Dubai Off the Beaten Path Tips by Escadora7

Shopping is one of Dubai's main attractions and there are plenty of malls and shopping-centers around town. Somewhat less known is Karama Market, which is an outdoor-market (avoid the mid-day heat - I almost passed out) that offers everything from clothing, shoes, and any touristy stuff your heart desires for a considerably lower price than the malls.

Karama is also an incredibly good place to find souveniers and touristy knick-knacks - perfect to buy the stuff you have to bring home for friends and family.

I got a pair of sandals, a skirt, and 3 coin-belts, alltogether at around US $ 50.--. As usual, all prices are negotiable, so walk out and the vendors come running after you with a better price.

How to get there:
Al Karama is a district next to Bur Dubai. Just hop into a cab and tell them Karama Market - they'll get you there. (Near Za'abeel Road and Al Adhid Road, if you want to walk there.)

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... with a camera that is.

If you drive out of the city a little, you will notice nothing but desert - and strangely enough, there are fences on both sides of the road that separate the street from the desert. This is to protect both wild and domesticated camels from getting hit by a car, as much as it protects drivers from hitting a camel. Should you hit a domesticated camel, you will have to pay bloodmoney to the owner. The fences have their purpose...

We were a little outside of Dubai when we encountered the first camels. I didn't even see them, but one of our friends had a keener eye - yes it is a bit hard to see a sand-colored camel in the midst of nothing but sand-colored sand! So we stopped and on foot went onto our mini-photo-safari. We got all the way to the fence until the dad-camels took off. (We suppose thaqt was to get help from other camels, not of fear - dad wouldn't be a coward, now would he?) The other 2 didn't care, even when our friend Dan slipped under the fence to get a closer picture of them (not sure if that is legal or not). Dan got pretty close to them until I started yelling at him to not go any closer - they do have big teeth!

Just a word of warning: when you are in the mid-day sun in the desert in August - wear closed shoes. It is incredibly how extremely hot that sand gets. Just a few grains of sand slipping into the sandals and your toes get boiled and blistered!

:-D

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