Shopping Antiques in Dubai
Just got back to Moscow from an absolutely amazing trip to Dubai. I have been to this city five years ago, but because I was on a business trip I didn’t have opportunity to really discover it, so this time I made up leeway.
Everybody knows that Dubai is famous for shopping, huge skyscrapers (including the tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa), lots of entertainment activities and its beaches. One thing is for sure: you will never get bored in this city…
As usually the most interesting part for me was to discover something authentic, historical. It’s quite hard to do that in a city that was built only several decades ago. When I told to my friend from Dubai that I would like to buy some vintage or antique souvenirs, he suggested that we go to the Global Village. It is located on the suburb of the city and is basically a huge open air marketplace with sellers from all over the world.
We started from the Saudi Arabian Stand which was just right next to the entrance. Here is what we saw:
Incenses of all kind are an important part of Arabic culture. This wood is called Oud or Agarwood and is valued for its intense and distinctive aroma:
Oud is used for perfume production but can be also burnt in an incense burner:
In UAE pavilion there was a lot of fake gold:
spices and nuts:
and these hand woven baskets from natural fibres:
Turkish tent was the most  colourful and vibrant and reminded me of bustling bazaars in Istanbul:
Moroccan shops just took my breath away with this gorgeous hand carved wooden furniture, intricate brass lamps and colourful vases (when I saw all this I promised to myself that my next trip will be Morocco):
Now it was time to have a bite – here we had a chance to try cuisines from all over the world:
After a short break we continued our tour and Afghanistan was our next stop. No surprise, the Afghan carpets were the main products for sale here:
My favourite pavilion was the one from Yemen, where I discovered an amazing shop selling very rare antique and vintage items:
So I have purchased these curious antiques for my boutique:
Copper incense burner of the 19th century with a beautiful patina to show off its age:
Brass betel nut cutter with intricate ornament (circa 18th century). Betel chewing is a common habit in Southeast Asian countries and India, which has an addictive psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing effects.
Finally, I have purchased this beautiful antique brass cabinet padlock from Yemen, XIX century in the shape of a bull. It has an original flat key and it is still in working order. When you push the key in, it moves the inner chamber that will then push the tail out. To lock it all you need to do is push the tail back into the hole. This lock will add a little bit of Oriental culture to any home decor.
