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it with a Souvenir! Everybody takes a little something back home with them when they return
from a trip to an exotic land. Filled with the bounty of the Arabian nights legends, Dubai
fits the exotic  bill
perfectly. Although it has opened its doors to modernism, the city is, essentially,
steeped in the rich hospitable traditions of the Arab world. And out of that traditional
cauldron comes a gamut of native goods that are, at once, elegant, exotic, useful and make
for fantastic souvenirs.
The coffee pot, a symbol of Arab hospitality, is
an integral part of the native home and can be bought off the shelf. Available in
different sizes, you could get yourself one as tiny as a pendant or one large enough to
pour out a few cups of coffee for visitors. Most of all, if your friend has a coffee pot,
you can be sure she'll invite you in for a cuppa.
I'd recommend a khanjar for your country cousin. These short curved knives in elaborately
wrought sheaths are certainly more exotic than a Swiss knife.
Traditional
Bedouin jewellery (all of it, metal) is cool, elegant and gels well with a lot of modern
casual wear. This jewellery would be a much better bet than oxidised junk.
The list of souvenirs you could buy here fills
the shelves of little shops in Dubai. Beautiful glass jars with coloured sand tell tales
of the desert. It is just as beautiful to watch an artist at work -- twirling the glass to
a certain angle, tweaking the sand just right and dropping in the right amount of brown to
add a hump to a camel before giving the final touches and sealing off the top of the jar.
Other interesting buys would be Dhows (traditional wooden boats), ancient rifles,
miniatures of camels in wood and brass, and colourful worry beads.
In the Middle East,
Arab musk and Oriental perfumes are so popular that there are whole shops devoted purely
to selling these, available in varying degrees of purity, price and fragrance. These
perfumes make excellent gifts for those with an acquired taste for them.
There is, however, one purchase that nobody ever
regrets - Gold. Visitors do not leave Dubai without buying gold and no place offers as
wide a variety and as large a spread of designs as the Gold Souq, a commune of gold
sellers from different lands gathered together under one roof to cater to a cosmopolitan
populace.
These are tangible gifts you can take home with
you. There are others that will brighten up your face when you think about the fun you had; like a trip to
the desert; complete with a desert safari, sand surfing, belly dancing and Bedouin food.
Tour operators would be able to arrange a trip for you to the best that the desert has to
offer.
Most shopping malls have retail outlets that sell
traditional products that range from Arab perfumes to wood, metal and fabric ware. Don't
forget to take home a souvenir and a tan. Happy Shopping!
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