The Old and the New

The Bastakiya is part of the old city and today is a cultural centre with art galleries, cafes and other activities. There weren't many people around the day I was there so it was quite peaceful wandering around. A feature of the old style architecture are the windtowers which were used in the days before air conditioning.

Of course there are many mosques around, some of them very beautiful. These are just two:

At the more contemporary end of the scale, Dubai boasts some awesome modern architecture.

Of course, after seeing it on tellie so many times, it was pretty cool to see the Burj Al Arab even from the top of a tour bus!

The newest architectural marvel is the amazing Burj Dubai which is still being built. It is apparently the tallest man made structure ever built - about 818metre (according to Wikipedia!) I can't say I will be rushing to go up this giant pencil!

Sahara Gal

Cruising Dubai Creek

The Dubai Creek is the life force of Dubai - this location has been a trading port for many centuries. In recent times, the Creek has been extended and there are plans for it to be lengthened even further to increase its capacity as a port. There are boats everywhere ranging from luxury vessels moored alongside luxury hotels...
... to the more practical dhows used to transport goods to and from Dubai.

Goods waiting to be loaded up into the dhows.To get from one side of the creek to the other, the easiest and cheapest way is to jump on an abra. These little water buses are used by everyone!

Sahara Gal

Shopping in Dubai

A few weeks ago the Desert Rat and I headed off to Dubai for a week. While he was stuck in the office, I explored this bizarre city in the desert. Dubai prides itself on its shopping and has been a trading port for centuries. The modern day Dubai has taken the shopping experience to a new level by building huge shopping malls with not only shops but restaurants, cinemas and other attractions such as ice rinks, aquariums and even indoor ski slopes!

However, after all the glam of the shopping malls (see below), the highlight in Dubai for me was the chance to wander through the souks (markets). You can buy everything and anything - from food to gold to fabric to flowers.

Although small, the spice souk was the place to take in the scents of exotic spices, herbs and dried goods. This is where I got the cheapest vanilla pods ever! As you can also see, they also do a fine trade in leather camels.

The fish souk was bustling with lots of people picking out their seafood needs. Although I wasn't buying anything, everyone was friendly and let me take photos of their wares.

The fruit and veg souk is right next door. I chatted with one of the stall vendors who told me that the fresh produce is brought in from all over the place, in particular Oman and India.

The variety of dates was incredible, though I have to say I prefer our local Libyan dates.

And then there were the shopping centres: The Mall of the Emirates below has an indoor ski slope. Not being a skiier myself, I was content just looking in through the window:

The Wafi Shopping Mall and the Raffles Hotel which is connected to it has chosen a faux Egyptian theme for their decor!

It was all quite amaxing to see, but I must admit I did suffer a little shopping fatigue by the time we left!

Sahara Gal

Sandstorm...

This is what it normally looks like at our place: However, in early March we had what is known in this parts as a gibbley - a sandstorm. I ventured outside to take these photos. It doesn't really show how strong the winds were but they were pretty blowy!! Of course, as our windows and doors aren't sealed properly, I had my own little sand dunes to deal with inside!

A couple of days later the Desert Rat and I drove into the centre of Tripoli. One of the roads is right on the coast and as you can see, much of the beach ended up on the road. It was all eventually swept up by hand and put back in place (well at least until the next gibbley).

Sahara Gal

Rambling in Romania

In February I headed over to Romania to visit some friends whilst the Desert Rat went back to Oz for work. I admit that I knew pretty much nothing about the place except that it used to have some pretty awful orphanages under a pretty awful dictator. I found the place to be fascinating and very beautiful in parts but it was obvious that it was still recovering from the decades of communism and dictatorship.

My friends live about 50km out of Bucharest. We went into the capital to have a look. Bucharest reminds me a little of Prague except poorer. You can see that the old run down parts of the city must have been beautiful once. There is development happening though, lots of new shopping malls and refurbishment and I think the place will look quite different in years to come.

One of the main sights (and the biggest) is the Palace of Parliament built under Ceausescu's regime. It is the world's second largest building after the Pentagon and it is an impressive sight looking up from the street.


Although the building is impressive, they haven't quite got around to doing the landscaping! This is a viewof the gardens behind the Palace.


There are a few similarities between Romania and Libya which I noticed. These are the creative electical wiring....
...and the complete lack of signage / safety barriers when there is any street works.

Although a lot of old Bucharest has been demolished there are still some remnants of past beauty. This is the Stavropoleos Church, dating from 1724, which is nestled amongst the newer buildings.

The next day, we headed north into the mountains at the bottom of Transylvania. My friends told me that there had been more snow on the ground a couple of weeks ago but it was still stunning.

Mountains at Muntele Rosu

Whilst in the mountains, it seemed only right to try some traditional mountain fare. Thus we tried (from front) wild boar, venison and bear (Yes, that's right Bear!!!). The wild boar and venison were quite tasty but we found the bear a bit tough. The sauce was quite spicy.

One of the big problems in Romania are feral dogs. There are dogs absolutely everywhere. They don't look wild, they all look very domestic but they run wild in packs all over the place, including Bucharest and other towns and cities. The ones that live near human civilisation get fed scraps by kind people. Anyway this just one of the (apparently) hundreds of thousands stray dogs.

Life does move a little slower in Romania. It is quite common to see people going down the road in the horse and cart.

There is some great architecture, remnant from years gone by before Ceausescu tried to move everyone into the many horrendous tower blocks of apartments. There is a real gothic feel to the place, especially in winter when the sky is so grey. You can definately understand how the legend of Dracula evolved!

On my last day in Romania, we headed back into the mountains again to a town called Sinaia which is a base for many skiiers. The highlight there is Peles Castle which was built by King Carol 1 in the later nineteenth century.

And of course I can't finish this blog entry without one more foodie delight. This dinner was spectacular. On my wooden plate is a sausage, smoked pork, liver, peasant potatoes and cabbage rolls. This alone is worth a trip to Romania....

Thanks goes to my dear friends and their new little daughter for showing me around their new coountry.

Anyway, the Desert Rat and I are off again tomorrow for our next exciting adventure, this time Dubai. It will probably be more exciting for me as The Rat has to work and I will have a few days to myself to have a look around.

Sahara Gal