Desperately Seeking Souks

Today, I went searching for the spice souk ("Souk" means: open air market).  This is what it's supposed to look like:

A wonderful market where everyone says "Hail Fellow, Well Met!" or some such nonsense.  A place that you can smell 5 kilometers away:

At least, that's what I thought it would be like.  Because I believed the literature:  brilliant colors, intoxicating smells, to describe it as "unique" would be an insult.  I believed that I couldn't miss it.
The Souk is located in Deira, which is where I'm staying and is only a couple of kilometers away, so naturally I figured I would walk there.  Who can get lost in a place like this?  Where English is a recognized, if secondary, language, and this souk is apparently immediately recognizable by odor alone.

Let me tell you, friends, that nothing is as easy at it seems.  The walk along Dubai creek was wonderful, and although I was pouring out gallons of sweat while drinking mere quarts of water, after about 1/2 hour I figured I was pretty close to the souk.  I smelled something, and while I wouldn't have called the odor "intoxicating," it was definitely something different.  So, I followed my nose.

Was I ever wrong.

I found the Gold Souk (same idea as the Spice Souk, only with...you know...gold.)

 

I wasn't greeted with any of the niceties I expected (Welcome, Friend et. al.).  I got plenty of offers for necklaces, for imitation Rolex watches, a couple of "marry my daughter"s, and a nasty realization that sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask where I'm trying to go.  However, ever the explorer, and refusing to give way to some silly sense of "Uhhhhhh...where am I again?" I headed back onto the streets.

I saw this hotel, while still trying to find my souk, and finally realized why green and blue are such prevalent colors here.  Green is the color of heaven (and just in case anyone is counting, it has a wavelength of 520-570 nanometers): 

If one only knows the desert, which has a dearth of vegetation, obviously green will mean a haven/heaven.  The lush bounty reflected from the leaves of trees surrounding the blue water in the midst of such a terrible and heartless landscape would symbolize an escape from a constant struggle life is.  Green is rest, green signifies water, green is peace.  Thus, heaven.
If only peace were as easy to find as an oasis in the desert.
Anyhoo, I was still wandering, still trying to find my spice souk.  And I was getting further and further away.  I only know this because I've got a directional gift:  I almost always know where started from, but I never know where I'm going, nor do I know how to get there.  If only I had those green blocks to show me the way.

قد تجد دائما أخضر
(May You Always Find Green)