Meet the parents

My parents leave tomorrow after having spent a week here in Dubai visiting me and checking out the sites and sand of this fair city.

We had a yummy Lebanese meal one evening outside by the water, at one of my favourite places The Blue Barjeel. The food is so tasty and cheap as chips! My mouth waters thinking about it. Hmmm.....

Mum and dad also had their first taste of sheesha (the water pipe) before we all jumped on an Abra (a traditional, although now motorised, wooden boat which takes you from one side of the creek to the other) leading us to the Spice and Gold Souks.

It's mind blowing to think that all the gold jewellery hanging in the windows twinkling under the lights is real. There were no purchases made on this occasion (much to one man's delight!) but it's still fun to go in and try on all the different types of bling and ask for more ostentatious examples of their wares.

Yesterday we drove out to the Hatta pools which was a first time for me as well. Only an hour out of Dubai and we were surrounded by rocky mountainous terrain and flowing water! I'm not always a believer that the journey can be as interesting as the destination but this time was a little different. During our drive we spotted in front of us a herd of camels making a brisk beeline from the desert onto the highway. Luckily the police were nearby and used their siren and flashing lights to heard the adventurous camels back into the safe surrounds of their sandy home.

If only these 'ships of the desert' were aware of how often their mates are accidentally hit by cars (especially at night). I met a guy recently who ended up in hospital with injuries and had to write off his car after a camel ran onto the highway and straight into his path late one evening.