Scarab beetle

Answer to a question

Pictures of the mussel dinner show some of us imbibing alcohol, which leads to the question of is it legal and how does that fit with this being an Islamic country? Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.

I believe each Emirate has it’s own set of regulations regarding alcohol. In Dubai, only particular restaurants are licensed to sell alcohol. Alcohol in restaurants tends to be quite expensive. If an individual wishes to purchase alcohol in bottles for home consumption, an alcohol license is required. One needs to have a permission letter from their visa sponsor, in my case my employer, and some other paperwork. There is a limit on how much one can buy per month (a currency amount). Depending on what you buy, it can be quite inexpensive by the bottle. Liquor stores are very low key and few in number. You have to know the name of the shop (MMI or Africa & Eastern) because there will be no mention of liquor in the signage and no windows, let alone window displays.

As for Muslims, drinking is considered wrong, but is a matter of individual conscience. In fact, that evening two men, who by their dress and appearance, seemed to be Emirati came into the bar. I did not check to see exactly what they were drinking and can’t assume it was alcohol, but they were clearly socializing with other drinkers. There were those in our group who are Muslim and were drinking non-alcoholic drinks. We may also have Twitter friends who would have liked to have come, but chose not to do to the location being a bar. It’s all about personal choice.

That being said, drunk driving is another matter. Driving under the influence results in a jail term and hefty fine. I’m not sure if being deported after the first two punishments is a given, but it is certainly a possibility. According to “the grapevine,” there is a zero tolerance rule, so if you are involved in a traffic violation and found to have any blood alcohol level, punishment applies. I have yet to find this in writing from a reputable source, so cannot state that with certainty. The grapevine here tends to say a lot of things that are not necessarily true.

There certainly are countries which are more strict on issues related to Islamic religious practices and requirements. Dubai would be considered liberal by many and conservative by others, but there are still things that remind us we are living in a different world. Recently, a man walked into a mosque here and declared himself to be Jesus. When someone in America walks into a church and declares himself to be Jesus, it is generally recognized that he is probably mentally ill and in need of care. He may be arrested for disruptive behavior, if he is physically threatening, but, generally, he is more likely to be committed for psychiatric evaluation than to be charged with a crime. Here, the man has been arrested and is being questioned (and may be charged) for having offended a religion. This is a punishable offense. Mental illness still has some stigma attached to it here, although there is increasing awareness of other psychological conditions like autism, so there may be hope for acknowledgment of depression, etc., in the future.

Just another day in Dubai

Just another day in Dubai – a guy pushing a cart down a major thoroughfare and jay walkers to boot. (We had just jay walked ourselves on our way to the wrestling.)

Kushti Wrestling

We went to the Kushti wrestling again this afternoon (actually it happens just before sundown). The master of ceremonies/referee gets things started.

The wrestlers are volunteers from the audience. There are no dressing rooms, so they change clothes right on the spot.

They wrestle. We don’t know what the rules are, but were told after that it is decided by pinning the opponents back to the ground. (no three second count)

Someone wins (although the third match was a draw)

The winner makes the rounds of crowd who give him money. This is the only “prize” they receive.We drew a bit of a crowd ourselves afterward. One of our friends knew enough of the language to ask a few questions.

Daddybird, the influencer

According to Steve Vaile on his Social Media Middle East blog, Daddybird is #10 of the 15 most influential Dubai Twitterers. [Although, if this blog (Living the Travel Channel) is a factor, I have to take some of the credit for that, since of the 300 posts so far, Daddybird has authored around 5. (I didn't go back and do an exact count.)]

He tweets about tea, our cats, Kushti wrestling, T-shirts gone wrong, great food, bad phone service, and whatever else occurs to him. He meets people who say “hey, we’ve been tweeting about your cats!” He’s leading an expedition this Friday to the wrestling. He’s advising Wildpeeta on the fine tuning of their brownies and jam. He’s a mover and a shaker. When I meet people, they say “you don’t tweet much.” I just say, “I’m with Daddybird.”

If only he could influence Oliver, we’d have it made.

Signs ‘n Stuff

My office has two doors. One leads out into the periodicals room and this is the door that is most frequently used. The other leads to a stairwell that is also the emergency exit. This door is always open, but posted on the back of it is the above sign.

Yes, it is actually called Safestway and it’s logo is below. (For those not in the U.S., there is an American grocery chain called Safeway and their logo is a big red S in a white square.)

All People Coffee and Cafeteria Shop

Konfidential Cuisine Restaurant

We’d tell you what’s on the menu, but it’s hush, hush.

More Manga Sushi

Here are two news articles about Manga Sushi (five days apart and in the same newspaper – what’s that about? Slow news day?)

Sushi You – Khaleejtimes August 7, 2009

Emirati Serves Up a Taste of Japan – Khaleejtimes August 2, 2009

In a world of foreign franchises, it is nice to see a locally owned restaurant with a unique flavor. (Actually, if you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know that prefer to eat at locally owned restaurants with unique flavor, as a rule. I didn’t mean to imply this was the only one. Sushi is unique in the locally owned realm, however. Some restaurants seem new to us, but they are just franchises from other countries. )

Bu Qtair

Last week we met up with friends and completely new people we’ve never met before at Bu Qtair Cafeteria for lovely fried fish. There were about 18 people in our group. Tom Gara and Rami were having some kind of private hat contest. Tom is sporting a red fez these days. Rami wore a Russian army cap. Rami won the contest. Daddybird could have blown them both out of the water with his Viking hat, had he known. Rami is collecting money to pay for the meal, but it looks more like a Russian black market deal going down.

You might remember Bu Qtair from a post last June – http://livingthetravelchannel.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/buqtair/

Bookstore

One thing that has been rare, until recently, in Dubai is good book stores. There are a few used bookstores, small Arabic book stores here and there, and one chain of stores that have new English books as well as some Arabic. But, when Dubai Mall opened so did Book World by Kinokuniya. It is HUGE. They have books on everything. I was able to get a couple of books on embroidery and beading. They have loads of English books, but also French, German, Japanese, etc. They have a large section of comic books & manga. I ventured into the language section and found a book on beginning Cherokee. How thorough is that?

Beginning Cherokee

Scary

When I first walked into the restroom, these sinks scared me. For a brief moment, I thought they were some strange urinals or toilets. Later, I asked Daddybird what he thought of the sinks and he had the same reaction.