Dubai is known for chic places, luxury spas and restaurants, beautiful beaches and camping sites and of course, skyscrapers. But before civilization, what's Dubai?
Old Dubai, mostly the area of Deira and Bur Dubai is not on everyone's list when visiting Dubai. Even I as a resident wasn't able to visit this part until the Walking Tour was organized. And I am very happy to Couchsurfing as the medium where I found this event.
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| Couchsurfing Members / Residents of Dubai and Travelers in Dubai |
Shall we take a little tour? To begin with, we started with the Fish Market in Deira side since it is the closest one from the place of assembly. It looks as a normal local market with fruit stands and dry goods. We came to the wet side of the market and found a lot of unusual kinds of fish (well for my eyes maybe) which is pretty interesting. This makes me realize that fishing has been once the main industry of Dubai.
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| I really don't know what they are called and no one is looking after them so I was not able to ask what is it |
The next destination is the Gold Souk where the biggest gold ring (with Guiness' Record can be found). However, I was not able to get a picture of it since everyone wants a picture of the gold ring. But, I was held up by these little cute camels. You can find these in every souvenir shops especially in big malls but you can always find a better price. In the shop where I found them, the big one costs 20 AED and the small one ranges from 10-15 AED (it depends if you will buy more).
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| Camel stuffed toys |
Our third destination is the Al Ahmadiya School which is the most prestigious ancient institution and the first semi-private school in Dubai. It was now turned into a museum. It was an interesting place because it's an interactive museum where you can find mannequins and a small computer where you can read facts about the place.
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| Intricate and detailed art after the renovation |
We go straight to the Heritage House which is the typical house (and lifestyle) of an Emirati way back. From the style of the house, up to the utensils and their source of entertainment, everything can be found in the house.
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| "G" giving us a brief introduction of our destination |
Spice Souk is the next itinerary on our list. Nuts, dried shrimps, and up to spices being used in cooking are in here. The place is so colorful but of course, it comes with their strong smell as well. There are lots of sales people who aren't fussy to teach you a thing or two about these spices. However, some of them might expect that you will buy at least.
After our short stop in the Spice Souk, we crossed the creek with the famous ride, Abra for 1 dirham. This ride is very popular to regular residents who need to cross the creek and with tourists as well. The creek itself have different stations and you can choose which route to take. The longest route (I believe) is from the stop in Al Ghubaiba to the station near the Deira Twin Towers for 2 dirhams. Sorry I failed to get the names of these stations.
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| Riding an Abra |
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| Creek |
Upon crossing the creek, we are now in the Bur Dubai side of the Old Part of Dubai. We went to a Hindu temple and since it's a sacred place, I didn't took any pictures of it because it might look disrespectful. We head straight to the Bastakiya Quarter where you can find the restaurant who serves Camel Meat and Camel Milk. You can also enjoy the maze-like structure of the place where a lot of tourists take pictures as 'lost in the maze'.
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| Cliche caption: Lost in the Maze |
The final itinerary of the Walking Tour is the Dubai Museum. I cannot remember how much is the entrance fee if it's 2 dirhams or 5 dirhams. I like the museum because the main part of it was underground. The whole history of Dubai was shown in a creative yet artistic way. Lights and sounds were supported as well and it looks very modern from my standards. One of the part of the museum that I really liked is how they set aside one big part of it to showcase the fishing industry of the city before.
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| Fishing Industry as shown in Dubai Museum |
At the last part of the museum, typical souvenirs and free books and pamphlets can be found as well. Everyone agreed that the museum is the best place to end the Walking Tour. It was educational, interesting and fun. Hence, the Old Dubai itself shouldn't be missed by residents and tourists alike.
I am grateful for Ghaith, for organizing the Walking Tour. And as planned, everyone who joined the tour went to dinner at a Lebanese Restaurant before we parted ways. It was a good cool down time to chat with fellow CouchSurfing members. I am not as active as before but this event reminded me of what is the essence of traveling.
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| Dinner at Heritage Village |
For us, traveling isn't to see places alone. It isn't to met locals
alone. It's the whole journey and the friends you've met that counts.
And true enough, this walking tour counts for me. Happy Traveling!
