Bliski Wschód | My name is Ola

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Our 3 ideas for snacks in Dubai

01/12/2014 — by Magdalena Kuźma — 0

At Deira Spice Souq accross the Dubai Creek try some refreshing fruit juices. There is a booth right on the corner of the souq when approaching it from abras (wooden boats) water station. One of them is that fresh, that is served right from the fruit – a coconut. Juice itself is nothing really special but drinking it straight from the fruit makes all the fun. Cost is not so high (less than 3 dollars) so we think it’s worth trying.
Get the table with the view over the Creek and abra station near Old Souk. Try some fruit juices and enjoy the view of small wooden boats swimming accross the Creek back and forth.
We had turkish style coffee, fruit salad and some juices of fruits which names told us completely nothing and sat back, relaxed, read the newspaper and watched the waves on the Creek waters. [photosetgrid layout=”2″]

[/photosetgrid]Yeah, right. Maybe a year ago we would have but today we could only try. In fact we gave the baby some fruits to try, checked if she wasn’t thirsty and gave her some water, excercised a little to keep all the things on the table, met some of Ola’s new friends and drank our drinks in a hurry and moved on.

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Last but not least – mom’s favourite idea – Haagen Dazs. Those are the ice creams mom would do anything to get.Producer declares using only natural ingredients in their ice creams, no preservatives and no artificial color. We don’t know if it’s true but mom says they are really better then any others she’s tried so far. They of course are not a local product but when visiting a luxury city, trying luxury ice creams is a must.

After visiting Qatar in summer when the temperatures were unbelievable for our trip to United Arab Emirates we went in November. Weather was perfect, temeperature didn’t exceed 30 degrees. That let us sweat a little during the day and walk outside freely at night.

Visiting Dubai with the baby was easier and then we expected. We were positively surprised by the attitude of local people to the baby. Everybody had to hold Ola, take a photo or at least talk to her as if she was a pop star. And that were mostly men, as it’s usually them who work in sales and services in Dubai. Either in the queue line to Burj Khalifa, at the market or in any restaurant we went to she was the number one.

[photosetgrid layout=”21″] Dubai, UAE [/photosetgrid]That’s how we found another country, after Georgia, with people of extremely friendly attitude towards children. People in Dubaj showed more care and warmth towards Ola then she ever got in Europe.
And of course she had to make some new firends as she is fond of other children.

Another thing which we were delighted with was shopping mall. And specificly meeting the needs of children and brestfeeding moms. Muslim moms enjoy public entertainments as everybody else. And since in Dubai it focuses around shopping malls, they are well prepared to serve them. Changing the baby’s diaper is not a problem. Well, sometimes it neither is a problem in Europe and there is a piece of board on the wall in the toilet. But check out what they offer in Dubai, how such thing can be organised.

[photosetgrid layout=”3″] Dubai, UAE [/photosetgrid]A colorful room with soft changing stations, clean and fragrant. And if you forget any hygiene products there’s a vending machine on the wall. For 5 dirhams you get a set of 1 diaper, 2 wipes and a disposal bag!
In some rooms there is also a little corner with some toys there. But what happens when you need to breastfeed the baby? Nothing more simple – just use a small cosy room, relax and feed the baby.

[photosetgrid layout=”2″] Dubai, UAE [/photosetgrid]It’s nice to say that they have also thought about mom’s needs. When after all those hygenic procedures and feeding the baby mum might feel like using the toilet too. No problem at all, there is a bathroom so big that it can fit mom together with a baby in the stroller. Simple, isn’t it? Why haven’t we seen such things anywhere else? In Europe there are similar things only in Ikea, which is known for its sensitivity for mother and child needs.

A good entertainment for Ola, even though she was so little (8 months), was Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. When we saw how she liked the fish behind the glass we had no other option than buy tickets and take her inside.
Aquarium in the Dubai Mall is a 10-million-liter tank with sharks, rays and 140 other species of underwater animals. We took the basic option to visit underwater tunnel and get surrounded by all those magnificient animals. Ola’s enthusiasm was enough to keep her attracted for 20 minutes before she went to sleep. But for bigger children it must be quite an adventure, as it was for us.

Our ticket covered also visiting an underwater zoo upstairs. Among others there are an octopus, chameleon, 5-meter crocodile or garden eels standing in the sand there. Thankfully Ola woke up when we got to pinguins and was fascinated especialy when they had their dinner.
Instead half an hour as we thought we spent there way over two hours and decided to leave quickly as we were on the run to somewhere else. But it was well spent time and money. Walking through the tunnel was the basic option – aquarium offers also snorking in the cage, fish feeding, ride a glass-bottom boat or diving with sharks. Full day can be spent there easily.

Other amusements for kids in Dubai that come to our minds are ski area, where one not only you can ski but also meet pinguins, I-Fly Dubai, a wind tunnel where you can try flying or Little Explorers – a 2000-square-meter Edutainment Centre for children form 2 to 7 years old. We cannot say more as we didn’t have time to try any of those but can say that the offer is undoubtly wide.

There is one more thing we should mention in regards of baby travel – UAE is a very safe country and going there with a baby is totaly secure. There is a very low crime rate in Dubai, probably as a result of using Sharia law, which imposes on criminals penalties like stoning or flogging. Pickpocketing, for which tourists are usually exposed to, is very low however common sence in keeping the money and passorts is advised as everywhere else in the world. Locals feel that safe that they leave their cars not only not locked on parking lots but with heir engines on to keep the AC working.

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3 must be restaurants in Dubai

01/12/2014 — by Magdalena Kuźma — 0

Even if you can afford a dinner in the most expensive location in Dubai – Al Mahara restaurant in Burj Al Arab, looking for some good food you will surely visit Bu Qtair. It’s a place with the best and most fresh fish in the area. Fish they serve come straight from the water; fishermen just came back from the sea delivering fresh seafood to the restaurant. Instead a fancy restaurant you will find a bunch of plastic chairs and tables outside.
It is also quite an avdenture to find out how it all works. So first step is to get inside to place an order.
That means to choose from the huge amount of freshly caught fish in some kind of sauce. If nothing looks familiar it’s a good idea to rely on stuff’s help. Pay at the window, leave them your name and sit outside looking forward to hear it being shout by the waiters.
Once your order is ready you get your own plastic table. We got one big fish, whole bunch of shrimps and a box of tissues. No alcohol is served. Fish looked burned outside but it was just that (kind of Indian) sauce and inside it was all nice and delicate. And the shrimps, slightly spicy, we dare to say were the best we have ever had.
That’s not kind of a place where they accept credit cards so be equipped in local currency. I don’t think we have to add that baby high chair is not available.
Another remarkable place is Barracuda restaurant. It’s located at Jumeirah street and declares itself to be best contemporary Egiptian and Arabic seafood restaurant there.It works in similar way to the previous one – everyone is free to choose his own fish and have it cooked in one of the offered ways like singary (fish opened and grilled with seasons), radda, fried, tagine (fish prepared in a clay pot with seasons) and some others. We chose singary and tajine fish and to kill the first hunger seafood soup, eggplant with garlic and hummus. Eggplant was awesome, and fish, cooked both ways, exceptional!
Ola sat together with us at the table in high chair and enjoyed throwing to the ground everything she could only catch. And of course she stole our waiter’s heart.
Al Fanar Restaurant & Cafe – place offers strictly local quisine and among their guests there are more local people than tourists.The place is decorated in the atmosphere of old Emirati traditions. Guests are greeted by old dessert Land Rover parked at the entrance and lovely personnel dressed in traditional style uniforms. Outdoor terrace offers kind of compartments. Low table and soft carpet was a good place for Ola. She was the first one who started choosing from the menu but anyway ended with her usual meal – milk.We ordered koftat samak (fish cutlets with tomato sauce), tomato and onion salad and Jesheed (crumbled fish cooked with onion).
All the food was good, full of local spices taste. However Emirati cuisine seems to based on meat. Meat-eaters will find there a wide variety of dishes, vegetarians very few. It’s worth to finish the meal with with a pot of Arabic tea.
[photosetgrid layout=”2″][/photosetgrid]We took also desert (khabisah – some traditional sweet) but it didn’t look like you would like to see it so we are not showing any picturs of it. Neither it tasted. Deserts, unlike other dishes, we cannot advise.
We have to definitely praise their stuff – we were served by at least four people at the same time, and all of them very nice and helpful. They finished our visit by ritual hands washing with scented water. Baby high chair is available hovewer Ola barely used it as she preffered being carried by personnel or sit with us at the table. Or underneath it.
[photosetgrid layout=”2″][/photosetgrid]We visited the branch located at Jumeraich road in the small shopping center. Mall restrooms were equipped in changing station and vending machine with baby stuff. The other location in Dubai Festival City Mall has way more decorated interior, including local scenes from old times build of figures of people and animals.

Bliski Wschód Blog

Walk around the bay in Doha, Qatar

02/11/2014 — by Magdalena Kuźma — 0

We enjoyed the cool air of our room but decided to give the city another chance, get up very early in the moring and have another look over the city attractions. Must see attractions, of course depending on time available, are National Museum of Qatar and Museum of Islamic art. Both in eye-catching buildings.[photosetgrid layout=”12″][/photosetgrid]We couldn’t miss the oportunity of showing Ola falcons and camels so we had to visit Souq Waqif areas again. In the back there is an old camel market where until today the animals are being sold. Falcons we found in the alleys of the souk, next to the camel market. Ola definitely better liked camels but behaved like she’s seen thousands of them already.

[photosetgrid layout=”21″] Camel Souq, Qatar [/photosetgrid]

Heading to the seaside we passed along the Emir’s Palace with a clocktower, together with adjacent mosque.[photosetgrid layout=”2″]

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Emir’s place is called Emiri Diwan and is a seat of Qatar’s government.

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As the heat was getting stronger and stronger we directed towards Al-Cornishe, a promenade along the seaside and a symbol of Qatar – the Oyster and a pearl fountain. Qatars economy used to be based on pearl fishery. This was Qataris’ main occupation. But it was the time long before exploiting oil and natural gas. It’s those resources that power local economy today.

Honestly speaking we were not knocked down by the Oyster’s charm, maybe wthen the fountain is on it makes bigger impression, try to imagine. The promenade seemed to be a nice place, even with its rules, but there was nobody there. It was desolate.[photosetgrid layout=”2″][/photosetgrid]Oh sorry, we have seen 3 (three!) Pakistani men wandering around. Unberable heat keeps most of people somewhere inside. We checked again the view from the harbour.

[photosetgrid layout=”113″][/photosetgrid]After some time we were already tired, Ola got red cheeks of heat so we only dreamt about getting back to the hotel. How to do it the fastest? Catch a taxi, of course, one would say. Not in Qatar. Standing in the full sun for 10 minutes and watching all cabs passing by, not interested in takig us at all, we gave up and walked back to the hotel jumping from one shade to another.

Beside Mueseum of Islamic Art we regret also not going to the Pearl Qatar – an artificial island, luxoriuos neighborhood with marina that when finished will provide home for 45 000 people. So when going to Doha just rent a car that will give you firstly – protection form the heat and secondly – the possibility to drive everywhere without worrying how to get back cause public comunication is rather poor and taxis untrusted.

Our stay in Doha was coming to an end, we got some rest in our room and headed to the airport. What is very convenient, Doha airport provides baby strollers so you can check yours in to the hold! Qatar Airways strollers are avaliable there free of charge. Nice idea.

An airport itself is quite well adjusted to kids’ needs. Beside those strollers there are couple playgrounds for children (designed in very stylish way) and number of changing rooms.

For childless there are tv and computer areas of the same style, some quiet rooms and a mosque of course.

But Allah only knows what the biggest in the world teddy bear does there!

Bliski Wschód Blog

Our first steps in Doha, Qatar

02/11/2014 — by Magdalena Kuźma — 0

So we arrived. Air-conditioned bus took us from air-condishoned airport to the air-condishoned hotel. Before we decided to go outside only our phone was telling us what was happening there. And it was a lot.

We didn’t find enough courage to go outside right away. We waited until dusk hoping the temperature will drop and decided to step out of the hotel. Arm covering shirt for mum and we left. When we steped out of the hotel we were hit by high temperature. Nevertheless we decided not to waste time and go around, firstly to the Souk Waqif as it looked as a walking distance from our hotel. Before we got there we passed by Al Jabor Souq, another Doha market.

[photosetgrid layout=”13″] Doha, Qatar Doha, Souk Waqif [/photosetgrid]

Souk Waqif is an old Arabic market, around 100 years old, nicely restored in traditional style, offering spieces, textiles and all you can imagine. Handicrafts and souvenirs are primary goods. It’s a popular destination for tourists as well as locals. It hosts some restaurants, art galleries and different events.[photosetgrid layout=”13″][/photosetgrid]

And when you are done shopping and have hands full of stuff you can hire somebody who will take it for you to your car. Guys with barrows wait for the oportunity to earn some money.

[photosetgrid layout=”2″] Qatar, Souk Waqif [/photosetgrid]

Between those two markets there is an interesting building seen above the rooftops. It’s Fanar – Qatar Islamic Culture Center Mosque. It’s the largest mosque in Qatar, declared to be unique because of it’s minaret shape. Indeed impressive but cannot deny inspiration by the Great Mosque in Samarra, Iraq. Nevertheless it looks amazing, especially illuminated at night.

Leaving this area we directed towards the sea. Ola was fast asleep, tempereature still high. Hoping that sea breeze will give us some relief we got to the coast. Dissapointed of course. At least Ola woke up and decided to familiarize herself with Qatari plants. All areas of Al Corniche promenade must be well hydrated as the grass is so nicely green.

Amazing view of the city skyscrapers contrasting with old boats attracts many locals, often not leaving their air-condishioned cars at all. This is the place where they meet in the evenings, to socialise, to admire the view, to relax.

As the temperature was still high we decided to head home. And here we learned what it means that traffic light are set with the priority for cars. As the pedestrians are in minority it took ages before we got green light.
What a relief we felt when we go to our hotel!

Bliski Wschód Blog

8 things you need to know going to Qatar

01/11/2014 — by Magdalena Kuźma — 1

Qatar with the capital city of Doha is a small country (11500 km2) in the Persian Gulf. It’s a parliamentary absolute monarchy ruled by Al Thani dynasty. Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has been leading the country since 2013.

Qatar is a muslim country. Its law is based on Sharia and when coming from non-muslim countries one should pay a minute to prepare to the visit.

First of all – the dress code. It’s advisable to dress modestly. It’s particularly directed to women – they don’t need to cover their hair but they are expected to have their arms and legs covered (knees minimum). Transparent materials won’t do, neither will tight dresses. What does it mean in practice? What kind of clothes to pack? Simply take some T-shirts and light materials pants with you. That will let you stay out of trouble and feel comfortable. It’s worth having light long sleeve or shawl on hand, to use for example vhen visiting a mosque, in the mall, restaurant or a hotel (also because of strong air conditioning). Don’t worry you won’t look strange fully dressed in summer. All local women cover their bodies as much as possible, wearing black abayas when leaving their homes. It’s a dress made of different materials, usually lightweight, like chiffon, that protects women’s body from mans eyes. And sun at the same time! Underneath they wear normal clothes, pants, dresses. And when they are back home they just take the abaya off and are just like any european women. As for men – sleeveless shirts and shorts stay home. Qatari men, cover their bodies just like women – they wear long sleeve, ankle-long, white thawbs.

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Knowing local temperatures it’s difficult to imagine wearing long sleeve and pants but in the summertime, believe me, you will stay inside only, where salutary air conditioning will let you survive. It is set to very minimum, that’s why long sleeve might be useful. While we were enjoying livable temeperatures inside, in the middle of September it was 42° outside. Almost unberable. Sun shone right above our heads and there was not even one cloud on the sky. It was hard to stay outside for more than 30 minutes. In the shade. If you dare, do it either early in the morning or late in the evening. During the day remember to wear some kind of hat or anything else that will cover your head and use filters, especialy for white faces! For kids factor 50.
Coming back to musilm contry rules – there is an opinion that public hugging and kissing should be avoided. And that is correct – keep the pessionate kisses for the privacy of your hotel room. What is more Sharia punishes any realations with a person not being your husband or wife and does not allow to stay not married people in one hotel room. That is just to know. In practice nobody will ask you for marriage certificate so if you are not married as long as you stay out of trouble that won’t be an issue.
Another thing is with alcohol. It’s totaly forbiden to be brought to Qatar. Whole luggage of arriving people is being x-rayed at the exit from the airport to check if they are not carrying any alcohol. But its not that there is no alcohol in the country at all. Alcohol is accessible in some hotels and bars, the only thing is that the prices are rather high. Considering the fact that Qatar is a cultural mix and some of the nations coming there to work might not be so strict about alcohol there is one, ONE!, liquor store in Doha. What is more to shop there one needs a licence from employer to buy alcohol and cannot spend more than 20% of their income. So heavy drinkers are definitely not Qatar’s problem.
Above mentioned cultural mix is a fact. As Qataris are rich enough not to work at all, there is a big labor market for imigrants. People from all over the globe come to work for the wealthiest nation (highiest GBP per capita). Among others we will find there imigrants from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal and Indonesia. Mostly for simple jobs like housemaids for ladies and construction workers for men. czy o porblemach tu?
And honestly speaking there are only imigrant workers visible on the streets, it’s only them who walk outside. Streets are rather empty. People just drive from their air-conditioned homes to air-conditioned work places or shopping malls. Public transport in Qatar barely exists as most of people, even imigrants, afford having a car. Gas is so cheap that it’s not a big financial effort to drive a car. Taxi is an alternative way of transportation, however it’s not as simple as in Europe. There is not enough taxis in Doha and they are not easily accesible. Catching a taxi on the street is almost impossible. The best way to ensure the cab is there when you need it is to order it a day in advance! So forget any spontaneous actions short before the flight thinking „I will be back by taxi, its just 15 minutes drive”. Nothing more wrong. You will be surely late and miss your flight. Only around shopping malls is there more cabs but no one will guarantee you would catch one.
Basic free entartainment is to come to the port by the Oyster and Pearl statue and enjoy the view over the city. In the evening tens, maybe even hundreds, of cars are coming to the bay taking their owners to admire the beautiful view of the city skyscrapers.
Cars are parked along the coastline and, when the temperature allows, their owners sit outside chating with their friends. Men of course. Sign of the place is that the car engines are all the time on to keep the inside nice and cool. Some even don’t get out of the cars not to get sweat. That might be not so bad option, firstly – you don’t get sweat, secondly – you don’t breathe that air full of exhausts from all of those cars next to yours. This is the place where workers get relieved after the whole day of work. Only part of them of course, because for many outside jobs night is a normal work time. Construction sites try to work during the day but it’s so hot that it’s dangerous for the people.

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And there is a lot of people working outside. Doha is one big construction site. Looking around you will see cranes in all directions.
As this is one of the fastest developing cities in the world the construction sites are not surprise. Neither is work round the clock. Imagine only that Qatar developes that quickly that developers do not build one building, a residential area but just plan a small city. Such ongoing project – Lusail – will really become a separate city and provide home for over 200 000 pople. That shows the pace of Qatar’s growth. Of course real estate prices follow that pace and reach astronomical figures.
Together with the city grows Qatar ambition. And in 2022 as a first Arab country Qatar will host FIFA World Cup. The facilities are now being built. The main stadium will be in that newly built city Lusail, 23 km from the center of Doha. This new object will have the capacity of more than 80 000 people and airconditioning able to keep 20 degrees Celcius inside using only solar energy. All of the 12 proposed objects are either to be built or reconstructed. The pressure to surprise and amaze the world leads to many organisational problems and controversions. So it turns out that a muslim country in the desire of world wide suceess can allow football fans to drink alcohol. Nobody have seen the World Cup without alcohol so far therfore there will be special alcohol zones arranged for fans. Not so widely discussed but still an issue is Qatar’s declaration of conducting medical tests to reveal homosexuals and ban them from entering the country. Sharia does not accept gay relations therfore Qatar’s law considers them illegal. The most interesting is what kind of tests Qatar authorities want to run!
And the biggest controversion, reffering not only to World Cup preparation but to all developers in the country is modern slavery. The kafala system, work system for imigrants, indeed is very much like slavery. Workers coming to Qatar are dependent to their sponsors – employers who very often take their passports away and pay much less than agreed or pay nothing at all. Without a passport they are not able to leave or get any other job. The only option is to stay and work in tough conditions often beging for food and hoping to get properly paid or get the passport back. It is claimed that hundreds of workers already lost their lives in World Cup preparation. FIFA together with human rights organisations fights such practice. Hopefully they succeed and change local practice, not only for this occasion but as a way of thinking.

Ending with this sad point we don’t want to discourage anybody from visiting Qatar. It’s definitey worth visiting and seeing the old wooden boats in the harbour, visit Museum of Islamic Art, shop at the old souk, step on the artificial island The Pearl and feel that unbearable heat. Best time for Europeans to go there is from December to February.