Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Adventures In Dubai Day 11: Visit to Dubai Museum And Animal World

When we woke up, Ace said he wanted to eat at Paul's again.. and so we went again..




After our yummilicious breakfast, we decided to take a walk aroundBurjuman.. which is the shopping mall near our place.. Max says they have alot of branded goods here andso we went to shops to take a look. Because there is a large amount of ang mohs here, there are many ang moh shops here like Saks Fifth Avenue.. etc..

Here in Dubai, all over the shopping malls, there are sofas scattered for people to sit down and rest. Max says it is because the malls are all so big and they want pple to sit and rest and continue shopping. Ace requested that I take a picture of him and daddy sitting on the sofa so that they can look like they are having a meeting..

Then we found this camera that is activated where you put your hand on this sign... alas when we tried, it said "no camera found"..


That's Ace asking his daddy if he can buy more things. I had to explain to Ace that he cannot expect that everytime he goes out, Daddy will buy him something new...Daddy has money but we have to learn to spend our money wisely.. not frivolously...

We came across a marilyn monroe santa claus at ted bakers.. i wonder if they have this in sgp too :P hahahaha

Then we went to NeuLook and there was 25% discount storewide.. even on the items that were already on discount! Max found a shirt tat said Mr Silly and told Ace we would buy that for him.. hahahaha.. Ace said yes, he wanted to be silly and Max suggested that he buy Mr Noisy.. in the end, we bought a Buzz Lightyear t-shirt for him... too bad I couldnt find anything to buy though..

We found some cute t shirts and then Ace paid for his tshirt himself..

We walked past a shop selling simpson stuff but too bad they only have adult sized t shirts for the simpsons design... and afterward, we went to Lamcy Plaza because I had to replace my watch batttery.... and we found some LIVERPOOL BOXERS! hahahaha... Luckily they are for 9-10 years old and so Ace didn't have to wear them! hahahaha

We spent a good hour shopping in daiso again.. this time buying some things that we need...

And then max said his colleague suggested that he bring us to this part of town which is more cultural.. and looks nicer... that is us on our way to tat cultural part and passing by all the UAE national day celebration flags..

We finally arrived at that part of town but couldnt find a parking lot and went around it.. finally found a lot and we found these buildings that looked like sand castles...


Apparently, this was a leftover remains from this Bur Dubai wall that was built using corals and stones... it was demolished and only a small part of it was left and they have restored it lor.. as we walked around, we realized that this place is actually Dubai Museum.. intiially, Max just wanted to walk around it but entrance was only like 3AED and so we decided to go in and take a look... Time for a history lesson about Dubai.. haha



Initially, we thought it was just a very small area with some displays of the boats they used. The above picture shows some cannons.. some special boat made from a single tree trunk and the bottom two pics are actually a DHOW and something tat helps to steer the boats...

That is their typical house... and how their bedrooms and kitchen looks like...

These are the baby rocker and some weapons that they used in the past...

Musical instruments they used...

And back in 1822... dubai was like this small village lor.. this is a model of how it looked like. I must say it has come a long way in the past 39 years or so... just like Singapore ;) It is amazing how they have changed from this ulu village to like a cosmopolitan city... no wonder they all love their Shiek and paste his pics everywhere!


That's a well... from the olden days..

This is how they made swords.. and the wooden looking thing is actually a water tank..

Then we saw this wooden door and went in and we found out that there is an underground area for displays as well! And to my surprise, it was realy very well done!

First part was about Dubai Creek.. somewhat like our Singpaore river.. where there was alot of trade going on.. there were labourers as well..








These are how the various trades looked like.. they seem to major in spice trade, jewel making, textiles, carpentry, blacksmith....






And then there were this group of people in Dubai called the Bedoin.. they are like nomads and are good at making fancy jewellery.. i think they are a creative and spiritual group of people who like to do good deeds... and just enjoying life anywhere they are.. a little like gypsies.... these are their beautiful costumes and jewellery...

Surpirsingly, even though Dubai is desert area, there is alot of trade related to the sea as well. Here, there are divers who go under water to dive for pearls.. and there are fishermen who fish and sell fish!

This is how their tombs looked like..

And then in the Jumariah area, they have this sort of archeological area where they found towns and lots of interesting buildings and stuff... but today, Jumeriah has become more of like a tourist area (by the beach) and a place filled with private houses.. a little like Siglap and east coast of sgp:) haahha

Then we went to this "cultural" area that Max's colleagues were talking about and I realized that it is actually Batiska.. which houses buildings from the old town of Dubai...Max initially told me he dunno where that is.. and because the sheltered walkways look like the ones we saw at the textile souk when we took the dhow boat.. we wondered if we were in th same area.



Irregardless, I decided that we should take a rest. We saw someone selling orange juice and so ordered some food and sat down to wait and eat...


We had orange juice, Ahlia masala tea and DISCO egg sandwhich.. I wonder why they call them DISCO sandwhiches.. is it cos you will start dancing if you eat them or wat..

We explored a little and came to the place where we took a dhow.. we were right.. we are back at the old souk and textile souk area!;) I even bought two new blouses... Anyway, Ace said he wanted to take the boat again but we told him we come back another day...

We saw alot of pple walking along the creek and some bright lights and so we followed and we saw this really huge boat tat even has a basketball court on the deck!

Ace was so happy he started to dance as he was walking.. and when we walked past the boats were people view scenery with the dinner, Ace said he wanted to eat inside the boat someday... so we promised to bring him for dinner on the boat one of these days...

We found out that when we walked along the creek, it brought us to the other part of batiska and if we kept walking, we would reach the museum again and we will actualy be near our car! :)



Next, Max brought us to a Malaysian Restaurant called Da Wan Mian (which loosely translated means big bowl of noodles) and they have this strange thing in the menu called Singaporean Fried Rice tat includes chicken, prawn and CURRY POWDER! How come this singaporean never eat this before huh? hahaha

Anyway, Ace was a little tired and he started to talk with this whiny voice.. he asked "Why we cannot sit inside?" in his whiny voice and the equally tired Max snapped and scolded him. I asked both of them to stop and explained to him that when parents bring kids out, we hope that they will be happy. We get upset when we hear complains because it doesnt make us feel appreciated... and he told me that he was just asking why we cannot sit inside. It was not a complaint...

I told him that the tone of voice he used was a whiny voice and that is why it sounded like a complaint. Anyway, father and son said sorry to each other, hugged and made up but still decided to pose for a picture to show the two unhappy boys.. HAHAHA..

Our yummy dinner! Fried noodles, veggie crystal bun....

XO fried carrot cake.. Wang Lao Ji (aka Jia Jia liang cha in our homeland)...

And HOR FUN! YUMMY!

Anyway, on our way home, I saw an interesting sign.. just why would a GENTS SALON want to be known and branded as DIVA?????

Anyway, Ace said he doesnt want to go home and Max saw a huge pet shop called Animal World and we decided to visit it before we went home...

There were so many animals there.. canaries, big fat pigeons (as big as my head), cute looking puppies...

Cute rabbits...

Adorable cats... so cute right? But wait till you see this...

Oh my god.. the most beautiful cat I have ever seen in my life! :)


So cute right.. and so pretty.. I couldnt help going gaga over it and Ace said I should buy it and bring it home with me.. hahahha

Kissing pigeons, kissing canaries and this very handsome looking bird...

We saw a super duper big bird cage (max is there as reference point.. it is half the height of max lor) and a super duper big tortoise...

On our way home we passed by a Chinese restaurant and it was strangely filled with indians. Max says that if you see a chinese restaurant that is decorated to look chinese and uses "chinese fonts" and is called Chinese Something... chances are, the food there is no good:) so NEVER EVER go in! Hahaahahahaa...

Once we reached home, Ace asked for food to eat again.. and we asked him to finish up the grapes and dragon fruit we have in the fridge because these fruits are too expensive here to let them rot in the fridge! ;) hahaha...

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