Dubai, the 'old' city.

We went to the Bastakia area of Dubai early in the morning. It was built in the 19th century by Persian traders who were attracted by relaxed trade tariffs, so hence, the name was taken from Bastak, a city in Southern Iran.

It has since gone under 'conservation' and what you get is an empty shell. Don't snigger, Singapore has equally screwed up.
The wind towers that captures the winds and cools the interior.

It used to be where the richer people of Dubai lived. It has since become a ghost town after the conservation.

Some buildings house art galleries:

Yes, that's a sheikh:

The only original original part of the Bastakia area 'conserved' from the early 19th century is the Dubai wall:

We went to a 'museum of architecture':

A peek at the mosque there:

Beautiful narrow alley ways are actually useful. Winds are channelled through and they provide excellent shade for most of the day:

Then we decided to walk along the Creek:

And to one of its famous souks, the Grand Souk:

Our hero Li-En:

Another hero Zhongx:

We had to do this:

Then we went to Al Fahidi Fort:

It now houses the Dubai Museum (fee = 3 AED):

Walk into traditional architecture with traditional wind towers:

I have the same picture taken two years ago:

Finally a group shot:

We rushed to the underground part of the museum which was air-conditioned and had many creepy life-like mannequins...:

Me teaching one to read:

Did you drop something? Lemme help you:

Another shot outside:

Then we took an abra ride for just 1 AED per person. Don't get cheated for an 'exclusive' abra ride or 'cruise' along the creek (you might be paying more!).

Where we went to the Spice Souk in Deira:

And we went from another museum to another... Until we were quite sick of it:

So we were cam-whoring most of the time:

Even Erik joined us:

We went to the Heritage House:

Fake wind towers:

Next was a former school-turned-(you guessed it)-museum, the Al Ahmadiya School:

We had so much fun:

While some were sick of seeing the same old thing and went back, some decided to trek more. The Gold Souk in Deira:

The dates market:

The fish market:

Singapore Emporium?:

Singapore House?:

And we took an Abra ride from Deira back to Bur Dubai.

Where we shopped for sourvenirs and clothes in the Grand Souk:

That night we decided to walk to a shopping mall 'closeby'... We should have learnt our lesson: Nothing is actually closeby:

That's it!