32 of Dubai residents surrounded the arbor, discussing the town’s affairs. But I paid little attention to them, my focus entirely on the magnificent falcons. That evening, I returned to Sheikh Mubarak al-Shamsi’s gathering. As I sat close to him, someone asked about the days of the pearl trade. Sheikh Mubarak began to explain the challenges that had beset the pearl merchants. “There were several reasons,” he said. “The emergence of Japanese cultured pearls, the World War, and the oil companies in the Gulf where most people now worked.” “Nineteen years ago, there were sixty
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy