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PEREGRINES FROM THE SEA
The ubiquitous abras plying their trade on the Creek have long been both a tourist attraction and a ferry for locals between Bur Dubai and Deira. As they chug from the Old Souk station across towards Deira,...
they bring you nearer to the larger conveyances of the sea — the dhows.
But these are not the ships that carry diners on the gentle meander in the evening light, but commercial carriers. These sometime derelict and grimy craft are sea going vessels that bring in a plethora of products for sale to the people of Dubai. But few people bother to look at the array of goods that litter the wharfage in chaotic piles or wonder at those who handle them. It makes for an interesting peregrination.
Close to the abra station on the Deira side, the smaller dhows cluster, moored side by side with ropes that cross the air between. On the dock are boxes of Gulabi tea next to Dawn Sweetened Condensed Milk from Singapore.
There are strange boxes from the Riyadh Velvet Factory and Luck Lite frosted lightbulbs from China who are also exporting ceiling fans.
Crates of banana flavoured chewing gum from Seoul in Korea lean against stacks of furniture and crates from Shanghai covered in orange tarpaulins.
Nasser and Ali sprawl on a pile of boxes which they say contain shoes brought over from Iran. In fact many of the dhows hail from Iran, barely a day's travel by sea although there seems to be some discrepancy on the actual duration or any one voyage.
"I have sailed to many places in this boat," says Karim, an Iranian seaman with 27 years of experience on the dhows. "There is cargo and supercargo," he says mysteriously.
"Now we are bringing tyres and freezers from the northern side of Iran. Now I am 55 years old and another one in the family sails with me. This is Ali who is my son; I have 8 girls but only one son and now he sails with me. And this is Walid the cook. Very good. He is cooking chicken biryani, fish, steak, bread. Lots good for eat. Now we are in Dubai for some time but I have to wait until I get back to Iran before paid."
Karim gets the equivalent of $100 per month but believes that he should be paid at least three times that amount. But he says it with a grin knowing that life is unlikely to change.
A little further up the wharf, the dock has become a frenzy of activity as Indian and Pakistani stevedores work as a chain to load the dhows. There are no fork lifts here and all the loading is done by hand; back-breaking work in the winter but almost intolerable during the summer.
The cargo starts to vary as more and more electrical equipment creeps into the frame. On one dhow there are even two cars parked up towards the prow. But not all the talk is of inanimate cargo.
"Somalian," says Maxad, "I come from Somalia. It takes 7 days to get here to Dubai and then 7 days back. To there we take all the things that we haven't got; from Dubai to Jebel Ali and ten to Somalia. Then we bring back camels, cows and sheep. One boat may be carry 3000 cows or sheep."
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