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Published: September 7th 2011
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After a long flight arrived Dubai around 05;00 am we seemed to have disembarked miles from the terminal and were bussed back it was a very warm and humid 38' deg or so.
Customs and immigration went well and before too long we were in the mini van and dropped of at our hotel the Rolla Residence in the Bur Dubai district of the city close to the older trading areas around "The Creek". We were both tired so decided a short nap was in order. The air conditioning fools you into believing that the 42' deg outside shouldnt be a problem.
With not that great a map we decided to walk to the Creek area and get used to this warm moist air.
Hopping from bus shelter to bus shelter (which are air conditioned) after about 30 mins we realised we were travelling in the opposite direction to what we should be. Back along Mankhool Rd again towards the Creek we eventually arrived, exhausted from the heat. As it was the middle of the day there was not much happening on the river, most of the Abra boats were tied up.
A wander through the Textile Souk and
our first experience of the touts. Our Kiwi nature makes it hard to say no without feeling you are hurting their feelings, we managed to survive the experience without a single Dirham leaving our pockets. But it did give us a taste of the area and we were back there later that night for a cruise on the creek in a Dhow, these are ancient old vessels that used to trade from Dubai around the Gulf of Oman, some still do even as far away as Somalia , Pakistan and India, it is so hard to believe that these ancient craft are sea worthy enought to travel this distance. Ours had been converted for passengers and we enjoyed a Middle Eastern Smorgasbord as we motored down the creek . The trip home included entertainment onboard.
The following day, Monday we visited the Gold Souk, the Spice Market and the Dhow Wharfage area. The Gold Souk was an amazing experience, once again the touts spot you as a Kiwi and engage you in conversation, some know about the All Blacks and wished us luck in the RWC finals saying that lovely Arabic saying of Inshallah (God be willing)
The thing
that amazed us was how they are not offended at you saying no, even after they have given you samples of food. One young guy had us sampling these lovely chocolate dipped, almond stuffed dates, they were yummy but we decided not too buy as they would have melted in our backpack at 42" deg.
The wharfage area was fascinating, these 100 year old Dhow's were being loaded, there were large cartons containing fridges, heaps of bulk fabric and we even spotted a wheelchair stowed up on the cabin roof, the whole loading system looked quite insecure and I wondered if any was ever lost overboard at sea. Later this evenining we are off on a Desert Safari 4WD excursion, more on that soon
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kels
non-member comment
Yay, you arrived safetly, looks like ur having heaps of fun. Don't forget to keep up ur water intake as heat stroke is a wicked holiday killer. Looking forward to your next entry. Xx