Wonderful weekends

This weekend I'm having one of the times I love best about living Dubai. Last night, Skip and I went out to dinner with some people from his work. We ventured into the old part of town and went to a Pakistani/Afghani restaurant. It was bustling with Pakistani families as we stepped in so we knew it was going to be good.

We ate a platter of BBQ'd meats – a whole lamb shoulder, fish, chicken, mutton, prawns – on a bed of wild rice with pistachios, almonds and raisins. Chutneys and bread on the side of course. We gorged ourselves and washed it down with fresh lime and mint juice. As we licked the juices from our elbows we chatted about everything from Aussie Rules to daily life in Beirut to a confused conversation about Turkey (the bird and the place).

That gave us enough of a break to go in for dessert. I didn't know any of the names but our host informed us there was sugar and milk; deep fried sugar in ghee and sugar and wheat. Now sliding into a diabetic coma, we paid up a pittance and then stepped into the warm night air. Cars and horns and people heading out to the mall or to play pool or a late night feed.

The temperature has dropped this week hitting a balmy 37 most days and 28-29 in the evenings. This is a blessed relief from the scorching summer heat and a sign that winter is on its way. As we stood outside of the restaurant an almost, almost cool breeze blew, so we paused a millisecond before hailing a cab.

This morning we rolled out of bed (our bellies still full from our feast the night before) and headed for Safa Park (I've written about this 64 hectare park in the middle of Dubai before). The kids rode their bikes in the cool of the early morning and we let our toes stretch in the soft grass.

You'd be forgiven for forgetting we are in the desert some days. 

After about an hour or so, we headed to the beach and rinsed the sweat off in the sea water under the sail of the Burj al Arab. The girls surfed on their boogie boards while Darbs jumped over the waves.

Best of we're not even halfway through the first day of the weekend. There's still plenty of fun ahead hopefully. A BBQ with friends this afternoon and then tomorrow catching up with some Aussie friends who are stopping over on their way to Europe.