Yesterday my beautiful friend went into Deira searching for beads and fabric, glitz and sparkles for her jewellery line. Nothing new in that, she goes frequently and I'm often with her. We have an amazing time mooching around the depths of the Arabic souqs. Incredible and vibrant places where you truly feel the hustle and bustle of old Dubai. A side of Dubai that is poorly portrayed in the media, a side that so many people, even the expats living here are unwilling to experience. But this time she took her own mini munchkin with her; her six year old daughter and today when I messaged and asked how they got on this was the reply ...
"Sooo nice, she babbled all the way being fawned over by all, getting freebies. Amazing how weak at the knees even hardened Pakistanis get over kids, it is so nice to see. We had samosas and all at the corner cafe, she got flip flops, happy as a bunny skipping next to me."
This catapulted me into my early years here in Dubai with Ben and Rebekah. Isn't it funny how a throw away comment can absorb you in the past. Throw you back in time to memories that you think are long forgotten. Good memories, happy times that are worth remembering.
When we moved to Dubai Ben was five and Bex was two and a half. It was a much smaller city and was obviously very Middle Eastern. I can vividly remember getting to the door of the plane and standing at the top of the stairs where the heat hit us like a brick wall. In those days you got a bus to a single storey terminal with window ACs and ceiling fans; where you went to the front of the queue at passport control because you were a mother with young children. Twenty two years ago Dubai was a sandpit on the brink of blossoming into the incredible multicultural oasis it is today. We didn't have the huge shopping malls. Burjaman was the mall of choice and City Centre was still in the thought process. No Atlantis and no Burj Al Arab, no indoor ski slope and Burj Khalifa.
The main highway, Sheikh Zayed, which runs from Dubai to Abu Dhabi was three lanes in each direction with the desert sands blowing across it. We would regularly have to stop for camels as they meandered off the dirt track. There's a huge fine to pay if you hit a camel, they are an expensive commodity in the Middle East. This road is now seven lanes and crazy to say the least.
Most of my furniture shopping was done in the souqs or warehouses, in Karama or Sharjah. Every time we went into the souqs these hard working, tough shop owners would completely melt at my blonde haired babes. They would come home with wooden elephants or candle sticks, Bex would be given hair scrunchies. They would both have their cheeks pinched until I thought they would bruise. Totally devoted over by each and every shop keeper. No one could walk past them without stroking their hair; to be honest Ben wasn't really a fan of all these strange people touching his head and would look most disgruntled!! I guess we spend our lives, as parents warning our children of stranger danger and then he's got all these strangers stroking his hair or pinching is cheeks.
It was a great place to bring up Ben and Bex. Many a happy hour was spent at the beach, building road ways and tunnels in the sand for their toy cars. Burying Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles, some to be lost as the tide came in. Hours walking along the beach collecting shells and looking for hermit crabs that would get thrown into the air as Bex jumped a mile not expecting to see this tiny crab emerge from a shell! Body boarding and barbecues. I'd pack a picnic and we would go to the beach straight from school. Homework could wait, time spent together is too soon a memory as your children grow up and want to spend time with their friends. We spent hours together and loved it. But the summer months would be too hot for us to spend much time outside and we would spend time in kids jungles play areas, painting and drawing. Having cinema time at home and baking. Video games and Disney movies.
So dusty, hot, sweaty, old Dubai holds are big part of my heart. It's where most of our family memories were made. A place full of fond memories and sad goodbyes. My children grew up here but they also packed their bags and spread their wings from here. So Lilly, savour those moments in the souq with your munchkin, make unique Dubai memories for you and your children. It's an exceptional place to bring them up in, an upbringing that only few get to experience and appreciate.
Childhood memories are made for a mother to cherish and a child to explore.
"Sooo nice, she babbled all the way being fawned over by all, getting freebies. Amazing how weak at the knees even hardened Pakistanis get over kids, it is so nice to see. We had samosas and all at the corner cafe, she got flip flops, happy as a bunny skipping next to me."
This catapulted me into my early years here in Dubai with Ben and Rebekah. Isn't it funny how a throw away comment can absorb you in the past. Throw you back in time to memories that you think are long forgotten. Good memories, happy times that are worth remembering.
When we moved to Dubai Ben was five and Bex was two and a half. It was a much smaller city and was obviously very Middle Eastern. I can vividly remember getting to the door of the plane and standing at the top of the stairs where the heat hit us like a brick wall. In those days you got a bus to a single storey terminal with window ACs and ceiling fans; where you went to the front of the queue at passport control because you were a mother with young children. Twenty two years ago Dubai was a sandpit on the brink of blossoming into the incredible multicultural oasis it is today. We didn't have the huge shopping malls. Burjaman was the mall of choice and City Centre was still in the thought process. No Atlantis and no Burj Al Arab, no indoor ski slope and Burj Khalifa.
The main highway, Sheikh Zayed, which runs from Dubai to Abu Dhabi was three lanes in each direction with the desert sands blowing across it. We would regularly have to stop for camels as they meandered off the dirt track. There's a huge fine to pay if you hit a camel, they are an expensive commodity in the Middle East. This road is now seven lanes and crazy to say the least.
Most of my furniture shopping was done in the souqs or warehouses, in Karama or Sharjah. Every time we went into the souqs these hard working, tough shop owners would completely melt at my blonde haired babes. They would come home with wooden elephants or candle sticks, Bex would be given hair scrunchies. They would both have their cheeks pinched until I thought they would bruise. Totally devoted over by each and every shop keeper. No one could walk past them without stroking their hair; to be honest Ben wasn't really a fan of all these strange people touching his head and would look most disgruntled!! I guess we spend our lives, as parents warning our children of stranger danger and then he's got all these strangers stroking his hair or pinching is cheeks.
It was a great place to bring up Ben and Bex. Many a happy hour was spent at the beach, building road ways and tunnels in the sand for their toy cars. Burying Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles, some to be lost as the tide came in. Hours walking along the beach collecting shells and looking for hermit crabs that would get thrown into the air as Bex jumped a mile not expecting to see this tiny crab emerge from a shell! Body boarding and barbecues. I'd pack a picnic and we would go to the beach straight from school. Homework could wait, time spent together is too soon a memory as your children grow up and want to spend time with their friends. We spent hours together and loved it. But the summer months would be too hot for us to spend much time outside and we would spend time in kids jungles play areas, painting and drawing. Having cinema time at home and baking. Video games and Disney movies.
So dusty, hot, sweaty, old Dubai holds are big part of my heart. It's where most of our family memories were made. A place full of fond memories and sad goodbyes. My children grew up here but they also packed their bags and spread their wings from here. So Lilly, savour those moments in the souq with your munchkin, make unique Dubai memories for you and your children. It's an exceptional place to bring them up in, an upbringing that only few get to experience and appreciate.
Childhood memories are made for a mother to cherish and a child to explore.