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| AED100 picture |
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| Camel Market |
Cassandra, Susan, Natalie, Sue, and I had an early breakfast and left for the camel market at 8:30. It isn't too far from the InterContinental and it's right behind the Bawadi Mall that I went to yesterday. We arrive at the entrance to the market and the taxi driver says that we're here. I tell him that we can't be because I don't see any camels. He continued to drive and dropped us off right by a "cage" of camels. We could smell them as soon as we got out of the car. But, we ignored the smell and walked right up to the camel cage and started talking to them and trying to get them to come closer so we could get better pictures. They are so beautiful. I have never seen one up close before and I was very amazed. They have beautiful eyes and long eyelashes. Their coloring is beautiful as well. I thought all camels were dark brown; well I was wrong. Most of the camels we saw today were a very light brown. We saw babies and full grown camels. They keep the babies separated from the adults. Some of the adult camels had their front legs tied together. That is because they are kickers. A camel can kick in any direction (360 degrees). I had no idea that camels kicked in a circle. Kind of impressive. The camels didn't seem to have any problem walking with their legs tied. I guess they learn quickly.
As we're walking, a group of camel traders/sellers come over to us and tell us that we can go in the pen and pet the camels. All of this is in broken English of course. He walked in and got a camel by the rope and motioned for us to come in saying "is ok" over and over. So Susan, Natalie, and I bravely walked up to a camel and held its rope while we had our picture taken. This event cost us AED 100. I couldn't believe it. I knew it would be something, but not 100. Oh well, it was totally worth it. While we were getting our picture taken Cassandra and Sue found out that this camel market is the last in the world and they are slowly fading it out. The camels we got our picture taken with came from Sudan and cost about $12,000. That's a lot for a camel! There was a lot more to see so we left with AED 100 less but a picture to remember our day.
The camel market isn't just camels. There are a lot of goats. Dinner. Not mine of course, but someone's. There were also a lot of shops selling camel accessories (guide ropes, bedding, food, things to put on them...). They were neat to look at, but we didn't buy anything. In addition to the camel stuff we also saw a lot of rugs. This was in a different area that we were going to look at on our way out, but plans changed. We walked to the mall so we could cool off and then we planned on going back out and looking at the other stuff. Carrefour got in the way!
We originally went in Carrefour just for water. It was so hot and we were thirsty! Not that we could drink it in public, but we could go to the bathroom to quench our thirst. We ended up with more than just water. I got my appliances!!! I got a refrigerator, washing machine, and little electric stove/convection oven type thing. Well, I didn't actually get it because I don't have a lot of money but they're going to hold it until Thursday (I should have some money within 36 hours!!:) I am slowly working on getting my apartment furnished. Not that I can put it in the apartment yet because I don't have the keys, but that will change eventually.
Orientation starts again tomorrow! I can't believe school starts next week. I am so ready, but I am so not ready!
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