Dubai's Dhows

In afterthought, the reference to the tiny dhow seems somehow mocking. The only dhows on Dubai Creek these days take tourists on one-hour pleasure cruises.

Ever since Germaine Greer's article in guardian.co.uk, I have been itching to go down to the Dhow Wharf at Dubai creek and have a first hand view of what exactly the situation is.

So I took some time off and went down to the creek side to have a look at the dhows and their business. The place looked like it was business as usual. Lots of cartons of stock waiting on the banks to be loaded onto the dhows. The loaders were hurrying around at a brisk pace while a few were shouting out orders.

I asked a few of the businessmen around the place about their business but they couldn't follow me. I later understood that they spoke Farsi only.

Barclay's Dubai Tennis Championships

Spent most of friday at the Dubai Tennis Championships and watched the men's semi finals. The first match between Djokovic and Simon was a huge thriller going down to the wire. The match was probably even closer than what the score of 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 suggests. But I am still putting my money on Djokovic winning the finals today.

The second semi final match between David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet was too one sided to fit a semi final standard. David was in control from the word go.

Unfortunately I have not been able to get tickets to the finals so will be watching it on the television.

Dubai Pet Show

Just got back from a fun day at the Pedigree and Whiskas Dubai Pet Show at Dubai Festival City. It was a riot of color with a wide variety of dogs out in their best outfits. Some of them wore bandanas while others were comfortable in light T shirts. The kids has loads of fun and for many of them this may have been a first time experience of some many types of dogs.

Besides the general parades, the police department put up a super show demonstrating the skills of the canine department including detection of narcotics and explosives and crowd control. Also around were Dubai's first two women police dog handlers, Fatima Abdulla and Badria Saleh who impressed the audience with their skills.