Posted by Kanga.
The businesses here are often small by American standards, but this is the epitome, I think. This man has a small booth in a parking lot on a busy street where he does watch repair. I don’t have any broken watches, but I could use some new batteries, so I will have to go back some evening.
Posted by Kanga.
Meet our new kitchen table.
The table itself is not important. It’s just an Ikea table with drop leaf sides and a few drawers. The cats were disappointed to find the drawers too small for them to get into. No, the important thing here and the reason for this post is the table runner.
This was made by an Emirati woman as part of the Sougha program of the Khalifa Fund. Emirati women who are skilled in the traditional weaving craft used in creating bedouin tents have been encouraged to develop smaller products and keep the weaving tradition alive and well.
My first purchase was a carry bag just the right size for my iPad. We’ve made our purchases at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair the last two years. They sell at other events and festivals, so keep your eyes peeled for Sougha products.
Info on other blogs & articles:
Cultural Arts Travelogue
The Office of the Brand of Abu Dhabi
Gulf News
The National
This picture was taken near Ohala (Wahala). I’ve lived in very rainy, verdant places and in semi-arid desert areas. I find that there is a beauty to every variation of nature. Even this dry, rocky terrain is beautiful.
Our circuitous route on our Monday drive took us near the Oman border.
We had a debate about this fence as to whether it is the Oman border or not. DaddyBird argues that is it for something else, a restricted area of some kind. The map supports his position.
In the 21st century, this is what checking the map looks like.
Well, that is the last post resulting from our one afternoon road trip last Monday. Hope you enjoyed it.
Posted by Kanga.
This episode is about Wadi Al Helo, which is actually part of the Sharjah emirate, not Fujairah, but was part of our road trip. (Alternate spellings include Hilo, Helou, Halou)
We’ve driven through Wadi Al Helo several times, because it is on the Sharjah-Kalba road, but this time we actually got off the road to take a closer look.
Wadi Al Helo has a long history of habitation back to the early bronze age and is an archaeological site. In recent years, there has been some major work done as evidenced by at least three hillsides that have been carved out to form terraces where modern houses have been built.
We drove up onto one of these terraces and found exactly what we expected, a pleasant neighborhood with a mosque.
There are several government buildings in Wadi Al Helo, but we did not see any retail businesses. There must be at least one grocery, but we did not come across it.
Below the terraces, in the valley, are farms and palm groves.
Posted by Kanga.
Okay, there are no bears, but there are plenty of goats and donkeys just roaming around, nibbling on whatever they can find.
Donkeys come in a range of colors from light tan to black. They usually travel in pairs.
And sheep, too! In the background is the Ohala Fort/Castle. (Alternate spelling Wahla or Wahala) This is close to the Oman border.
It is amazing that they find anything to eat in this harsh environment, but they do.
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!
Living the Travel Channel 