How to get there?
Have you ever heard about Dubai Souk Markets? Was it hard to find it for you as well as for me? I will tell you about my experiences. I have been there twice. The first time it was very confusing because I didn’t find the correct place.
I thought the famous Abra boats were private fishermen`s boats around the shore. My son and I, we took a taxi from our place to the Abra boats Creek, but later we found out in this area was it difficult to find what we was looking for without some help. This part of the harbor seems to not be very popular with tourists and looks quite poor. Only later we realized, this was not the correct place, what we were looking for.
We were lost
It was the beginning of October, and the outside temperature was around 39 degrees, after 30 minutes of walk finding nothing worth seeing, we decided to leave. But there appeared to be another problem with the taxi. We called a taxi but the driver couldn`t find our location. We were waiting in this hot weather for almost 50 minutes asking for help from nearby sellers. They were so helpful and kind, they spoke with the taxi driver in Arabic via phone and helped us to find out the location of taxi driver who was in a totally different part of the harbor quite far from our place. Totally exhausted we stopped another taxi driver on the street and leaved this place.
Second try
Our second visit to Soak market was a different and much better experience. At the end of November my daughter visited us in Dubai for a few days and we tried to visit the Creek for the second time and this time we were more successful. We asked a receptionist in our residence about this market. She advised us to take the metro to the Al Fahidi station (and she also told us the correct name of the place – Meena Bazar). From this place, it is only 5 minutes by walk to find the famous market. When we arrived at the location Meena Bazar, we were looking for the market, but couldn`t find anything that we imagined, only local street sellers offering us “bags”. At first we thought they are offering us some drugs, only later we found out that it was actual bags.
You need a guide to get there
Jasi was the name of the local seller, who approched us on the street and showed us arround. He was willing to show us Meena Bazar with a lot of beautiful and cheap goods. If you wish to buy nice bags, watches, and clothes for good prices, or just walk around and see how it works in this area, find him, or somebody else who will accompany you. Without a local, you won`t find this market.
At the beginning it looked suspicious, he took us to the elevator in a very old and shabby building. If it wasn`t a daytime I would be afraid to step in the elevator, but it turned out to be a safe getaway to the normal shops.
The other side of the canal
Jasi than showed us a shortcut to the local Abra boats which crosses the river for 1 AED. We crossed the river and got to the other side – to the Dubai Spice Souk. Here we were surprised by a very unusual occurance. It started to rain. First lightly, but then it gradually turned in to a heavy rain with the thunderballs.
It was really an extraordinary day.
