Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Shopping In Dubai

It's so easy getting sucked into this class thing. We were waiting for the bus here in Dubai. I didn't want to get on the bus but rather take a taxi. The reason: "all the people on the bus are this labour class". It's funny how one wouldn't think twice about such factors in Toronto but it's so blatant here in Dubai.

No why would one come into this old place, called Cosmos Lane, leaving behind the glittering malls for which Dubai is famous?

Because it has places like this:

Dubai is crazy. They were tearing up the roads to build more malls and buildings. The remaining roads therefore got busy and jammed. So they decided to relieve the traffic jam by building a metro rail line. So to build the metro line they have to now tear up more roads ...

Then we found this:

Oh, halal unhealthy food! It's great when you can eat anything you want without checking the ingredients or being restricted to vegetables or filet-o-fish.

We had this.

(Note: This was for three people!)

Our bus stop is called Hor Al Anz. Now it's funny when I first heard the name.

"Whore Al What?"

They DO pronounce it 'whore'!

"Yeah," My uncle instructed. "You want to get off at the whore..."

And then, on the bus, "Is it far to get to the Hor?"

"No, no." The Somalian bus driver replied. "The whore is not too far. You sit back ok? Nice ride ..."

The Dubai bus system is awful, a bad copy of a Western system. The most glaring fault was a special section of 6 seats for the ladies. By itself, that is not a bad idea. But then what happens when more than 6 ladies try to get on the bus?

"Sorry, no space!"

Though I wouldn't mind seeing more of Lara Dutta on the side of TTC bus stops.

11 comments:

'liya said...

"It's great when you can eat anything you want without checking the ingredients or being restricted to vegetables or filet-o-fish" -- I dream of that day! I wanna go to Dubai :D

Anonymous said...

damn man...the colonel sure makes me feel hungry....u had to tease ur faithful readers, didnt u?

:)

-Behbood

Anonymous said...

what time of day did u take that picture of the street?? during the lunch hour? it's deserted! that's almost unfathomable in dubai...
i just got back from my trip there last week... gotta love it for the shopping! hahaha!!! and of course the fast food!

Anonymous said...

Did you happen to see Krispy Kreme donuts in Dubai?

youngMuslimah said...

hey you, STOP drooling over Indian women!! go back to bangladesh lol j/k

Anonymous said...

Have fun and enjoy your shopping, so are there any deals??? Compare it to here(Toronto) and Dubai. Heard that some things are just the same, was there about 3 yrs ago so there would be lots of differences. sf

Anonymous said...

Gotta love the fact that you don't have to worry about the halalness of a meal! The worst thing here is when you get hungry, we are forced to think of nearby places...thinking while hungry....not good :) Enjoy the trip!

mezba said...

Liya: contrary to the image that a huge public relations campaign has built for Dubai - real life Dubai is just good for 2-3 days, shopping, see a few malls and that's it. It's hot, dusty, dirty, jammed and filled with way more men than women!

Behbood: Hehe... right now having garma garam samosa with mixed chaat.

S: This was just before 4 o' clock when most of the shops reopen. I can't believe people actually shut down from 1-4 - it's so annoying.

Waleed: No, I didn't go there.

YM: Indian women are great.

Sf: On some stuff the deals are too great especially with the high Canadian dollar - such as clothes, religious books, and gold. Electronics - more expensive there. Food is WAAAAY cheap.

Mousehunter: I know!

youngMuslimah said...

Indian women are known to be the most beautiful women in the world. Almost like the only reason I'm proud to be an Indian, lol


Dubai is just good for 2-3 days, shopping, see a few malls and that's it. It's hot, dusty, dirty, jammed--> exactly! I dont hang around a lot in dubai. and hey it's a desert, you cant expect it to snow here!

Anonymous said...

Dubai is good for a 2-3 day visit if you are a tourist. It amazes me to see tourists come to Dubai and praise it for being a wonderful city based on their trips to the mall and the beach (try living here, you wouldnt like it unless you are a millionaire)

Its also funny to see chavs from the UK come to Dubai and exclaim "people are so friendly and respectful here"

Dubai is artificial, uncaring, and built on fake media reports.

Online Shopping in Dubai said...

Nice Information on online shopping in dubai, I read your blog such good information in this blog i like it. thank you admin for creating nice blog on online shopping in dubai
Thank you.