Adventures in the Middle East: An Afternoon in Bur Dubai

Once Will and I had a little understanding of the Muslim culture under our belt, we set off to explore one of the more historical neighborhoods of Dubai, Bur Dubai. Our first stop in Bur Dubai was the Dubai Museum. It is housed in one of the oldest forts in the city; built in the late 1700s and used as an active fort and residence until the 1970s. The cost to enter was a mer 3 Dhs; only 81 cents! And it was worth so much more. On the main level of the museum there are many artifacts and a duplicate of a traditional home made of palm trees. The real gem of the museum is the basement. There are several traditional setting staged with mannequins dressed in traditional outfits. Not only was it interesting...but the guards are kind and will turn the other direction so that you can take photos with the mannequins. My favorite was the pearl diving section because the room was set up so that the visitor feel as though they are underwater with a boat and pearl divers above our heads.

After the museum we walked through Bastakiya. Bastakiya is one of the first residential areas in the city. It is named after the Bastak region of Iran, from which many of its first in habitants emigrated. The neighborhood is most known for its unique architecture. Each building has a wind tower, called barjeel, considered the first form of air conditioning. The number of barjeels indicated the wealth of the owner. It is a very old looking area, similar to some of the Gothic walking only neighborhoods in Europe, but surprisingly the Bastakiya only dates back to the 1890s. In present day the area is not very busy. There are some art galleries and restaurants, but while we were walking through its narrow streets Will and I did not run into anyone else!

The rest of our afternoon was spent walking around the rest of Bur Dubai. We stumbled upon the Old Souk (Souk is the Arabic term for mall) and were harassed by the stall owners to come in and buy there items as we walked through. I don't think that the shop owners realized that we would have come in, looked around and probably bought something if they had not been so aggressive. The Abra station is close to the Old Souk, so we watched the Abras (traditional wooden boats used to transport locals across the Dubai Creek) while we had a late lunch a very local Iranian cafe. We had a very nice time exploring the historical neighborhood, but I am still confused about where all the people are because they are not out on the streets. Will and I often found ourselves the only people around besides the workers.