So, following our exploration of the Naboodah house, we got back in the car and headed northeast again. These pictures are of the Sharjah coast line, sort of. There are three teardrop shaped bays. Here you can see the oil drilling structures in the background.
Similar to Dubai Creek, there are dhows and piles of cargo being shipped to India or other areas of the Arabian Gulf.
I’m not sure if this sign was in Sharjah or Ajman, but I thought it was interesting that we were on Sharq street. I’m easily amused and entertained. The houses in the background are referred to as villas. Here, you live in either a villa or an apartment. They don’t use the word “house.” The villas always have a wall around the perimeter of the property. Seems a little secretive, but it makes for a neat appearance and you don’t have to be concerned with whether the neighbor keeps his yard nice. I would have said “mows his lawn,” but that’s not common here.
Archive for October, 2008
Road Trip #1 – Leaving Sharjah
October 6, 2008Road Trip #1 – First Stop – Sharjah part 2
October 6, 2008Welcome to the House of the family Naboodah. This is part of the Sharjah Heritage Center. It is a restored house of a wealthy family.
The house is a series of rooms that surround an open courtyard. There is a partial second floor and walkway all around the top.
The extended family lived here and each of the doors above lead to a bedroom for each of the sons. There was also a game room for the children, a kitchen, a storeroom/pantry. I’m not sure why the toilet was upstairs, but it was.
Majlis seating is basically cushions and pillows on the floor. (Majlis = parlor or living room — where men would gather to shoot the breeze, drink coffee and smoke shisha). It was odd to see a wooden bed frame with the mattress up off the floor (just like a Western bed) with majlis seating down on the floor. (Sorry that I don’t have pictures of that. You’ll have to imagine it.)
(By the way, shisha is a very fruity tobacco smoked with a waterpipe.)
These are the lovely lattice works inside the rooms. These are on the top of inner walls just above eye level and provide ventilation between rooms. They are made out of gypsum.
Road Trip #1 – First Stop – Sharjah
October 5, 2008So, we hopped in a car with two of my co-workers and headed out to see something beyond Dubai. Dubai and Sharjah are two cities that are right up against each other. We can see Sharjah from the college. So, even though we had left Dubai, it was a case of little change in scenery because there is no break. The same with Ajman, which is on the other side of Sharjah. We navigated successfully to one of the historical sites in Sharjah. Here are the resulting pictures:
This is across the street from the Sharjah Heritage Center. I took it for the contrast between the new tall buildings in the background and the older, shabbier buildings in the foreground.
The Heritage Center is a large area of historic buildings which include an old style souk (market). Old style, if you don’t count the air conditioning.
This is the entrance to the Islamic Museum, which was closed. We are not sure if it was closed due to the holiday or some other reason. It was easy to see what was closed, because there were large padlocks on the doors.
Again, contrast of old and new.
As we entered the heritage center, there was a large courtyard area. As you can see, we did not encounter a lot of other tourists. It is still too hot for there to be a lot of people venturing out.
I’m not sure exactly what this was – possibly a replica of a city gate. That was closed off and propped up with poles (not looking too sturdy), so we did not venture behind it to discover what was there.
This is the outer wall. It is constructed of pieces of corral (as in corral reefs, of which there are many here). When you don’t have forests, you make structures out of other stuff!
This is the aforementioned large courtyard showing the outer wall and the modern world beyond.
I have more pictures of other things we did that day. Will post them separately in days to come.
Living the Travel Channel 