Sharjah Blue Souk

When J's kids come into town, the Gameboy-mad elder insists that we take him to the Blue Souk in Sharjah to spend interminable hours scouring every electronics shop for games. Then he has to price them in every shop to make sure that he's getting the best deal. I think that we're going to limit him to less than 40mins from now on - it's an agonising process!

The Blue Souk is fun with overseas visitors - but be warned, they observe the 1pm closing, so the best time to go is about 10am - except during Ramadan when it's anyone's guess as to when it will be open!

Two parallel buildings connected by overhead walkways. Upstairs the shops are mostly filled with carpets and the walkways are lined with souvenir stalls. On the ground floors, there are predominantly jewellers, boutiques and electronic shops.

We usually combine the Blue Souk visit with a trip to the Sharjah Arabian Wildlife Center, before returning home with tired and happy visitors who are always thrilled to see a little more of the UAE than the construction.

It ain't half hot, Mum

J’s boys have been with us for the past 10 days over spring vacation, and we’ve (well, mostly J) been run ragged taking them to places in an effort to keep them amused – Khasab for the dhow ride; MOE for the snow; Ibn Battuta for pizza and the movies; Wild Wadi for the fake tattoos. In between, they’ve been swimming in the apartment pool, and yesterday morning we took them fishing under the marina bridge. The first time fishing for them, and it was a success – one little fish caught and then let go!

They’ve gone home now, and the apartment is silent without the kids' noises. No PC/Gameboy sounds generated by the older one, and no Madagascar on DVD for the younger for the hundredth time, and no "Mutti, Mutti, Mutti" (German for mum) every 5 seconds!

This is one of my favourite images of the two of them and was taken in the height of summer last year.

On the way to the Arabian Wildlife Center in Sharjah, we went offroad to show them the desert. More like 50m off the tarseal really!

Excitedly they exited the car to run up the small sand dune, only to come to a screaming stop as they realised that the sand trickling into their sandals was a gazillion degrees and their feet were burning. Punctuated with cries of pain, the race back was done in half the time, as J and I chuckled sadistically in the cool confines of the Honda!

See you next time, boys. Wir lieben euch!

No children, animals or parents were harmed during the making of this vacation, but the sanity of the adults was severely tested.