Description: If there is an “old” Dubai and if there is a downtown Dubai it’s Creekside. The Creek is a natural sea-water inlet which cuts through the centre of the city and is the historic focal point of life in Dubai. As we strolled along the paved walkway on its banks, we were often reminded of Dubai’s centuries-old trading traditions.
The creek separates Bur Dubai on the south bank, the tourist center, from Deira on the north bank, the retail commercial center. Both districts have their unique charms. Bur Dubai has its traditional architecture, museums and historic houses. Deira has its souqs and shops as well as streets packed with people from many different cultures.
We spent one evening and one afternoon just strolling up and down on both sides of the creek. We rented an abra for a waterside tour of the creek. It costs about 100 Dirham (US$27) an hour. We bargained for a run from the mouth of the creek to the al Maktoum Bridge and then a drop off on the Deira side for 50 Dirham (US$13.50). Worth every fil (US$0.003). We found the dhows, anchored up and down the creek, the most interesting sight on the ride. These dhows ply the Gulf Coast but also venture as far as India and East Africa.
If you just want to ride an abra as the locals do pay 50 fils (US$0.14) and ride across from one abra terminal to the other. There are two on each side.
The evening we were there, we visited the Bur Dubai Souq. It has the usual tourist junk but is also known for its textiles and nearby tailoring shops. Unless you are buying a very cheap item, be prepared to haggle. We bought some caps and a shawl for one-half the asking price and gave up early, in my opinion.
We had dinner at a Lebanese-Thai restaurant, whose name I’ve forgotten. It has a veranda that juts out over the creek. We ordered from both cuisines and were somewhat surprised at how good and reasonably priced the food was. It’s on the left as you enter the Bur Dubai Souk.
We visited Deira in the late afternoon. It reminded us of Lockhart St. in Hong Kong. The shops held every type of item you could imagine. The streets were filled with shoppers and the ubiquitous delivery vans - lots of noise and confusion.
We visited the jewelry souq and the perfume souq. Frankly they were both disappointing. Instead of open air spaces, most of the merchandise was in shops. This cuts down on browsing.
The Spice souk was as I imagined it would be – open sacks of many different kinds of spices and merchants trying to convince us to buy spices we would most likely never use. I loved it.
There’s much more to Creekside, some of which I discuss in the Bastakia and Family Activities Reviews. I recommend you budget at least two full days to explore it.
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