TimesToCome

I’ve not seen a single dog here. We did see one cat, actually we heard him from 3 alleys away. What a howl. He’s a long white orange spotted stray who was dumpster diving and singing his tale of woe.

Prayers are called even at 4 am. They sound like the Catholic priests doing their Latin sing song. Different language and religion but the feel is the same.

Police are scarce here, I’ve seen them but only rarely.

Today we hopped on the subway. It’s amazing, the stops are larger than some airports I’ve seen. It’s fully automated, no conductors, and cheap.

First we rode out to the new part of the city. It looks like something out of the Jettsons, every building more amazing than the one before it. Three buildings are being built for every one completed. Dubai is totally a city of the future. But that end of town is empty. The people haven’t moved in yet and often we were the only pedestrians in sight.

Then we rode back to the other end of Dubai. We got off at the most crowded stop and followed the crowd. First we ended up in an Indian immigrant area. Thousands and thousands of shops and people everywhere.

We stopped to eat at a Lebanese/Russian restaurant. The menu items all listed ‘meat’ not chicken, lamb or beef, just meat. I’ve no idea what I had for dinner but it was good.

I tried to get more photos but every time I slowed down a young Indian man would run up saying ‘genuine fake watches, genuine fake handbags, Rolex, Fendi, Prada. . . ‘ So we had to keep moving.

From the Indian area we wandered into old Dubai. Fabric stores every where, lots of shops to make custom suits, burkas and any other clothing you might desire.

Along twisting turning alleys we wandered. I started to notice more and more people were barefoot. I had led us into the back door of a mosque. We were able to back out with out getting dumped into Dubai Creek. ( This is why my sister and husband get nervous when I go wandering ;p )

The bong like things you see in the shop window are for smoking tobacco. Water is in the bottom, tobacco up top and hot coals are placed on the tobacco. All restaurants and bars keep several handy and you see many people smoking them at dinner.

One of the biggest sellers in all the areas we’ve been to are big fuzzy, fake fur blankets – like the kind you see in the states sold along side velvet Elvis’s. I haven’t figured that out – it’s about 95′F at night and 105′F in the day.

Every one here speaks English we’ve not found any one we couldn’t talk to. I’m still shocked so few spoke English in Tokyo. Cameras are very taboo. People glance at the camera as if I were carrying a weapon. So the photos are not as clear or targeted as I’d like.

Today was much colder than yesterday but we wandered off to Ueno Park. Ueno park is surrounded by museums, a zoo and Tokyo University. At the far end is the Ameya yokocho bazaar.

The cousin had to return to base so it was just us today. We entered the subway and instead of people randomly waiting there were double lines queued for each train door. After every one who could possibly fit got on, the porter crammed a few more people onto the train. 9 am appears to be morning rush hour.

The husband left my side for just a moment in the park and just like back home I had a gentleman talking to me when he returned. ( some things transcend cultures ). We talked for about an hour. Interestingly they tossed out their gov’t 6 months ago and brought in a new group to make changes. No changes have been made so they’re tossing the bums back out. ( Just like home )

The bazaar was the most fun of all. Much like Haymarket Square in Boston there was lots of fresh food and vendors calling out to you to purchase their wares. But along with the fresh food were several clothing, jewelry and golf shops.

The husband took today’s photos, I’m traveling light today.