We had the week off to celebrate Eid, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. A new friend, Stephanie, and I rented a car, and headed to Dubai. I was a little worried about driving on the highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai because I have heard so many horror stories about the accident rate, but it was much easier than driving in Syria or Jordan.
In Dubai, we stayed with our friend, Joni. The apartment, which actually belongs to Joni's boyfriend, Peter (who wasn't there), is located on the 26th floor with a spectacular view the marina. We packed a lot into our short trip, including a trip to the Dubai museum, a visit to the Palm (the manmade island that looks like a palm tree from the air), a souke visit, and many excursions to the malls. Dubai malls are a cultural experience unto themselves.
At the gentle urging of Moe, we sought out the Al-Jazari elephant clock. Al-Jazari was a Muslim inventor, engineer, and astronomer in the 13th century. The clock replica is located at the Ibn Battuta mall which has an amazing theme focused on the travels of Ibn Battuta (an Moroccan scholar who travelled for thirty years, covering most of the Islamic world). Each section reflects the different countries to which he travelled. The elephant clock is located in "India", and is, apparently unknown to anyone outside of that country (except some old, wise man in Oregon). There were tons of India's taking pictures, and just us three American girls! The clock never did it's thing, but they had the animated screens to show us what it does. You can see it on youtube.
Once back in Abu Dhabi, I took advantage of the rental car and did some major shopping for my house. It is looking and feeling so homey. I got my cable hooked up, my spare bedroom furniture delivered, bought plants at the plant souke, and am now busy swearing as I assemble my IKEA wardrobe. The house is ready for visitors, who's first?!
