Romanticism Under Sand Storm

The gist of today is Tom, the sand storm, and getting back to the long walks. With Tom’s arrival, it was time to return to the flaneur soul, where we just walk and walk in a city, hand in hand,  no matter how unspectacular the view is perceived to be, we just enjoy being neutralised by the environment.  

image credit: Tom

When we got up this morning, two of the trees in our courtyard were unfortunately broken and dead. Obviously there was a serious storm at night. First thing, we had a really nice breakfast at my favourite cafe, Basta Art Cafe, just next to where we stay. Then started walking to Zabeel Park, that I always wanted to see, but waited for Tom to have this visit. It was a rather difficult journey, as I experienced a proper desert storm for the first time since my arrival. My mouth was gritty, and my eyes were full of sand; so was my hair; it was even inside my bag! Then I remembered the last sentence on that article, Dark Side of Dubai,  I read a few weeks ago: “The desert is claiming back its own land.”, which gave me the shivers! It was very impressive to see small pieces of lands of desert (with even a desert pattern made by wind) just in front of the gate of a very modernistic metro station, or any random building. This should be the reason for the ceaseless cleaning activity in Dubai, at malls or stations. A challenging effort to make us forget the fact that desert is still here, everywhere, inbetween two shops, on the roundabout, even underneath the green grass we are stepping on! It’s invasive, yet still calm and beautiful.

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

When we arrived to Zabeel Park, we ran to the Stargate section. I love those domes, the 1/2 planets I see when passing by in a car, on our way to Tashkeel. Finally we were there, so spectacular! They look even more unsettling under the murky, almost ‘0’ visibility sand storm. We were so beaten by the wind, tired and headachy, so that was the time we had a small nap at the park, on the grass, that is also situated on the sand. 

It was 2 hours to the sunset when we woke up. Although I was sure there wasn’t any sun to see from the desert floating in the sky, we were still up for going to the beach where this amazing fish restaurant called Bu Qtair is. (Ghada, Farah and Stef took us there on Wednesday, I’m so grateful to them for introducing me with my favourite restaurant) I was also looking forward to spend some time on the beach, and have a bare feet walk.

So we took the metro from Al Jafiliya to Mall of the Emirates, which is the nearest to the beach. We had a chance to see the ghost car town, the car graveyard just by the metro station. It was such a haunting place, with probably very sad story behind. As far as I understand, those cars belong to the workers who were fired and had to leave the country immediately. (I might be writing a story here, but I think I heard it from someone) So those cars are like the sad signatures and maybe the oldest artifacts occupying a space in Dubai. There were open boots and open doors, reminding  me the tower blocks of Glasgow with some floors burnt, and windows broken. Really bizarre feeling it evokes.   

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

We had a short glance at Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates, just where the car graveyard is and then started walking to Jumeirah where we had a very peaceful walk on the beach. It was a nice walk on the way there, and was an amazing one, once we reach the beach!

image credit: Tom

We ended our day at the amazing fish shack I mentioned; with a fish , as big as my arm, on a plate. Yummy!

Yesterday was more dedicated to Bur Dubai and Deira. Tom arrived very early in the morning, but I dragged my poor husband to do some material shopping at the hardware shops of Deira. It feels so much like Istanbul, like the Thursday Bazaar in Karaköy where you can find a special shop just selling taps, or pipe joints, etc. So we bought an angle grinder, some mesh and few welding accessories. A successful shopping day!

image credit: Tom

on the abra