Day Two: Playing tourist

One generally dismisses tourist sightseeing services and busses with live audio as merely live-action brochures. Throughout my first full day in Dubai I discovered that while one did pick up a few fascinating pearls of wisdom about such things as the three ring circus involved with attaining a drivers leicense, the best way to escape the brochure was to step-off and become somewhere between mildly disoriented and completely lost. For this post I will not even attempt to parse to any detail the immensly complicated and polysemic world that is Dubai, however i have pared down a selection of photos shot from my travels/misadventures/boat rides/bus tours today.

A panoramic view of Dubai Creek as seen from a wharf where small wooden dhows acting as commuter vessels regularly shuttle large numbers of people across and down the creek. The dilapiated wooden craft are an extremely sharp contrast to some of the extravagant catamarans moored closer to the 5 star hotels. Although a system of water taxis seems to be a reasonably viable alternative for those with no car or motorcycle.

Some of the traditional and larger sized dhows seen here moored only hundreds of feet from hotels that are less that 5 years old. There was not a single commercial boat made from anything other than wood to be seen, even with some craft exceeding 60 feet.

A building front is seen in the area near the old Souks (markets), large wholesale stores stocking all manner of imported goods are the modern iteration of the ancient open air markets that have existed far before Dubai was anything larger than a tiny desert outpost on the sea.

Sacks of spices are seen for sale at the Spice Souk, an ancient market devoted to spices and specialty food items, although lately has diversified to Chinese kitchenwares.

A row of new buildings is seen from one of the main highways transiting the city. The entire city, in many ways is a huge contruction site.

An ancient mosque is seen overshadowed by a newer concrete building in one of the oldest sections of Dubai, near to the Gold and Spice Souks. The mosques, located throughout the city call Muslims to prayer 5 time daily.

A dusty and run down block of apartments is seen in the Karama section of Dubai. This area is mainly inhabited by Asian and Indian immigrants who come to Dubai to work and send money home to support thier families. In many ways however, the laborer immigrants are 4th class citizens with few or no rights.

One of the more common sights in the afternoon. A group of Indian laborers sits near thier work in the fish market area. Despite the huge infusions of money, the primary reason Dubai's contruction has exploded is due to inexpensive imported labour from Asia, generally relying on sheer quantity rather than quality to complete some of the undeniably amazing buildings in Dubai.