Watch out Dubai – Narms and Heather are here! Up at 7am and feeling good after a good nights sleep, and downstairs for breakfast by 8am. We left the hotel with a bit of a plan, but knowing that we had the cultural centre booked for 1pm. We caught the Metro – that was fun and very easy. We bought a Silver concession card for Dh20 (about $NZ 7.00). The metro is amazingly efficient and clean and safe. The carriages are contained within a double doored tunnel which warn you when they are going to open, and then when they are going to shut. Everything is spotlessly clean and tidy, the rubbish bins around the stations are stainless steel and we saw a man actually polishing them all and they simply sparkle. We caught the train to the Souq area and here began our “Shopping Experience” The salesmen (mostly Indian) are quite persistent and will never tell you the price until you are ready to buy and then the bargaining begins. And of course everything starts at a ridiculous price (although still cheap by NZ prices). Narms is a great bargainer - and she can very strongly say no as well. And there started our first adventure. We were buying shoes. Narms had two pairs and I had one pair and we were trying to bargain. His first price was four hundred and something Dhs. Narms said No too dear and he knocked the price down a bit, Narms still said No and he knocked a bit more off the price. Narms was still insistent that this was too much and he was busy telling us what good quality the shoes were and we couldn’t recognise quality. We started to leave the shop, a very tiny shop, very narrow as well, and by this time he had positioned himself between us and the exit. Not a nice feeling and we will make sure that this doesn’t happen again. As we tried to push past him, he used the steel pole he used for getting the shoes off the high displays, to block the doorway. Not a very nice feeling, but Narms was very assertive, told him he was not being nice, and this was illegal and we were not happy at being treated like this. An older man came in from outside and he appeared a little upset at what this younger chap was doing, so he agreed on the price Narms had been bargaining for , took the Dh 180 handed us the bag with our three pairs of shoes and allowed us to leave the shop. We laughed all the way down the street – we had gone from about 460 to 180 Dh so paid 60 for each pair (about $22). A bit further down the street Narms put her sandals on and so much for quality – about an hour and a half later they broke!! We found a shop selling abaya and I spent some time trying them on. It was quite strange that this shop was also being run by an Indian man. I would have expected a Muslim lady to be serving me there. I didn’t find one I really liked, so we ended up buying a scarf each. By now it was midday and we were booked for lunch at the Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding at 1pm and we so didn’t want to be late, so we flagged down a taxi. We had tried to catch a bus, but that wasn’t as easy as the Metro, so we opted for the taxi option. But that wasn’t entirely successful as the taxi-driver had no idea where to take us. So Narms kept showing him on the map. So with a taxi driver who didn’t know where we were going and the midday traffic jam (this was Sunday, but the first business day of the Arab week - there weekend is Friday/Saturday) it was a very slow trip and we were getting anxious as it was 2mins to 1 when he dropped us – somewhere in the vicinity. We found the place, ran down the alley way and presented ourselves at the reception desk. A very lovely English girl greeted us and told us we were not late and that 90% of today’s guests had not arrived yet. She directed us into the house and we had to take off our shoes and make our way in the room. I was very aware of my dusty, dirty smelly feet and so made my way to the ladies room, where I washed my feet over the toilet with the house. How good that felt. The cultural experience was fabulous. We were welcomed with Arabic coffee (very light roast so not bitter or strong) and fresh dates – yummy. The scrumptious Emirati guy talked to us about their culture and dispelled a number of myths and told stories and spoke quite openly and bluntly. He had lived for a number of years in America . We then enjoyed a delicious lunch of a sweet rice dish flavoured with brown sugar and caramelised onions , a chicken dish very like a dahl, another chicken rice dish similar to biriyani and a white rice with a fish dish. And there were also whole fish. I didn’t eat the fishy stuff but the ones I tried were absolutely delicious. The meal was ended with a cup of tea. The young girl then spoke to us and talked about her choice to ‘cover’ She was obviously from a wealthy family , although we didn’t find out what her parents did. She had gone to an international private school and her English was excellent. She was very beautiful and under her abaya she wore very expensive designer jeans. Her finger and toe nails were beautifully manicured and she had the most beautiful skin. She talked about choosing to cover at the age of 10, and now at 17 she will cover when in her own environment, but if out and about with non-covered friends from university or the international school she will choose not to cover so as not to be the odd one out or to make her friends feel uncomfortable. She then asked for a volunteer to try on the abaya and I very quickly put up my hand, and she dressed me, explaining the process and the reasons why as she did it. It felt very comfortable and even with the full veil on it was amazing how easy it was to see. We asked about the bulk of hair under the veil and she explained that some women have very long hair bundled up under the veil, but for others like her, they use hair pieces and beautiful artificial flower arrangements that they make to bulk the vel out and help the veil to stay in place without the use of pins. She admitted that she is very particular about her hair and her last hair do cost Dh 650 (over $NZ 250) and we couldn’t even see it. Seems like a waste to me, but she did look very lovely in the veil. After leaving the Cultural Centre we made our way up the road to the Museum. This was an amazing place with fabulous exhibits and well worth the Dh3 entry fee. ($1.10) That’s a far cry from the $20+ we pay at home to get into places like that. It was also nice and cool in inside. Although I haven’t found it too hot yet. I think the temperature is probably about 22 or so. The rain that was forecast the other day hasn’t eventuated yet and looking out the hotel window as I write this on Monday morning the sky looks overcast and there is a bit of a breeze so it should be a comfortable day. After the museum it was time for some serious shopping. First stop the Textile Souq. Pure heaven. Fabrics like you wouldn’t believe. Just shops and shops and shops, and all selling different stuff. Have never seen such a range of fabric in my whole life. And then there are the Pashmina shops. I went into one and got fussed over for an hour. Ended up buying three more pashmina. Narms was happy to sit and rest and drink a complimentary juice from the owner. They are so friendly and attentive. We then caught the boat across the creek to the Perfume Souq. Here we met a young man from Iran, who introduced us to frankinsence and myrrh. He told us we can’t take it out of the country. Now will have to check that out, because I thought we could. Next stop was the Gold Souq. By this time we were both exhausted. It was about 7pm and we had been out and about since 8.30. But the temptation of all that jewellery kept us going. It was interesting because at about 5pm we had decided to make our way home, have a rest and eat our dinner ( we had a take-home pack of food from the cultural centre lunch we had been carrying around all afternoon) but somewhere between making the decision and heading in a homeward direction we got our second breath and kept going!! Narms was looking at rings, and I was determined not to be tempted by expensive stuff this trip. I was quietly sitting and waiting for Narms when I spotted a snake necklace, bracelet and earing set in 18c white gold. I made the mistake of trying it on!!! But it was way expensive and the first asking price was Dh6970 about $2500. O I said no thank you very much and before I walked out the price had reduced to Dh 5500 and there was still room for bargaining. Whatever Narms had been looking at had been halved when she walked out saying she was too tired to think about it right now and we will come back. And of course this was the first shop we had been into, so we didn’t want to rush our decisions. If I don’t spend too much more by the end of the holiday I may go back and see how much more I can drop the price. We wandered to the other end of the Gold Souq and just did window shopping. I found a number of other snake necklaces and rings which I will go and check out before going back to the first place. Managed to find our way through the Souq and out to the main road, and finally the metro station. Caught the train home and we both just collapsed after having a shower. I nibbled a little of the chicken and rice we had been carrying around all day, because I needed to take some Ibuprofen – my feet were very swollen and may ankle extremely sore by this time, but Narms crashed and was asleep within five minutes of being back in our room. I wrote a few lines in my diary, but my eyes were soon closing on me, so I gave in and went to sleep, must have been around 10pm and we slept right through to about 7.30am. Breakfast downstairs, and then back up to the room to write up my blog while Narms had a wee rest. She is still feeling quite jet-lagged and it is now 11.30am so I will see if I can find out how to get this attached via Wi-fi. And then set out for Day 3. We have nothing planned for today – we might do the bus tour, and re-visit the Diera City Mall, and find somewhere nice to eat tonight. We have to get up early tomorrow – have the 5am start for the Balloon Ride so need an early night and good sleep.