Hey All, Before Ramadan ends this week I wanted to just tell you all about my first weeks of Ramadan in Dubai. As this blog talks a lot about East and West, this is the one thing I wanted to share with my readers in the Western part of the world. Before I moved to Dubai I had never experienced Ramadan in a Middle Eastern country. Well, my first Ramadan was in winter of Dubai and was actually quite cold in the evenings much different to this time round. It was extremely hot and I was in awe of my friends and family who were fasting in heats of 40-45oc for long hours. Aside from the fasting, Muslims who are participating in Ramadan are able to spend more time with family and friends as well as spend time in prayer and deepening their spiritual enlightenment. For me, in a household where one member of the family is fasting; my Dad, its a time for us to admire his strength during this challenging month and to spend time with friends and enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of Ramadan. Dad and I were actually home alone together so I enjoyed cooking for Dad and friends, my key dish this Ramadan and a cooking challenge was Lamb Tagine receipe is here, I hear everyone enjoyed the food…… phew! I also spent time catching up on emails that were long over due and reading my magazines out by the pool in the evenings.
The pictures above show some highlights of Ramadan tents in the One and Only Royal Mirage in Dubai (my favourite hotel as you know from here). One of the favourite things to do in the evenings is to meet with friends at the many tents around the city. My favourite tent was and is always the one at Royal Mirage, gorgeous tent colours with wonderful music and of course the best highlight, Shisha. You can see the from the photos the wonderful tent that has been up at the Royal Mirage and if your in Dubai I can highly advise visiting this gorgeous tent.
Another favourite thing we enjoyed this Ramadan was Freej, I wrote all about the wonderful creative mind behind Freej earlier in Ramadan and I can tell you that the latest series was just amazing with fantastic animation and carefully selected stories for each episode. Once the series is released on DVD with subtitles I’ll be sure to let you know.
As we have reached the end of Ramadan the shopping craziness begins with people buying gifts and new clothes, so on that fashion note here are my go to places for your shopping:
Malaak: For your beautifully designed Abaya, Kaftan and Turban essentials
Liliaya: Their online store currently has some of their wonderful pieces on sale
OTT: Gorgeous Kaftans and items for home are now for sale in selected boutiques
Butik.ae: The Butik is the go-to place for gorgeous one-off pieces
S*uce Gifts have a great money pouch for you to keep all your Eid money in or to gift to another
I hope this has given you all an insight into the wonderful atmosphere that Ramadan creates of spending time with love ones and sending gifts to those that you may not see often but, still are dear enough to you to think of at the special time of year. As I sign off I hope you have all had a wonderful Ramadan and Eid Mubarak to you for the end of the week.
What do you think is special about Ramadan?
Ciao for now
Sojustnice 