Dubai Creek & Souqs

Having spent the whole morning at Jumeirah, we went to Dubai Mall for lunch.


En route, we passed by many modern towering skyscrapers along the Sheikh Zayed Road. These buildings were non-existent merely a decade ago. Imagine the billions of dollar that have been spent by the Emirates state to put Dubai on world map.


That's the newly-opened indoor aquarium at Dubai Mall.


Burj Dubai, is undoubtly the tallest structure in the world by all records. Standing majestically at over 800m, Burj Dubai is almost twice as high as the 452m Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. I felt so minute standing at the base of the megastructure.


The Gold Souq of Deira Dubai. This's bizarre; basically most of the shops lining the street were selling gold, 22ct gold!


We strolled around the area, gold shop upon gold shop. I have never seen so much gold in my life, until as if they were unreal. ;)


Abra, being used as water taxi to ferry people across the river of Dubai Creek. This form of transport was very cheap, AED1 one way!




Emirati costumes. In fact, there were still many locals wearing these costumes at the streets. All of the staffs at the airport were wearing these costumes too.


We thought of seeing the city from another perspective - from the river. No other tourist to share with us, we hired a private abra for an hour river cruise at Dubai Creek. Emiratis are adamant. I bargained for about 10 min and was only able to reduce AED10 to AED90 for the private cruise. Well, thinking it was less than €10 per person, we took the deal. :p


Dubai Creek is home to the historic sea port of Dubai, or Dhow Wharf as it's being called. Dhow is a traditional Arab sailing vessel with lateen sails. Many dhows today still dock at Dubai Creek and the wharfs are still bustling with activities.




Silhouette of the Burj Dubai and the Emirates Towers during sunset.


Dhow Wharf.


The sceneries along Dubai Creek were indeed picturesque. With cold breeze bashing against your faces as the abra cruised, it's just so relaxing. :)


He's our captain onboard - the cool man who refused to give me further discount! Darn him!






The sunset was warm and glorious. This is my favourite photo taken during the trip.


After the cruise, we proceeded to the Bur Dubai Souq. We were rather tired and thus just walked around the souq briefly before heading to our last destination of the day.


Bastakiya District. It's home to many reconstructed buildings in traditional styles - with the Dubai Mosque looming in the background.


Bastakiya also houses some nice museums and galleries. It was getting late and some of the museums were closing during our visit.


Traditional wind towers.

We decided to call it a day. I'd love to visit the Arabian Peninsula again, and probably head to the dessert for sand activities and overnight at Bedouin camp next time round. Siew Leng is not so fond of Dubai though, having met some hostile-looking Emiratis at the souqs. :)

Next, we were going to meet my friend, Chow for dinner. Guess what, he brought us to a chinese restaurant! I wanted to try Arab food, Arab spices! *frustrated*