old Dubai...

This trip to Dubai was a little different... Rob and I were trying to save money so we stayed in an older, more traditional and cheaper area right along the old Dubai Creek... it was fascinating with all of the African and South East Asian expats... pretty much everyone in our hotel was from Somalia... I believe we were the only white men in the hotel, eating at its restaurant, or even using its internet cafe... most of the internet cafe users were Somalia men who seemed to be there for one reason, to have a webcam chat with their woman back home... the whole area was full of old Souqs (Muslim traditional marketplaces)... we roamed the markets, took the old ferry across the creek many times, visited a Hindu and a Sikh temple (I believe the only ones in the Middle East) and had lots of great food, bought traditional crafts and souvenirs, and all traveling on a shoestring!