With Dubai Shopping Festival in full swing, reporter Kelly Crane discovers a world of wonder in Al Seef Street
Look further than the shopping and you'll realise the Dubai Shopping Festival is creating the atmosphere it promised.
Organisers claim the 38-day extravaganza will live up to its motto of "One world, One family, One festival".
Head to Al Seef Street from 6pm daily and the proof is there before you.
The Dubai Night Souk, also called the World of Bazaars, is a permanent venue and runs daily from 6pm to 3am until February 24.
The concept of the World of Bazaars showcases unique developments of Islamic culture of different periods in history, through an ambience of Khan Al Khalili in Cairo to Shah Souk in Isfahan to the Al Madina Souk, with workshops on crafting, painting, carpet weaving, copper engraving and many more.
It's not just about shopping, but about making friends, meeting people and enjoying the entertainment.
Avril Bonner, 48, a Dubai resident for eight years, enjoyed a break from her shopping to watch a Lebanese magician entertain the crowds.
She said: "There is a wonderful atmosphere down here at Al Seef Street. It is lovely to break the shopping up with some world-class entertainment."
The Night Souk has a wonderful way of uniting people who have travelled from all over the world to be a part of DSF.
You see it in the jokes and conversation shared between people from different countries, it's in the friendly banter, in the faces of the children as they watch the street performers and, most of all, it's the smiles from the hundreds of people who arrive each night.
OK, so it took me 90 minutes to get there and a further 20 minutes to park, but it was all worth it in the end.
The Night Souk stretches for almost 3km along the Dubai Creek and is a maze of bargains, performing artistes, fun fairs and tradition.
It's easy to get lost in the atmosphere among the vendors from the Middle East who attempt to grab your attention as you pass by.
But, somehow, the need for conversation seems not only about a sale.Imran, a honey seller from Yemen, explained. He said: "I cannot lie, of course I want to make a sale, after all I am a businessman. But there is much more to it than that.
The Dubai Shopping Festival is a very unique experience for me and I am genuinely interested in meeting and speaking to people from all over the world. I want them to understand what I do.
"Many people from this part of the world and the Western world don't appreciate that we work with our hands to produce something they buy on the shelf of a supermarket. This skill and product is my livelihood - it puts food on the table for me and my family at home.
"So maybe if you pass by a stall and the holder wants to say 'hi', just bear in mind we are people too and want to get know others from the world in which we all share."
