Eid Murbach

Ramadan finishes this Sunday, therefore Sunday , Monday and Tuesday are holidays, Eid Murbach. Ramadan is very much like our Christmas, in that families gather, share meals, and give gifts. Families gather from all over and have special meals, dining on different and fancy foods. The only bit that is not similar to NZ is that they fast during the day and abstain from all pleasures during daylight, eg eating drinking, smoking, alcohol, etc. Image our Xmas with fasting during daylight? Tonight being the start of the weekend families are out in the malls buying large quantities of food. Parking is a logistics nightmare. It's a bit driving around Westfield Mall on Boxing Day looking for a park. The whole problem is compounded by the fact Eirates seem to be a law unto themselves. They park outside a shop, honk their horn and someone from the shop rushes out and sees to their needs. Double parking compounds the traffic issues. I foolishly went into the city around 10:00 pm tonight and parked by KFC. Yes we have KFC. However these 4 young Emirate boys were arriving outside the tobacconists next door, honking and waiting for cigarettes to be bought to their car. Smoking is a huge thing here in the Middle East.Men smoke like chimneys. These young lads were intrigued I was photographing wound down their window and asked if I wanted to take their photo. They poised, I abliged, about the same time the tobacconist arrived. You guessed it, cigarettes are more important than having your photo taken. As a corollary the hotel mini bars include the usual and cigarettes.