Since my husband moved to Abu Dhabi time seems to be flying by and I am busier than ever. To shorten our separation I flew out to spend the Easter holidays with him. Easter is a Christian holiday and therefore not recognized in the United Arab Emirates as a day or two off work, but one can see lots of evidence in stores in the form of chocolate bunnies and eggs. About 10-15% of the population (and all of them are expats) are still a big enough market to sell Easter-shaped chocolate. Our Easter-reminder came in form of two cute bunny-shaped face clothes courtesy of our hotel staff and a chocolate egg from a colleague. I had intended to bring my parent’s Easter goodies but they were late and showed up after I had left.

For this visit I had planned to learn more about the country and the ways how day-to-day life works. That opportunity came promptly the next day when we visited Khalifa park, a public park next to the hotel, where we enjoyed not only the beautiful landscaping and  saw gatherings of families and friends for an evening barbecue. For 2 Dirhams we could have taken the miniature train around the park, but decided to take the local bus to go downtown to the “Mother of the Nation” festival, instead. This sounds easier than it is. We knew from online searches that a bus fare costs 2 Dirhams and it sounded to us that you pay the bus driver in coins. So, we waited for the No. 56 bus and when we boarded were told that this bus – and as we learned later: all inner city busses –  can only be accessed by an electronic fare card. The “Hafilat” card can not be purchased with the bus driver and our bus stop did not have a  Ticket/card dispenser neither. Our bus driver explained we needed to go to the central bus station and buy a card there. Seeing how we were confused he let us take his bus and we were on our way to the Corniche. Taking public transit is a safe and comfortable, air-conditioned affair. Women sit in a section in the front of the bus specifically designated for them and man in the back. Women could be in the back if they wanted to, but when traveling by oneself it feels safer to be in the “women only” section.

wall murals created by artist

artist working on hi mural

Jump zone: 5m or 9m drop

We had fun at the festival and stayed until 11 pm engaged by the activities of artists, ecological exhibits, a jump zone, a zip-line and the Arabian national Orchestra playing. The exhibit about “The Mother of the Nation”-festival was dedicated to H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, highlighting  her crucial role in promoting global tolerance and instilling the values of cultural diversity among all members of society. She spearheaded literacy in the UAE for all children and encouraged women to participate in  public life. Leading to the formation of a government in 2016 in which 27 % of all cabinet members are female. We were impressed by the exhibit and just realized later that none of the photographs depicted her.

The next day saw us exploring Dubai on a guided bus tour. A different city in just a 90 minute car drive away. Dubai seems bigger, more grandiose and more shiny than Abu Dhabi. A city bursting with activities, a well-developed public transit system (metro) and bedazzling buildings. We saw Jumeirah beach and the Burj Al Arab hotel, Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. This portion of the tour was spent inside in air-conditioning and was very comfortable.

Atlantis Hotel

Burj Al Arab hotel

Inside Dubai Mall

too tall: top of Burj Khalifa

The morning sightseeing was followed in the afternoon by a visit to the “old town” with the Dubai museum showcasing the development of Dubai from small wooden houses to the skyscrapers of today, a walk through the textile market and a boat ride across the canal to the spice and gold market. This part of the tour was more memorable for me as it showed more of Dubai’s roots and individuality. The boat ride was refreshing and unconventional: no railings to hold on to and not a flotation device to be seen. Driving on the canal is a relatively smooth ride, but one wants to sit down at all times as the landing on the other side included bumping into the pylons or other boats to move into the bay at last. We were curious if the tours would still run in the summer when temperatures reach over 40 C and our guide confirmed they would. He is used to the heat and the guests came mentally prepared, he pointed out. It is hard to imagine…

Entry to the Museum

display of regional boat types

our water taxi

Dubai from the water

The spice market is amazing with its smells, colours and some unknown herbs. I could have spent money and time there and would love to return in the future. The gold market, a street of stores selling mostly gold jewellery, displayed gold in all imaginable variations. Windows showed not only necklaces and bracelets, but entire dresses made of gold. I wondered how a woman would wear such a garment and about its weight.

spices in bulk

gold necklaces

gold tunic!

Both cities Abu Dhabi and Dubai are big, bustling metropolitan areas and despite frequent questions by my colleagues: there weren’t any camels or dromedaries to be found in the streets. We were able to watch camel races on two tv channels in which the camels are “ridden” by a robotic jockey and followed by Range Rovers (presumably with the trainer inside) just outside the track. The only other spot for camels were these cute, stuffed animals for sale:

Besides some tasty dates we did not buy anything at all as we are still looking for a place to live and do not want to move even more items around.

With all these activities and despite long hours on the planes – a total of 38 hours in the air – not much knitting happened. I managed to finish this Opal hand-painted pair of socks and started another one in White Birch Fibre Arts, which is the most luxurious sock yarn I have ever purchased. The pink and purple colour stripes work really well to produce the short-row heel in a contrast colour, thus creating a double stripe of purple on the top of the foot. It does not bother me too much as a sock often folds into creases in that area, but I think I may have enough yarn for another pair and will set the contrast colour heel into the middle of a stripe. Thus, keeping the stripe sequence the same on the bottom and top of the sock and perfecting the look. 🙂

The sock-a-thon at Wetcoastwools is keeping me motivated and the small size of the projects makes them a good choice when there is only a minute here or there to knit. In case you are wondering why I knit socks when moving to a country with a warm to hot climate: the tile floors cool off so much in the air-conditioning that cold feet are quite common. Hand-knit wool socks are the best remedy short of shoes or slippers.

Until next time,

Maike