We also observed that some people (mostly tourists, from what I can gather) have a very liberal interpretation of conservative dress! Most of the western population is respectful, and then there are the Muslim women. Most wear burkas with their face showing, but a large minority have just their eyes showing, and I've even seen some with a full veil. What I appreciate though is that the stipulation to cover your hair, and to your neck, wrists, and ankles is expected of both male and female Muslims.
For the first month we stayed in a hotel in Downtown Dubai, a stone's throw from Thomas' work but right in the thick of the pollution. We all got a shocking cough, which disappeared as soon as we moved out, and Margaux and I developed gastro (food poisoning?) from drinking the tap water.
Honestly, this city is the most opposite to the life we intend to create after we leave here than I think I can imagine. Maybe Houston. Perhaps Beijing. Still, it's a daily reminder of what we're aiming away from!
We spent a significant amount of time in the hotel's swimming pools, with Margaux growing more confident every day. The water is temperature controlled so that it is 'swimmable' all year round - in summer it's usually 29* or 30*...
It feels a bit like Dubai is a little kid trying to be taken seriously by the grown-ups, by impressing them with all sorts of facts and statistics.The running joke in Dubai is that it holds the world record for the city with the most world records... including the world's largest mall (The Dubai Mall), tallest building (Burj Khalifa), longest graffiti scroll, largest billboard, longest fireworks display, tallest hotel (JW Marriott Marquis Hotel), longest 22-karat handmade gold chain (made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Dubai Shopping Festival, of course), first indoor mountain resort, and the largest sticky note mosaic. To name a few.
Thomas dived into work, while Margaux and I began to explore what the city has to offer. We were living literally across the road the The Dubai Mall, so we set out to see what all the fuss was about. Loads of shops - all designer-labels, loads of shoppers, a massive aquarium, a huge food court, a cinema... the whole thing is ginormous.
Margaux and I also spent a fair bit of time hitting the real estate pavement, trying to find somewhere for us to live. We had the hotel apartment for a month but we were fairly keen to get out of there. Our criteria included that it had to be close to a metro station and close to a creche/ nursery - and not downtown! - so that limited our choices a bit. I can't even count the number of places we visited on our quest for the perfect place, before we ended up living in the same apartment complex as a lovely woman (girl? About the same age as me, anyway) who I'd met through one of the Mums in Portugal... more on this to come!
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