Travel Gem #27: Take You Back in Time - Water Taxi Across Dubai Creek / 迪拜河上的水上游的真实体验

An Authentic Experience on the Water Taxi Across The Dubai Creek

When you come to Dubai, you must make a half-a-day visit to the Dubai Creek to get a real traditional taste of Old Dubai. This is definitely one of my unforgettable Dubai visit.

The Dubai Creek is considered as the vein that feeds the heart of Dubai. This saltwater creek has been a focal point of Dubai’s economic activity for centuries.

Life happened everything here near the creek in the old days. This was the original area of tribe settlement in Dubai, a vital point for pearl diving and fishing for the early settlers.

In 1833, the Al Mactoum family led the 800 Bani Yas tribe to settle at the mouth of the Dubai Creek. Realizing its strategic importance, Al Mactoum made this harbour a center for trade, fishing, pearling and shipping. As a result, this became a flourishing fishing port, so for centuries, this salt water creek has always been the focal point of Dubai's economic activities.

The Al Maktoum descendants still rule Dubai today. They belong to one of the six ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The family descends from the Al Bu Falasah which is known as Al-Falasi section of the Bani Yas, a tribal federation that has been the dominant power of the United Arab Emirates.

The Creek is basically a river that runs through the old part of town.

Here, the Dubai Ferry operates sightseeing routes around Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Creek and Dubai Water Canal.

The water bus travels around the Marina, as well as along the Creek.

Riding on the Traditional Abra

Whenever we travel, we like to do what the local people do and experience their life. So we decided not to take the luxurious tourists ferries and chose to sail across the Creek riding on their traditional Abra, the old style of water-taxi. Here, you can experience a bit of Dubai local life.

Abras are traditional sailing vessels of the Gulf. The rectangular platform in the middle serves as seats. It is actually a very convenient and efficient way of sitting.

The price is only 1 Dirham one way. Only about US$0.30. There are no schedules to follow. All you need is to pay the captain of the Abra. The boat will leave as soon as it is full, usually about 20 people or so.

These traditional Abras have been around since the 1700s and local Dubai still love this old world charm. The local Dubai residents use these Abras as their daily Dubai transportation method. This is a real authentic experience as you truly feel the old Dubai and walk back into history sitting on these wodden Abras crossing from Deira to Bur Dubai.

The Abras transport an average nearly 15,000 passengers daily.

When the water taxi arrived at the pier, we got off with these men. They are actually construction workers heading back to Deira.

At the pier, there is a police officer checking the men's IDs and papers and we got stuck in the long queue. What an experience. After 10 minutes or so, all of a sudden, the officer raised his eyes and saw us in the queue. Normally no tourists take these Abras as they usually go on the tourist ferries. So the officer noticed that we are 'tourists' and waved at us to jump the queue so that we could get out quickly. From this, we realize that these officers are trying to catch illegal workers here.

Deira

Once the commercial center of the city, Deira today still plays an important part in Dubai's trading industry.

Take a stroll here and you feel that you are taken back to 50 years ago as you watch hard working men loading and unloading goods that are bound for India and Iran.

Seeing these men remind us of years ago when we were in Calcutta where we saw men carrying fridges using their heads. You never imagine the 'head' can hold up such heavy weight.

The scene of this Old Dubai is very different from the modern business center of downtown Dubai. What an eye opener to see this primitive life in parts of Old Dubai.

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迪拜河上的水上游的真实体验

当您来到迪拜时，您必须在迪拜河玩上半天，以获得传统的旧迪拜风味。这绝对是我难忘的迪拜访问之一。

迪拜河被认为是提供迪拜心脏的动脉。这个咸水溪已经是迪拜经济活动的焦点好几个世纪。

** 1833年，Al Mactoum家族**带领800 * Bani Yas *部落定居在迪拜河口。意识到其战略重要性，Al Mactoum使这个港口成为贸易，渔业，珍珠和航运的中心。结果，这成为一个蓬勃发展的渔港，几个世纪以来，这个咸水溪一直是迪拜经济活动的焦点。

*马克图姆的后裔今天仍然统治迪拜。他们属于阿拉伯联合酋长国的六个统治家庭之一。这个家族是从阿拉伯联合酋长国的统治权力的巴尼亚斯（Bani Yas）的一个被称为 Al-Falasi 部分的 Al Bu Falasah *下来的。

这河道基本上是一条穿过老城区的河流。在这里，迪拜渡轮在迪拜码头，Palm Jumeirah，迪拜河和迪拜运河附近设有观光路线。水上巴士沿着码头和沿溪流行。

为了做迪拜当地的事情，我们选择乘坐他们传统的Abra，老式的水上小渡船。Abras 是海湾的传统帆船。在这里，您可以体验当地迪拜的一些文化生活。

价格只有一块迪拉姆一路。只有约0.30美元。没有时间表。所有你需要的是付给阿布拉的船长。船只一旦满了就会离开，通常约30人左右。

这些传统的阿布拉斯自17世纪以来一直在世界各地，当地的迪拜仍然喜欢这个旧世界的魅力。当地的迪拜居民将这些阿布拉斯作为他们每日的迪拜运输方式。这是一个真实的真实体验，因为您真正感受到旧迪拜，并回到历史上坐在这些从德拉到布尔迪拜的这些沃德登阿布拉斯穿越。

阿布拉斯每天平均运送近15,000名乘客。

我们把这个Abra与这群男人在一起，（全船都是男人）。这些人是建筑工人要回到德伊拉。当船抵达码头时，我们和这些人下了船。显然有一名警察检查男子的身份证件和文件，我们被困在长队中。突然间，那警察抬起头，看到我们在排队。通常没有游客乘坐这些Abras，因为他们通常去坐旅游渡轮。所以这位官员注意到我们是“游客”，挥舞着手叫我们打尖，以便我们能够马上离开。由此，我们意识到这些人员正试图在这里捕捉非法劳工。

德拉（Deira）

曾经是这个城市的商业中心，Deira 今天仍然在迪拜的贸易行业发挥重要作用。在这里漫步，你觉得你在50年前被带回去，因为你看着努力工作的人装卸印度和伊朗的货物。这个旧迪拜的现场与迪拜市中心的现代商业中心非常不同。

看到这些人使我们想起，几年前，当我们在加尔各答，我们看到男子搬冰箱，就是把冰箱放在头上顶着走。你永远不会想象这个“头”原来可以承受这么大的重量。

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