Friday Market

Even though becoming a resident here has been a bit challenging, we have had some fun. A couple of weeks ago we decided to head out to Friday Market in search of some rugs. The villa is all tile and we wanted some cushion for Dylan since hel'll be crawling soon. We were told that Friday Market had tons of rugs, produce, pottery, and other souvenir type items.

We head out on Saturday morning with only a vague idea of where we're going. Some friends went with us who've been here for a little over a year, so we felt somewhat more confident in finding our location. However, they'd never been either, and it's not like you can mapquest with any kind of success here. Roads are rarely named, and the maps are so outdated they are not extremely reliable. Most directions are given by way of landmarks. At the round about near the Dubai Land Advertisement turn left....at LuLu's Hypermarket go straight....when the road dead ends, take a right. The signage on the roads leaves something to be desired as well.

Despite all this I was excited about the drive because we would probably see camels (I hadn't seen a single one since we arrived over two weeks ago) and we were going through the mountains. Great picture opportunities!

About 30 minutes into the drive I finally saw my first camel! There were a group of them laying in the desert, but of course I can't get a picture because we're driving 120 km/hour and we pass by too fast. Not long after the mountains emerged. I've never seen mountains that looked so gray. I don't think I saw one spot of green.

We still hadn't arrived at the Friday Market and communications in the car were starting to break down. Just as our frustration level peaked, the Friday Market appeared on the side of the highway (literally). No parking lots -just gravel on the side of the road.

After "parking", Dylan is loaded into our snugli thing since I don't think the stroller will work and we begin scoping out all the rugs. There were at least 25 stalls lining one side of the highway with rugs. We finally agree on a color scheme and start looking for a pattern we like. The guys working the stalls make clicking noises at you to get your attention. We follow one and he holds a rug out of the way and we are in a back "room".

I'm not sure it crossed our minds before we left that this would be an open air market. The stalls had two side walls and a ceiling. The lack of AC was apparent quickly. Of course, since our timing was planned so well, we arrived at one in the afternoon. The heat in the stalls was stifling, but in the back room it was like a greenhouse. It's decided that someone will sit in the air conditioned car with the baby while the rest of us look. Kel and I find a rug we like and as we're admiring it laying on the floor, it dawns on us that we forgot to measure our rooms. Nice. After several scientific methods of approximating the dimensions - walking across the rug counting steps, holding arms extended...we decide on the size we think we'll fit.

Then, the bargaining begins. We start at half of what the guy tells us and move slowly up. He tells me that this rug is so high quality that my son will have it for his children. Uh huh. With the price agreed upon we take off and head to Fujairah which is on the opposite coast of Dubai. We walked along the beach and could see Iran in the hazy distance across the water.

We drove north along the coast and stopped at Le Meridien for a late lunch. It's a beautiful resort right on the beach with an amazing pool area.

I'm sorry there are no camel pictures yet! I'm working on it!