Dossing in Dubai

The things bout impromptu holidays and trips like these is that they provide an opportunity to see friends and family for what feels like free. With that in mind my parents and I joined the family of a friend of mine for lunch. It was nice to be able to relax in someone's home, as a guest and not a tourist, and memories of South Africa came flooding back.

After some lunch and hanging out talking about random stuff (including a dancing pathan), we all headed out for some falooda. The stuff we actually got was unlike any falooda I've ever had - we ate it out of a bowl instead of drinking it from a cup. It was nice anyway and just hanging out in a dirty Pakistani dessert place was fun enough.

Since my parents had other, more grown up, people to see I hung back with my friends. After a quick look at the beach (in short it wasn't as nice as those in Durban) we headed out to what now seemed like the centre of my UAE Universe, the Dubai Mall. Our reason this time was to ice skate, something I never thought I'd be doing in an Arab country; the average temperature over the past three days or so was 40C. Nevertheless I was impressed by the talent of the natives.

But time was once again up and I had to go join my parents for dinner at a family friend's house. Once again today had proven that although for me Dubai kinda sucks as a tourist attraction, any time that I spend here has always eventually been made worth it by the hospitality and company of the locals - and more than that how I increasingly prefer to go away to see people rather than places.