it smells different 

Monday, May 02, 2005

United Arab Emirates - Dubai - Creek

Hello!! I'm back.. sorry for the delay.. I'm a few months behind with the pictures. I'm going to try and update this webpage in the next few days.. so expect a flurry of posts..

After a month in Saudia, I flew over to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirats. Dubai was sort of like my home base for my travels to Yemen, Oman and England. Collectively, I've spent most of my 7 months in Dubai.. so as you can guess I have many many pictures.. but dont worry.. you won't see most of them!! (mostly family pics)

Anyways.. what can I say about Dubai.. hmmm there's too much really. A few decades ago it was just a small town.. mostly sand. Today it's a booming city.. skyscrapers.. mini-cities.. islands.. almost anything you can think of is being built in Dubai. It's a huge commercial and financial hub in the middle east and its surrounding regions.. I will not go into too much detail.. hopefully you'll get the idea with some of my pictures.

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Dubai is also where most of my extended family lives.. hundreds and hundreds of them.. I was there for a few months.. but I dont think I met all of them.. I'm really happy for meeting the ones that I did. It had been about 12 years since my last visit.

The pictures below are of an excursion with my cousin Naji to the Dubai Creek. The creek separates Dubai into two parts.. Deira and Bur Dubai.

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I think this is where the smaller boats come to unload their wares.

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Naji, my cousin (the guy in white), is about to bargain with one of these guys for a boat tour of the creek. These guys pilot the small boats.. I forget what they're called.. but they usually ferry passengers across the creek. It costs only a few pennies to cross. We hired one of these boats for an hour-long tour.. just for the two of us.

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First, however, we had to drop some people on the other side..

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I wonder what he's thinking..

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This guy is really relaxed.. he probably has all the answers to lifes questions.

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The Sheikh Zayed skyline in the distance..

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Hello!!

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He was a very quiet man..

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The creek ends up ahead.. that green building on the left is a gas station for the boats. The creek opens up into the Persian Gulf.

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I think this guy was fishing..

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This area is considered the old part of Dubai.. very little is left of the old part. The two square towers are common in the old areas. They were designed to keep the buildings cool during the summer..

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After our tour of the creek, we decided to check out the other side..

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This is one of the entrances to the old souk. You can find all sorts of things here.. but make sure you bargain well!!

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Back on the other side.. enjoying some coconuts..

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