21 August – Dubai, UAE
A few hours of shore time in Dubai, a very modern city of 2.8 million souls, none of whom seem to be from here. We met Afghans, Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, but not a single…. Emirati? Not unusual in oil-rich Middle Eastern countries – the local folks do not have to work, so import people from poorer countries to provide necessary services.
Beautiful and apparently new Dubai Museum casts light on what this place was like before all the hoo-rah over petroleum. Originally this was a bend in a fresh-water river where pearl-diving and trading were the primary industries, later evolving into a major port dominated by Portuguese and English traders.
Sailboats called dhows traversed the waterway running through old Dubai, but now they use motorboats as ferries and tour boats.
The old suqs (markets) were fairly empty; apparently this time of year is a little too hot for the European and Chinese tourists who normally crowd the narrow alleyways.
Hawkers of goods were very happy to see us; they called Henry “Professor” and Robbie “Sweet Mama”…. We looked at spices, textiles and enjoyed camel-milk gelato:
Favorite product:
(If you look closely, you can see the “Made in China” label in the left corner. We may have off-loaded a few thousand of these in one of our containers today!)
And of course, we had to go a little native…
Back to the ship for our departure. The Vela will be at sea for quite a while this time – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is our next stop and we will be skirting the entire peninsula of India to get there!
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Emerald Isle to the Norse Lands 
Pix ARE SO GREAT – WE SEND OUR LOVE !!!!!!
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The local garb goes perfectly with your camel milk gelatos. You really are living it up!
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