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Last week we headed to Dubai for more exploring. Dubai is huge and we haven't scratched the surface. We went back to Deira to see the souqs again. On our way to Deira, we spotted an awesome looking Chinese restaurant and decided to try it. The restaurant was very traditional and had giant lazy susans on each table. We ordered food we hadn't heard of before. Micah got jellyfish and Jesi tried lotus seed and white fungus soup. The jellyfish was cut into small pieces, fried and served over noodles. The flavor and texture was similar to calamari. The lotus seed and white fungus soup was interesting. It was a very light, sweet broth with these large pieces of what we assumed was white fungus. It was very ruffle-y and a slimier version of boiled cabbage. Very interesting. The steamed mutton dumplings were amazing.
lotus seed and white fungus:

mutton dumplings


We headed to the spice souq, which was closed, so we payed one dirham to ride in a little boat across Dubai "creek." Its an incredibly busy salt water "creek" filled with boats carrying tourists on day long tours, people going back and forth across for work or play as well as lots of really really large dhows that make trips back and forth from India and Pakistan carrying goods back and forth. I loved the way the dhows looked so I took tons of photos.

a view of the creek before our boat ride-

Mike took a photo of us on the little boat ride

We headed to a bunch of old traditional souqs that were unfortunately closed for the day. Friday is like Sunday in the UAE. Pretty much everything is closed, especially at midday. But the camel was there! They have an area set up like a traditional nomadic camp with a traditional tent and various items like coffee pots and incense burners.

Mike hoping the camel won't spit on him....The owner actually came over and let us feed the camel palm fronds.

We headed to the old Dubai souq which was insane. There were TONS of souqs selling everything from cheap t-shirts and shoes to pashmina shawls and traditional clothing. I bought the most amazing pair of pants for 20 dirhams (around $5) They are striped and poufy with ties at the calves. I'll post a photo soon. Everyone calls them my circus pants. We bought shoes and clothes and haggled our butts off. We drank from coconuts and wandered aimlessly. Our landlord Ali met up with us to take us out. As promised, he took us to the Irish village. As soon as we walked into the Irish village, I felt like I was in Savannah or maybe some part of Ireland that was warm. There was a large outdoor area filled with heavy wooden tables and chairs sitting on cobblestone. The fronts of the restaurants looked like any Irish pub should. We ordered Guinness and Irish coffee and ate the most amazing fish and chips in the world. Seriously. It was a relief to speak English freely when ordering and eating comfort food. Afterward we headed to this really nice resort on a beach. The beach turned into a nightclub at night, with bars, music and dancing. On the beach are giant bean bags people lounge in to smoke sheesha. Even awkwardly dressed we had a blast. We didn't get home till after midnight. We're all hoping to explore more before we leave.