More catching up...

Last Friday my mom and I spent the day in "Old Dubai" down by the creek. This is the area with the old souks, spice souks, abra boats, dhow boats, and where many of the workers of Dubai live. We rode our own private abra boat up and down the creek. This is the best way to see the impressive buildings that have sprung up along side the creek. It was only $14.50 to have our own abra and take this relaxing 35 minute ride. To take the abra across the creek it is one dirham which is only $0.36 cents. That is still a deal today!! The workforce of Dubai cross the creek on a daily basis. It is an estimated 17,000 per day that use this as a means of transportation. Abras are small barges that use to be row boats and are fueled with diesel engines today. Dhow boats are the larger ones that bring the goods to Dubai. It was really cool to see the dhows being unloaded along side the creek. The boats are all so old you think, "Is this really going to work?" But they do and the dhows even travel out on the open seas! Just amazing!!