DragonMart in Dubai

We had a hilarious adventure yesterday.

Backstory: Ben has a remote-control truck that Henry broke a part on by smacking it into a lightpost at 20 mph and so we have been scouring all the hobby stores in AD to no avail. Our last hope was this place called DragonMart in Dubai which was supposed to have a store that sells his truck brand.

We had heard recommendations to visit this DragonMart ("You can buy anything there -- cheap!") and so we drove there expecting it to be a mall of Chinese import stores. The newly opened DragonMart2 is just another giant mall here, except full of Chinese import stores that don't carry Ben's replacement part. BUT the original DragonMart, just across the road, is another adventure. It's a maze of little Chinese Import kiosks. We had a blast checking out the knock-offs.

One of the most popular are Legos. Except they are Lepins. Apart from the names, almost everything on the box is a direct rip-off from Lego. Star Wars becomes "STAR WNRS", or "STAR PLAN". Friends becomes "Friend", Ninjago is "Ninjag" but all the graphics are exactly the same. It's pretty amazing how blatant the copyright infringement is. The kids' favorite was (from lego Frozen) "Froze: Electric Princess Series, Do Not Fear To Conquer the Frost Snow".

There are tons of toy and clothing stores and homegoods and a whole wing devoted to building materials. So much stuff, so many people.

This shirt is hilarious. "DONT SPEAK LOUDLI YOU SHUT UP TOO NOH SHUTTO OFF!"

 There was a doll for sale: "This doll is fashion girl. She will bring you the infinite happy".
There are myriads of these cheap knock-offs everywhere, it was fun to just laugh at the translation. Although their English is way better than anything I can attempt in Arabic. Learning a whole new alphabet before we can even start learning a different grammar and vocabulary is a lot of work. Props to the translator dudes. Even so "Shutto Off!" is a new catchphrase in our house.

We took a lunch break and got a pizza. Not sure if this is a Chinese thing, but it was served with ketchup! Not even Ben goes so far as ketchup on pizza. For dessert we found a McDonalds which is good news because the McD's here sell ice cream cones for 1 aed! That's like 27 cents US! We sat in the food court and attempted to do school for a while. Ice Cream is a great reward for finishing your Latin quiz!

After a few hours of wandering around all the stuff, we DID find a store that carried Ben's part, (after trying 5 others that all recommended us somewhere different) but it was about 10 bucks for an ounce of plastic. Henry only bought it because we couldn't find it anywhere else and was still super relieved to find a store that actually carried it.  He fixed Ben's truck when we got home and it fit and worked perfectly, which was a pleasant surprise!

Although we escaped DragonMart without buying anything more than that, the kids all found new treasures they want to save up for. Like a 60mph rc car that we saw being tested. The guy driving it stood on it and it was fine! We are all in favor of indestructible toys now! So while they'll be hard at work on chores for a long while, earning their dirhams, I just hope they are not looking for the infinite happy in some thing.

Shopping is definitely not my favorite. Not only is everything so much more expensive here (except for McD ice cream cones!), but we also don't know where anything is. Like I need to get new wiper blades on the truck right now, but the service stations don't carry them and I don't know where does. I don't know how to just go and get wiper blades. Also, I can't help but think that everything we bring into the house will, at the end of this adventure, need to go out. And if buying stuff used is a pain, I am having nightmares about selling stuff. It's amazing how little in life are actual necessities when, at the end of the adventure, you have to fit it into a suitcase or never see it again. Which is in contrast to the culture here in which many events take place in malls. There are dozens of huge shopping/entertainment complexes frequently holding events. Which makes sense because it is currently too hot outside to breathe, so who wants to be anywhere but inside climate-controlled mecca of consumerism and food. And there is so much neat stuff! 

But there's more to this. I feel like, as a white westerner, I am an easy target. I don't know how this place works. I don't know what is a reasonable price for anything. There is a history here of westerners being people of means and lots of disposable income. But while those days are ending and housing allowances are shrinking I still feel like an easy target. So I never come away from a transaction feeling good. Either I feel like I insulted the guy just trying to make a living or I got ripped off. It's easier to just stay home and ignore the flapping wiper blades. It will be 6 months before we see any rain anyway.

But then might we miss out on the cheap ice cream cones? I know:

They're all over here! Do you think they deliver ice cream cones?