Day 3. Up the creek.

Near our guesthouse, the old town is divided by what the locals call Dubai Creek. Knowing no Arabic we can only wonder if ‘creek’ is the best translation. In Australia, a creek tends to imply a body of water that is neither impressive nor necessarily permanent. Dubai Creek by contrast is a natural inlet from the Persian Gulf, which in recent decades was dredged to make it both a significant body of water and an important commercial port.

The surprisingly unpolluted creek is home to a rather unusual fleet of vessels called dhows. Without a container in sight, these ships are loaded by hand with boxes, which are stacked high, covered with tarpaulins and tied down by ropes. Workplace health and safety rules seem rather more relaxed. These mostly wooden boats still travel throughout the Middle-East to ports as far away as India. In front of one of the dhows, on the dock, was a huge cargo of refrigerators and split system air conditioners – ready to be loaded without the help of a crane, and with only a ladder for a gangway.

We traveled from one side of the creek to the other, with the locals, on an arba. Traditionally these small wooden flat-topped boats carried 6 people and were rowed, a little like a gondola. Now with diesel motors and carrying 20 people they are an important part of the city’s public transport system. The cost was 1 AED (about 30c AUD) each way, but the ride was priceless.

Dubai’s wealth did not begin with oil – it began with trade. Our morning on the Dubai Creek, before flying out to Zurich in the afternoon, provides us with one of our richest local travel experiences.