Posted by Kanga.
Here are the signs we saw on our road trip.
Surprisingly, we see more actual camels than these signs.
Hmm… red cars stay to the left? Red trucks, too?
There are a wide variety of speed bump warning signs. There are also a wide variety (and plethora) of speed bumps.
And the opposite of humps –
Posted by Kanga.
I have the week off for Eid, so no work this week, just work around the house and fun. Saturday was spent twiddling my thumbs while the Ikea delivery men assembled our new wardrobes, book cases and kitchen table. Sunday was spent ignoring all the unpacking, cleaning and rearranging necessary after this influx of furniture. So, when Monday rolled around, I decided we should get out for a drive and see things we’ve never seen and take pictures of whatever we come across. Our route was rather complex, looping around and doubling back. I’m going to publish it in multiple posts, so hang in there.
First, Al Hayl Castle:
This small fort is southwest of Fujairah city. The way is well indicated by signs, easy to find. (Click here for more info about the castle.) The caretaker was eager to give us a tour. He is Bangladeshi and his English is quite limited. He insisted on taking pictures of us posing in several locations.
He included his finger in most of the pictures, so I will just post this one.
DaddyBird was very brave and went up these stairs to see the second story. I did not. They are very narrow and the steps are very tall and the handrail is very wobbly.
And what castle doesn’t have a few holes through which to shoot arrows?
Here is a picture of our guide. Despite the fact that I was taking a picture, he felt compelled to point something else out to me.
This is the view of the valley from the watchtower.
This is the floor of what the caretaker told us was the store room. He said that they would put apples here and that the juice would drain down. That would not have been my guess.
This little lizard was quite well camouflaged.
We tipped the caretaker 10 AED for his trouble, but he was not impressed with this amount. So, if you go and get his tour, you might want to more generous than we were.
You can see all the pictures here.
Posted by Kanga.
Our friends from Malta ventured out from Dubai to Fujairah for dinner with us last week. Our planned cultural experience was to go to the Ramadan Food Market to buy the components of our meal and bring it home to enjoy.
We brought home flat bread, fatoush (green salad), tamarind and some kind of berry juices, sausages in bread wraps, tabouleh (chopped parsley salad), hummos, kushari, samosas, pakora, chicken biriani, and probably more, but I can’t remember it all. It was a fun food adventure.
We supplied root beer, the only soda we had on hand. This was a new experience for our Maltese friends, who say that it smells exactly like a surgical spirit solution commonly used back home. [Our friend also confessed to having a pyromaniac phase around the age of eight when he sprayed this surgical spirit (mostly alcohol) on the ground and lit it for fun.] So, root beer, which is right up there with baseball and apple pie on the scale of American-ness is not very appealing to people in the Eastern hemisphere. This might explain why it is rare to find it in grocery stores. Now we’ll have to look for this surgical spirit to do a smell test and see for ourselves.
I had a similar experience when I first tasted Jagermeister (German herbal liqueur). I swear it tastes just like the cough syrup we had when I was little. Just tastes like medicine to me.
Our friends had brought us a treat from Malta – a pudding, which I tried the next morning. Before I tell you what it is like, I must explore the word “pudding.” In America, this word has just one definition. A pudding is a creamy, milk based dessert, like custard. (There are also bread and rice puddings, but again these are desserts.) In Europe and abroad, pudding can mean just about anything – sweet or savory. Christmas pudding is actually a cake. Blood pudding is actually a sausage. So, when someone says “pudding” we are not sure what to expect.
This pudding turned out to be what we would call a fruit cake. It is dense, dark, a bit chocolaty with tasty fruit bits in it. I’ve tried it cold, warmed up, topped with a little ice cream, and warmed up with butter. Quite good.
Posted by Kanga.
We are halfway through Ramadan and you might be wondering how Ramadan in Fujairah differs from Dubai. There is certainly less activity in the daytime. There is no public dining in restaurants prior to iftar (meal after sunset to break the fast). You can, however, get “take away” food from several restaurants. In the afternoon, there is temporary market area where one can buy food for the evening meal (Ramadan Food Market).
Even at iftar time, the restaurants don’t seem to be busy (unlike Dubai) and I assume that this is because most people are eating at home with family. The bars are closed for the entire month and their employees are on vacation or re-allocated to other restaurants.
Following the meal there are prayers at the mosque, so the town is still rather quiet until this is over. Then shopping and other social activities begin.
Around 10 pm, things start to pick up. The Maktoum Championships are in full swing, including a wide variety of sports competitions – swimming, bowling, cricket, football (soccer), motorcross, interactive games (video gaming),”women’s games,” basketball, volleyball, tug-of-war, and more. I don’t know what the “women’s games” are and will refrain from making a stereotyped joke against my own. It is just a chance for them to compete in a protected venue.
So, we stopped to watch the first two motorcross races Friday night. The first one started at 10:15 pm.
There was a grandstand for spectators.
And, concessions.
Down the road a ways was the cricket game.
So, there is actually a great deal going on. You just have to be willing to be a night owl to see it or participate in it.
Posted by Kanga.
This is the only form of social media that I am allowed to access at work, so instead of expressing my joy on Twitter, Facebook or Google+, I’m doing it here.
My visa transfer and new employment visa are FINALLY completed. It has been over two months of misery, frustration, and financial precariousness (or is it precariousity? spell check says “no”).
Of course, I may be crowing too soon, since my final paycheck from June has not actually hit the bank account, yet. There is no reason that it shouldn’t, but if there is one thing this whole process has taught me is that there is always room for a catch-22 and it is more “probable” than ‘possible.”
So, again, for any readers looking for “living abroad” advice – NEVER DO A VISA TRANSFER!
Posted by Kanga.
In our continuing exploration of eating in Fujairah, we went to the Bamboo Lounge at the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club.
Only after I had spent several minutes debating whether to get sushi or the seafood platter, did the waitress inform us that the sushi chef had gone on vacation, so no sushi.
So, seafood platter it was. I had trouble figuring out which was the calamari because it was not cut in the usual rings and was the softest calamari I have ever had. All in all, very nice and more than I could finish.
DaddyBird had the pad thai. Which he reported to be good.
Posted by Kanga.
We were checking out another discount store when I discovered these gems.
How could I not buy such an appetizing item. I had to see just what these candy teeth were. At 10 AED ($2.70 USD) it seemed like a cheap enough experiment.
Inside the box were 24 individual bags of 9 or 10 pieces. They are gummy gums (sorry, I couldn’t resist). They are softer than gummy bears and actually quite tasty. I rather like them. Also, notice that they are halal.
Posted by Kanga.
Due to the small space in our kitchen allotted laundry machinery, we have a single machine that both washes and dries clothes.
This is a new experience. I don’t think these are sold in the States. It takes a very long running time to dry clothes. It also does a thorough job of wrinkling everything. It appears I will be ironing all my outer clothes.
Posted by Kanga.
Dear Waitstaff,
Please never utter the word “momsir.” It is two words, ma’am and sir. Also, please use sparingly, not before and after every sentence.
If a plate is completely emptied of food, you do not need to ask if you can remove it from the table. We don’t want to have to give permission for the removal of each and every dish.
If the customer asks for something special, like real lemon or more syrup, you don’t have to overcompensate by bringing more than they could possibly use.
If there is still liquid in a glass, do not remove it, especially if it is an expensive drink. We’d like to finish it, thank you.
If your customer is paying by card, do not hover while they are signing the transaction slip. It will decrease your tip every time.
Please do not have loud conversations with other staff or customers. Especially if you are discussing your private life not so privately.
And, most importantly, do not sing along with the “mood music.” You are not on [insert country here] Has Talent.
We understand that your job is difficult with long hours and small pay. If our stay in your establishment is pleasant, we will try to return the favor.
Posted by Kanga.
These are the tomes that came with my printer/scanner. Why so thick? Because they are in all the languages listed on the front cover. The instructions contained in the “Getting Started” manual would have fit in a single page, if it had only been in English.
Living the Travel Channel 