...Of Bars and Bargains

The next day was the day of several great battles, all fought nobly by Friedmans on one side and arabic shopowners on the other; all ended with smiles and handshakes, and each team probably covertly high-fived each other afterwards. What matters is that everybody thinks they won - on one hand, we paid a great deal less than expected on certified and authentic products, and concurrently, the shopowners made their profit, else they wouldn't have closed the deal.

Ahh, the lovely smell of commerce in the morning!

So we nabbed our hookah, we snatched our carpets, and we just may have found each other some birthday and first anniversary presents in the Gold Souq. We also consigned a shipping company to fly much of our luggage (mostly carpets and Kilimanjaro equipment) to the MSP airport, so now our two bags (and our backs) are breathing easily. For a short while, at least, we'll be traveling light and luxuriously.

So, time for a relaxing drink in Dubai, right? Wrong.

We've learned that Dubai is much more of a "smoke 'em if you got 'em" city than a "round of beers for my friends" city. People sit at "bars" and drink teas and fruit juices, while sucking down Marlboro Reds. The only place to get a bucket-o-suds is at a hotel bar or at the airport's duty free shops.

We hear Cairo has some distinctive local beers and wine, so until then, it's relaxing by the pool with a plastic bottle of the cleanest, quaffable, tap water we've seen in over a month.

Sold. Wrap it up - we'll take it.