Dubai slowly - whilst recovering from jet lag.

4th March 2017

It is time for us to leave Hong Kong for Dubai. The trip takes 9 hours and we arrive in the evening. Unfortunately for us there was a man sitting in front of Joe who snuffled and snorted the whole way to Dubai. We will be lucky if Joe doesn’t get his URTI. Since we don’t eat chicken or eggs it is unlkely that this would be the bird flu which is worrying China just accross the water from Hong Kong in Guangju province. There is plenty of people traffic between Hong Kong and Guangju but no evidence of people to ppeople spread of the virus yet. 

 

Dubai is a place we have been to a few times in the past. It is a real neeting place of people from all over the world. We saw plenty of Iranians, Indians, Russians, Africans, Asians, Americans, Brittish, and Australians. The variety in languages is very interesting. And their dress customs are jsut as interestng. I fund the dress of the African women to be especially flamboyant and colourful. I wish I had the courage to photograph them but sadly I didn’t get the chance.

 

But we did try the African cusine in  a small cafe in old Dubai. The meal had beans, rice and an okra dish. Okra is of course quite slimy and gooey, but I usually try to reduce this effect by cooking it with something acidic (usually tomatoes). But in this case they seemed to have either ignored this aspect or actully enhanced it! Some people dislike it but not me…..

 

 

 

 

We also enjoyed South Indian food in Dubai. There area lot of vegetarians in Sth India and thery have bought their cusine to Dubai. In particular we discovered Idly, Dosa, and Uthapam. These three dishes are all made from the same batter.

 

 

This is Idly, a dumpling made from rice and urad dahl flour and steamed. The batter is first fermented over night, giving it a tang and a fluffiness. Idly is served with sambar (a tomato curry).

Dosa (paper thin) is also made from this batter. Paper dosa is served with chutneys and dipping sauces.  

 

And Uthapam is a thick dosa with tomto and onion, and appeared to be fried. It is also served with dipping sauces.

 

 

We went back to the Anapoorna resturaunt three times to sample these fabulous and fully vegan dishes. Then Joe discovered a supermarket which sold pre-made flours for making the batter. So we are carryng a couple of kilos of flour in our bags, hoping I can make this is the earthcruiser!

 

The gold souk is a must-see in Dubai, so we did go to see it again. We also saw lots of Iranin saffron for sale. I wish now I had bought some! Oh well - next time.

 

  

 

And we went to the Atlantis resort ths time. I have been very attrated by photographs of the resturaunt with the aquarium as a backdrop, so we went in search of that. 

 

The resort is a theme park not unlike SeaWorld on the Gold Coast in Australia. But it certainly does have an aquarium! And we did eat with the sharks and rays swimming nearby! Well we had a cup of coffee. Its strange to me that people can appreciate the creatures swimming in the aquarium and then eat them. Of course sea food dominated the menu here. The aquarium was very well set up with mats and cushions on the floor for just sitting and gazing at the creatures swimming by. 

 

  

 

 

 

  That is a Moray Eel in case you haven’t seen one so close before!

 

 

By the time we left Dubai our body clocks had caught up with the time zone, so it was time to push it again. We were off to Zurich next.