Dubai: Spice, Women, and a Girl in a Bubble

Frankincense from Oman

Interior, RTA water taxi, Dubai

Went back over the Creek to the Deira side to find the Spice Souk. To do that, I took a different kind of water taxi, the one operated by Dubai's RTA, the public transportation system. I tagged my refillable metro card before boarding this taxi, which is enclosed, has comfortable seats, and has the capacity for perhaps 30 passengers. It is a sleek vessel, iron grey.








I smelled the Spice Souk before I entered it. Luscious to breathe in the marvelous scents, see the intense colors, touch the surfaces.

A form of cinnamon bark

Crystal that has deodorant properties

Indigo for dyeing fabrics

Sunflower

I bought a bar of sandalwood soap.

I wandered in the neighborhood. This scene below, with the sensual figures of a woman adjacent to a mosque, is typical of Dubai, a place in which women's dress ranges from the black abaya with full head covering (except for the eye slit) to Daisy Dukes and tank tops.

(One might argue that the abaya with almost total head covering sexualizes women rather than de-sexualize them. They suggest that by women just being women, they invite harm to men's souls. In other words, if a man has impure thoughts, it is a woman's fault, not his. Interesting article on the subject here from an Orthodox rabbi.)

A couple of other scenes:

Finished here, I again went over to the Bur Dubai side.

 

In the evening, there was a festival along the Creek walk. One of the activities a child could do was be placed into a partially-collapsed plastic bubble, which teetered on the side of a pool. An attendant blew air into the bubble until it expanded into a perfect transparent globe. The child, within the bubble, dived against one side of the bubble to get it onto the water, where she commenced to being hamster-like.

 

Dubai: The Creek - Bur Dubai side

I took the one-dirham taxi over to the other side of the Creek, which placed me in the section of Dubai called Bur Dubai. Had lunch in a restaurant by the water.


Those are delectable little spinach-filled samosas, by the way, though they're called sambouseks here.

The coffee is "American" coffee. I'd asked for an americano, but I'm thinking this is either brewed or instant. I have no idea what the folks here consider to be "American" coffee.

I watch a cargo ship go by. Two men stand atop the goods, surveying the city around them. One man lifts his arms to the sky in a kingly manner and shouts something. I guess it's along the lines of: "Dubai! Here I am! I'm special!  I will conquer you!"

I see airplanes often in Dubai. The airport is near. The planes climb between buildings. The brain files information, I believe, by associations. So it is interesting to me how I associate these frequent planes, so close to the buildings, with 9/11.

I suppose it goes like this in my brain: Airplane flying - proximity to urban buildings - Dubai - middle east - Islamists**.

Add to that: In Dubai, there is a World Trade Center. Also, the world's-highest-building, the Al Burj, looks very similar to a proposed replacement for our own World Trade Center --> that single finger pointing to the sky, with bravado, perhaps.

But the reality is this: The planes are cargo ships loading and off-loading consumers and dealer-makers.

Some more Creek scenes:

** I use the term Islamist with deliberation. An Islamist (or alternatively, a Christianist or Judist, hmm, that last doesn't sound right) perverts religious tenets to justify the control or manipulation of others through coercive means.  As such, Islamists were responsible for 9/11, not Muslims.

Dubai: The Creek - Deira Side

  

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

Wearing my new gold necklace, I walked along the Creek. The Creek cuts through a part of Dubai, requiring you to drive under it through a tunnel or over it via a water taxi, to get from one side to another.  

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

I walked by small and large boats. Tourist boats, taxis, and cargo vessels. In the distance, I could even see cruise ships, but they were actually on the Gulf and not the Creek. In some parts, the Creek was very shallow and I could see the bottom easily, maybe only a two or three feet deep.

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

There is a customs wharf along the Deira side of the Creek. I saw boxes of items that had been off-loaded or maybe awaited on-loading.

Air conditioners on Dubai Creek wharf

The ships had colorful 'houses' at their aft end.

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

I saw these dirty, beat-up old office chairs on the wharf. Were they coming or going? To where?

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

I liked the contrast between these very old-style boats and the modern city along the Creek.

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

Some other scenes from the Deira side of the Creek:

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

I took a water taxi - an abra - to the other side of the Creek. It cost one dirham (about 30 cents).

The Creek, Dubai, UAE

Riders sit on the raised platform, probably about 10 people to each side. The 'taxi driver' sits in that square opening in the middle.

Dubai: Gold

Gold in Dubai

My lodging is in the section of Dubai called Deira. It doesn't have the modern high-rises that one sees in the tourist photos. It does have the Gold Souk, Spice Souk, and nearby, the Creek.

View from my alley, looking toward Al Khaleej Road

First order of business today was to walk to the water. When I'd emerged from the metro yesterday, I saw palm trees, blue skies, and the suggestion of water.

Across from the Hyatt Regency is a water-side walkway.

There is a lot of construction going on in the water, moving sand about.

"Flag" juice

Next stop: Breakfast.  Walked up 27th Street (which I think is also called Al Moussal Road or something similar), turned into a cafe. Had a "flag" juice plus a mutton breakfast sandwich. Both tasted fine; nothing special.

After some difficulty, found my way to the Gold Souk, which is a market of small shops devoted to selling gold jewelry. Every day there is the day's market price for gold per gram. Today it was 152 dirham ($41) for 18k, 182 dirham ($50) for 21k, and 186 dirham ($51) for 22k. Add onto that the cost of the craftsmanship, overhead, and other profit. Or maybe the "other profit" is built into the daily gold price. Negotiation is critical.

There's a rather modest entrance gateway to the gold souk, nothing on the scale of the entrance, for instance, to Chinatown in San Francisco, which would seem more fitting, considering the tourist buzz enjoyed by the Gold Souk.  

Gold Souk entrance

I have a pendant that my grandmother gave to me, which belonged to her mother. It has no chain and for years, I've intended to buy a necklace for it so I can wear this heirloom.

I'm in Dubai, so why not get that now? A side benefit: If someone compliments me on my necklace, I can touch it delicately and say with a sheepish smile, "Thank you, I picked it up in Dubai." So next time you see me, be sure to ask, OK? 

(This kind of thing always reminds me of a trip a long, long time ago when a fellow traveler began a story with, "We were picking strawberries in [insert exotic locale here] when ....") 


I visited a number of shops to look at different designs and compare prices. I loved a 22k necklace for its color, liquid design, and heft, and even considered buying it. But then gave myself a reality check. I'm rootless, hello? A constant tourist whose likelihood of being a target for theft is much higher than the average bear. Just another thing I'm going to have to keep track of, like a toddler. And why am I even thinking about spending this kind of money ....


I did, however, buy a more modest chain of a more modest karat. Something more in keeping with my station.

Dubai: Plane, Metro, Walk, Flat, and Crash

My Dubai flat

 Arrived in Dubai yesterday afternoon via Azerbaijan Airlines.

Being up all night had caught up with me, and I was kind of stupid with drowsiness.

Waited in line to go through UAE customs. Some people had to go stand in line for retinal scans first. Because I have a U.S. passport, I didn't have to do that. (Yet.)

( I hate that whole idea of retinal and other such scans that ultimately allow for greater control of individual human beings and our movements and liberties. And I really dislike how so many folks enthusiastically endorse such things, rationalizing that if we have nothing to hide, then we shouldn't be bothered about it. These are often the same folks who despise so-called government intrusion in our financial lives and who revere corporate liberty.)

Changed money after fumbling around for my debit card. Where the hell did I stash it? I referred again, mentally, to my notes about being too smart for my own good: Security should be effective, but not complicated. It's supposed to protect my stuff from others, not from myself.

My Dubai flat

Found the metro. Bought a reloadable pass card, got myself pointed in the right direction and got on to the correct car. In Dubai, there is a car designated for women and children only, which you can use or not as you wish. I chose to sit on the women's car.

I got off the "red line" train at Union Station, and moved over to the "green line" and then got off at the Palm Deira station. From there I walked on Al Khaleej Street in search of my lodging host's landmarks of Pizza Hut and a phone company. I was to turn down a side street named Sikka. Which I did, but it was the incorrect Sikka, and a local man escorted me to the correct Sikka (21 Sikka versus 9 Sikka). (Reminded me of Playa del Carmen's street-naming system that confused me at first.)

My Dubai flat

Presently, I entered the correct building, went up the elevator and there I was. The flat I'm renting is petite. If "cozy" in real estate terms means small, "petite" means extra tiny. The room is about 10'x12', with an adjoining bathroom with shower. This *is* the flat. No interesting view. But it has what I need: Bed, counter space for laptop work, a kitchenette of sorts with a microwave, toaster, fridge, rice cooker, some plates and utensils, and a shelf (calling it a "counter" would be a bit too grand) for preparing one's meals. The bed is a twin size, covered simply with a flat sheet and a duvet, both white. There's a side chair and an upholstered chair that I think unfolds to another twin bed. A television mounted on the wall.

My Dubai flat

Yura owns this flat, but he has another place on a higher floor. Originally from Turkey, he's into computer programming, and has lived various places in the world, including Georgia (in fact, he loves Georgia). He's been in Dubai for several years.

I found Yura's place via airbnb.com - a great resource for affordable lodging in travel destinations. Yura's flat is $39 per night - a boon for budget travelers like me.

My Dubai flat

I could only book Yura's place for three nights, so I'll have to find new digs for my last two nights.

But for now .... I'm dead. Time to crash.