After going through every shop in the textile souk (in Day 3 Part 1), checking the colorful shawls, textiles and shoes, we took an Abra back to the hotel. By the time we reached the other side of the creek, I had terrible headache. It’s pretty warm (hot!) today at temperatures nearing 30C. It’s supposed to be winter!

I had to go home to get my meds and spent an adequate time at the toilet throwing up. The headache was that bad. I have noticed lately that when I go out for more than two hours, my migraine attempts to kill me. Tonight, we have a scheduled Dhow Cruise that I couldn’t miss (for my friend) so my mom, my lifesaver, massaged my neck, shoulders and head and gave me meds and a hot tea. In less than an hour, I was half ok.

A Dhow Dinner Cruise is a two-hour cruise of Dubai creek with buffet dinner (a mixture of Arabic, Indian, English and American cuisine) and live entertainment. It is also a great way to see the vibrant city at night.

A view of the dhows at night:

The dhow cruise includes live music and singing and Pristine really, really like these kind of things. I made an additional reservation for one child earlier that day because I thought she will really like my surprise. We had been in a dhow cruise before and she loved the singer, even requested her to sing “Dancing queen”. You could just imagine how happy she was when she heard that song being sung to her, live.

Pristine and I got on a taxi and I asked her if I could close my eyes until we get to the hotel because I am sick. She told me, “just close your eyes mom, I’ll tell you when the taxi stops.” I really love my travel partner.

The driver seemed to not know the way (not a big surprise here in Dubai, really) so I whispered to Pristine to tell the driver to take us to Baniyas Road, Riviera Hotel, Dubai creek in Deira. She repeated that same sentence to the driver but in a bigger, affirmative voice. We arrived safe and sound.

The driver picked the three of us (me, Pristine and my friend) up (pickup and dropoff is included in the cost) and took us to the harbor. When the boat departed at 8:30 pm, Pristine started looking for the singer. My friend was also excited with the whole thing but there was no singer, only music was played in the background. What happened? I asked the owner/operator of the tour and she said, it’s the Islamic Holiday (Dec. 28, for year 2008 – the date moves 10 days earlier every year) so, live music is prohibited.

WHAT!!?? I felt a headache coming back.

From the look of my daughter’s clearly disappointed face, I could’ve taken the microphone and sang for her but I had to spare the other tourists from bringing back home bad memories so I didn’t. She was really sad there’s no singing tonight and what a bad timing for my friend and for the tourists!

So after having dinner, we went to the upper open deck and watched the lights of Dubai at night instead. The air was cold but the sights were worth it.

This is the Bur Dubai side of the creek with enchanting lights. These building are part of what remains of the old Dubai, before the skyscrapers came into picture.

Another dhow carrying tourists and diners.

A mosque along the creek at night:

After a while, Pristine’s mood lightened up. She was amazed to see the lights and even posed for me.

We were back to the hotel at 10 pm. My mother was expecting me to return Pristine home but I wasn’t able to do so. I can’t sleep without my daughter. Talk about adult separation anxiety and the wonders of being a mom – when I looked forward to the day I’ll be able to have the freedom to sleep as long as I can, to have a nice bed all to myself, here I am bringing my daughter to the hotel room. This was the night I found out how sleeping is almost impossible if you’re sharing a single bed with a five year old. I must have had kick marks all over my body the morning after.

Day 4 takes us to the newly opened Dubai Mall and my friend’s neck hurt when looking up the now 780 meters tall Burj Dubai.