plenty of self servicing in the hospitality. First, ice water would cost us money… as we were informed “nothing is free.” When we got our food, the vegetables were presented with a knife as we had to cut them ourselves. The plate was filled with a tomato, cucumber, lettuce, peppers, and a bell pepper. After trying to figure out the best way to enjoy the food, we were pleasantly surprised to figure out that we got pigeon legs to eat and among other things, goat meat. While the lunch was nothing spectacular or worth writing home about… we were in an air conditioned facility.
We stopped by the local market to get some ice (which became ice water quickly), ice cream, and sodas to help us beat the heat. We headed back to the Heritage Square to see if the museums were opened. By that time, the heat had gotten to us and we were ready to leave. We strolled down the wharf area and looked at all the boats passing by us. We went inside a shoe store to take advantage of the air conditioning inside. The owner was really nice to us and told us that most Chinese people he sees do not speak English well. He used small Styrofoam cups to help display his shoes on the window front. He did help us by directing us back to the bus station which was about a 20 minute walk away (near a stinky fish market). We were exhausted by the time we purchased the tickets and boarded the bus to Al Rashidiya station to catch the Metro to the Marina which took about an hour altogether after a small stop. We did meet a Filipino man who showed us the way to the Al Karama market where one can buy knock offs several brand name watches, sunglasses, bags, and other items such as gold/silver. We went back to the Metro and got off but we got lost as to how to get back to the apartment. We stumbled across a water fountain where a large people were watching and enjoying. We made a stop by Spinner grocery store to buy more groceries. We for back and had a dinner consisted of beef and noodles.
No comments:
Post a Comment