The Old Part of the Creek

Day 003: It was fun today to take Nazeer to the Gold Souk for the first time.  To many, the name Dubai conjures up only stretches of beach and desert filled of the luxury, high-rise residential and business towers.  However, to me, the old stretch of the original creek between Deira and Bur Dubai is the heart and soul of this Emirate.  The natural inlet is where small vessels carried goods on trade routes from the Indian Ocean for hundreds of years.

No trip is complete without a walk through the updated Gold Souk (market) and perfume and original business areas near the historic center.  We took the metro just a few stops and surfaced at the Al-Ras station.  

As we didn't get started until late, things were already bustling.

 

We continued our walk along Al-Sabkha Street to the creek.  Of course, there were many shops to visit along the way.

 

     

The abras are the traditional way to cross the water.  They are used by commuters and those in business as an easy, quick way to get to the shops and residences.  We enjoyed crossing back to the Bur Dubai side. The cost is still a single dirham.

 

 

We completed our tour by walking to the Al Ghubabia Station and returning a few stops later to our hotel apartment near the Bur Juman Centre.

As soon as we returned we were delighted to hear that we could move to a larger apartment here.  Or existing kitchen was pretty full with groceries and we'd done a great deal of unpacking.  However, it only took us about an hour to move.  The hotel is completely booked but I'm appreciative that we can spend our nine additional nights in the new digs.

Later in the evening, we went back out to some of the local shopping and Renuka got a new suitcase.  It will be useful for carrying all the purchases, I'm sure.  

A Change of Venue

 

Day 002: We woke up this morning and had our second breakfast in the Hyatt Place Wasl District. I messaged with a friend at home while eating. During our exchange I mentioned several things that I'll quote here too:

'Dubai is a crossroads, so they have to please the crowds. African, Indian, Iranian, Filipino, eastern block, European. The variety is a reason we like to spend time here. And food is so much cheaper ...'

'One thing that always strikes me in Dubai is the number of employees. As many are from low-wage countries, a business hires about four times as many employees as we're used to. This makes for amazing service and little waiting. Each staff member realizes that if they make a good impression, they might move up or onward. For example, we got a cake for breakfast just for being smiling guests.'

After our leisurely morning meal, we went upstairs to pack. 

I should add we were in a different room than last night.  During yesterday's nap time, we heard the kids from the adjoining room. It seems that the entire hotel has dreaded locked doorways between rooms.  This is convenient for family and groups of friends when travelling together.  It was not so welcomed between seniors who like things quiet, and a family with young children.   The staff was very understanding and moved us from a premium room to one on a lower floor.  Not until the middle of the night, Jay discovered the new room could pick up a background boom-boom sound from a nightclub in the building.  It would've been better if we'd stayed in our original room.  However, live and learn!  

We checked out at around 11:30 am and made our way to the Bur Dubai side of the creek across the first bridge to cross it.  We have ten nights in the Rose Garden Apartment Hotel behind the BurJuman Mall.  This is the third time we'll stay here with Jay's sisters and our fourth time since 2021.  We organized some things and even went to a supermarket to begin supplying the apartment's kitchen.

Flight EK651 from Colombo arrived about 20 minutes early today.  Jay's sisters, Renuka and Kanthi were aboard.  They were accompanied by Nazeer, a family friend.  They came through immigration, got their luggage, and hired an airport taxi.  They were here 1:50  pm.

 

The First Day on the Ground

 

Day 001:  Most of Dubai has been built after the time that Jay and I were living here. However some of the early 1990s areas are still there if one looks. The scene above shows a part of Deira that is not a great deal different.

The view above is looking toward the Gulf from our hotel room.  We are here for last night and tonight.  Then, tomorrow, Jay's sisters and a family friend will be flying here.  We have arranged to stay in a 2-bedroom apartment in a hotel for ten days.

So today, after breakfast in the Hyatt Place Hotel, we simply walked around our present area near the 'Fish Roundabout'.   Tomorrow we cross the creek and will be on the Dubai side.

 

We walked to the area seen in the first photo above.  The Baniyas Square area remains similar to the 'old days' except that now there are a lot of west Africans who are here buying wholesale.

The weather is around 33C.  It seems a bit humid and so we decided to use our saved transit cards to take the red line back to Union Square.  As girls will be doing a whole lot of shopping, we checked out a few shops around this area.

We are exactly 12 hours ahead of Vancouver.  That means night is day and day is night for us.  Even though we had a 'normal' night last night, we got extremely fatigued early in the evening.  We didn't stay up long after Jay brought back some shish tawouk as takeaway.  Restaurant food in Dubai is about half of what it costs at home.

Flying: Day 2

We flew for close to 13 hours to get to Dubai. By the time we landed here, it was nearly 8:00 pm local time.  (We missed most of the day.) We breezed through immigration. The automatic gates recognized me but Jay had a new, replacement passport and had to have a person process him through. We had to wait for a bit for the luggage.

We grabbed an airport taxi and checked into the Hyatt Place Al Wasl District. Our original reservations were for the Hyatt Place Al Baniyas Square, but a major fire occurred there last weekend! The place burnt and our stay was changed to this one. It is only about a 15 minute walk away. Little sleep in the uncomfortable airplane seat, so we're ready to sleep despite the drastic time-zone changes!

Jay managed to log on and change the seating for his two sisters and a family friend.  Now, they will all be seated together.  They're coming from Sri Lanka to join us on Tuesday.

 

Flying: Day 1

We called an Uber at around 8:30 am to bring us to the Vancouver airport. We had to take a flight to Toronto to catch our direct to Dubai flight from there. When we purchased tickets, they were direct from Vancouver, but Air Canada changed us a few months ago.

It took about 4 hours to get to Toronto and we had to wait about two hours for our next flight. We left a about ten minutes late at 9:20 pm.

 

Cold Enough for my BC Institute of Technology Hoodie

 

While at Queen's Park, we took the opportunity to take a final look around. I wanted to put a little bit of juice in the EV for over the winter. I charged to 82%. I always do prior to our winters away.  There's nothing special about that number though.

   

It's hard for me to believe that this is the sixth winter we've left the Kona for four or five months! Unjustifiably, I was nervous for the initial one. Hyundai's app doesn't allow for a connection to the vehicle when left for an extended time. I hoped I wouldn't come back to a flat EV. 

I needn't have been concerned. An electric vehicle battery is not like one in a cell phone. EVs are built with industrial-grade components. Only one year, I noticed the battery was down about 1% from when I left it.  The large battery does keep a charge in another small, normal-looking one for the accessories.  Our parking in the building is underground but unheated. It probably only hovers around freezing when the weather is at its coldest in British Columbia.

When I uncover the old girl in mid-March I'm positive the dash will still read an 82% charge.

 

It'a Nice When Something Lasts

This is the best piece of luggage that I've ever owned.  Please note that it has no zipper around the middle.  Almost every bag now is held together by a cloth and metal zipper.  That must be the stupidest design possible.

This has a rubber seal and three latches.  It  opens from an interlocking hinge on its opposite side.  I love it.

I bought this sturdy suitcase in Malaysia.  As I took it out of the front closet today, I wondered how long I'd had it.  

(This is where the power of my blog comes into play.  Allowing me to find practically-useless information, such as this, is my blog's special superpower.  It took only a few seconds to do a search to find any references to luggage.)  

I discovered I purchased the teal-colored item on February 18, 2020, in a post named, OK Boomer.   I've been using it for four and a half years.  That's a lot because we do a whole lot of travelling.  I'd hate to venture a guess as to the total number of places this has visited since I first christened it.

Although it sports a few bumps and scratches it is still in serviceable condition.  None of its wheels have been lost.  It will be what I'm taking to the airport on Saturday.  I'm sure Jay's been through several suitcases since I got this one.  In fact, he starts our trip on Saturday with a replacement.