Bastakiah Quarter
Last day in Dubai – this time – and the total absence of wind gives me an opportunity to dig a bit deeper in the old part of Dubai. So I decide that I will go to the ”river” called Creek where the first settlement was. Creek is not a river but part of the ocean – a river would be very unlikely in this climate – but was a good spot for a harbor back in the days. Now I finally find the Bastakiah Quarter, the direction on google maps shows the middle of the district. Here’s the link:
Majlis Gallery is fine if you are into contemporary art I guess, but I leave to see the old town instead… or whatever is left of it.
Empty streets…. Old windtower for ventilation in the house
The images does not give the full credit to how boring this place is… The only person I meet is an old Indian on a bicycle that told me that people used to live here but the authorities decided it was to dirty and moved everybody outside to make it a historical landmark. Made it an uninteresting historical landmark in my opinion.
Dubai Old Souk
Instead I get some dinner at a local place on my way towards the river bus at Old Souk station. The Old Souk is more interesting and if you are interested in buying fine Indian cloth, scarves and such, it is a great place. Unfortunately for me business seem to be slow so me and the other handful of tourists get attacked by the sales people. Out of pure stupidity I walk in to one of the shops to see their prices. Expect to be able to bargain at least 50% on the original price, but since I lack interest it was still too expensive. Get me right, it was cheap, but it had even less value to me.
At the ”bus stop” you have three options. You can take the city’s water bus (4 AED) that goes up and down the Creek(with one stop on the other side), or you can go across the river on one of the local ”taxis” for 1 AED. The last option is to rent your own taxi. I choose the locals transportation and then take a walk upstream to the next bus stop.
Walking next to The Creek I see the blue and white cargo ships being loaded and off-loaded. This is very far from modern methods, and man power must be really inexpensive…
Fancy car dealer
If you ever wanted a fancy sports car I recommend a visit to Alain Class Motors (
http://www.alainclass.com/home) next to Noor Islamic Bank station. I especially like the Rolls Royce Cab. If I had just a little more money I might get the pink version.
Some leg exercises on the almost empty beach, some last photos of the sunset and the neighboring mosque and a swim is the last thing I do on Kite Beach this time.
Samad al Iraqi Restaurant
The last dinner is served on Samad al Iraqi restuarant next to Damascus (http://www.samadaliraqi.net/en/home.html). We get the stuffed chicken for two, and the waiter sells us dolmas for a starter. By now I should now that a main course is more than enough and we cant finish all the rice that the chicken is stuffed with. But everything is really good, even though the prices are close to European and twice those of Damascus. If you have a problem with spicy food, Iraqi food is not spicy at all, you have the waiters word for it!
Sum up will follow!
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