United Arab Emirates | Living the Travel Channel

Archive for the ‘United Arab Emirates’ Category

How Not to House Hunt

April 30, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

Trips to Fujairah for house hunting have begun. There are currently two routes. The Sharjah-Kalba road is the route of choice. There is less traffic and an interesting variation of scenery.

Our first trip involved absolutely no actual viewing of rental housing, because we had not prepared and contacted real estate agencies ahead of time. So, we decided to make the most of our day. We went to the Fujairah Museum which has some nice displays of artifacts from ancient settlements.

I don’t know why I continue to be surprised by proof of the impact of America on the region, but locally minted coins with American presidents or Apollo astronauts on them always catch me off guard.

There were several postage stamps depicting Charles de Gaulle. This one also has John F. Kennedy.

As usual, there were signs that some things never change.

On our second trip we visited the central souk (market). There is an amazing display of lovely vegetables. That box of ripe tomatoes is priced 10 AED ($2.70). Yes, the BOX.

We did eventually look at three apartments in a new building on the east end of town. The living rooms and bedrooms were large. The kitchens varied. The maid’s rooms, however, were astonishing. The first one was so small and poorly arranged that it would not be possible to get a small bed into it. How a human is supposed to live in there, I don’t know.

The apartment/villa hunt will continue.

Posted in food, Fujairah, museum | Tagged coins, Fujairah, moving, museum, souk, stamps, vegetables | 4 Comments »

Bugging Out

April 22, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

It is about as official as it can get, so it is time to announce our future move from Dubai to Fujairah. (see map) My contract with my current employer is drawing to a close and my last day of work will be June 16th. We will then scramble to move by June 30th. I will start my new job on July 10th.

Why the move? Well, the current job isn’t the right place for me. I’ve made a point of not discussing it here, but it has been a roller coaster of ups and downs and frustrations. I don’t want to be a marketing rep, a facilities manager, an IT technician, a photocopy machine attendant, or even a teacher. I want to be a librarian. Therefore, this is not the job for me.

My new job will be at the secondary school level with about 1/5 as many students and this time they will be all male. I will be the ONLY librarian, the queen of my little domain. My first royal decree may be to move the photocopier (the bane of my existence) out of sight. I advocate for the long overdue paperless society!

We have not found a new residence, yet. We will begin our housing search this weekend.

We will be taking Bert & Oliver with us. It is approximately a 2 hour drive from Dubai to Fujairah, so they should survive fairly unscathed.

We will still come back to Dubai every once in a while to combine visiting friends, visiting favorite restaurants, and shopping for those hard to find items.

I suspect that the next two months will be packed with errands, box packing, wrapping up details, and moving related stress, but there are some things we would like to do before retreating from Dubai.

Our Dubai bucket list:

Go to Ibn Battuta Mall to actually learn about Ibn Battuta
Visit the Sheikh Saeed House
Go to the Burj Khalifa observation deck on a clear day

Suggestions to add to the bucket list are welcome.

Posted in Dubai, Fujairah, work | Tagged bucket list, Burj Khalifa, Dubai, Fujairah, moving | 7 Comments »

Taken in by the Fez

March 11, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

Turkish food is my new “comfort food,” so when I saw this restaurant sign, I was hopeful that it would lead me to good food.

I suspect that someone in the 70’s or maybe 80’s made a killing installing these kitchy fiberglass waterfalls in restaurants all over the country. It’s actually rather charming.

I’ve never had my silverware wrapped quite like this before.

We ordered the vague “platter” off the breakfast menu. All but two of the items on this platter involve white bread – regular ol’ sandwich bread. The dark brown ones on the left were the tastiest, but turned out to be chicken breast meat wrapped in a slice of white bread and then deep fat fried. Just when you thought white bread couldn’t get any more unhealthy.

Posted in food, Fujairah, restaurant | 1 Comment »

Abu Dhabi Heritage Village

March 7, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

We recently spent a day in Abu Dhabi and went to the Heritage Village. We were there close to closing time, so made a quick visit. The highlights include examples of different traditional housing, like the goat hair tent above and the rock mountain house below.

Palm fronds are also used to construct barasti housing. Due to the desert environment these can last 20 years despite being 100% biodegradable.

There is also a small museum. We had to speed through it in about 5 minutes as it was closing time. It is worth going back for, so next time we’ll get there earlier and start with the museum first.

DaddyBird paused briefly to admire the coffee pots.

There were some very beautiful items on display.

This battle axe was impressive. However, I think if I was going up against an axe like that one, I would want a bigger shield.

Posted in Abu Dhabi, museum | Leave a Comment »

Traditional American Coffee Served in a Jar

March 1, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

This is a jar, ladies and gentlemen. And this, filled with coffee, was what I pictured in my head when I read “Traditional American coffee served in a jar” in the menu at La Brioche.

I also imagined just what kind of traditional Americans would drink coffee in a jar. Ma and Pa Kettle came to mind or maybe the Beverly Hillbillies.

Well, since it was only a dirham more than a regular latte, I took the bait. I had to see just what traditional American coffee in a jar was.

Okay, Frenchies, that is a coffee pot, not a jar.

Now having complained about bad translation, I must say I was happy with my coffee in a jar, because I got three cups out of it and that is almost like having free refills. (Although, considering I paid a little over $4 for it, not really free refills.)

Posted in Abu Dhabi, food | 1 Comment »

Bulls Butting Heads

July 26, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

Here’s another video of the Fujairah bull butting. Explains a little more about how it works.

Gulf News – Bull Fighting – Hooved Gladiators Lock Horns in Fujairah

To see our previous posts on the bull butting – click here.

Posted in bull butting, Fujairah | Leave a Comment »

Bull Butting Again

April 30, 2010

We went to Fujairah for the bull butting contest again, one last time before the heat and humidity get unbearable. The crowd was smaller and most of the spectators were gathered in the shade of the two large trees. I suspect we aren’t the only ones who will be taking a break from the sport until next winter.

I couldn’t pass up taking a picture of this grandfatherly figure. This is technically inside the arena. It is very dangerous, not just from the bulls, but from the panicked spectators who run frantically any time a bull heads into the crowd (and they do).

We spent a few minutes on the beach. The sand is dark. It is almost chocolate brown when it is wet. I resisted the urge to collect this shell and settled for a picture. Takes up so much less space that way.

There was a family near us and their daughters (approx. 10 yrs old) were swimming in the surf wearing full length dresses and head scarves. They were having a blast.

Fujairah’s known for its roundabout sculptures, large art works in the middle of roundabouts. (Previously posted pictures here) Unfortunately, these pictures were taken at dusk from a moving car, but you get the idea. The guy sitting on its leg is a nice touch.

After this it was off to Al Meshwar restaurant for great food, then a two hour drive back home dodging the dangerous drivers. A day well spent.

Posted in beach, bull butting, clothing, Fujairah, sea shells | Leave a Comment »

Bull Butting

March 7, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

Friday we drove to Fujairah to see the bull butting competition that is held every Friday afternoon. It was pretty entertaining and I hope you enjoy these videos.

We don’t know all the details on how this is scored and how the winner is determined, but it seems fairly simple. Two bulls are placed in an arena and they butt heads. Fairly bloodless and quite entertaining since each bout is different. It has been going on for hundreds of years. It was first introduced to the region by the Portuguese.

The bulls are tied up outside the arena until it is their turn to compete. As you can see, they dig holes, stomping and snorting while they wait. These were directly behind where I was standing, so you will hear them in the background of the videos.

The arena is simply a large sandy area. The fences have only recently been added. There is a chain link fence around the outside and a metal railing inside that and most of the spectators stand behind the metal railing. You will notice, however, that there are several people (including children) sitting or standing in the arena. We happened to be at one of the corners where the bulls enter/leave, so you will see a few closeups as they pass by.

The men who handle (and try to control) the bulls are barefoot. One is armed only with a long riding crop. There is a rope around each bull’s neck which they use to pull the bulls apart and lead them. The bulls all have rings in their noses and before and after the bouts they are lead using a rope that is threaded through that ring. There are no rodeo clowns and no riders on cutting horses.

This first video is a fairly straightforward bout. Not too many surprises.

This second video shows a bit of a stalemate with the bulls standing still head to head. It turns into a bit of a tug of war toward the end.

This last video is the most exciting. Keep your eyes on the spotted bull.

How did we find out about this spectacle? Another expats blog – Focus on Fujairah and it was written up in TimeOut Dubai, a local entertainment guide magazine.

We attempted to see this event last year – see previous post – but it was canceled that day.

Posted in animals, bull butting, Fujairah, video | 1 Comment »

Happy National Day!

December 3, 2009

Thirty-eight years ago today the United Arab Emirates came into being. It existed prior to that, but it was referred to as the Trucial States and lacked a centralized government.

We recently visited Shindagha (a second time) and toured the house of Sheikh Saeed bin Makhtoum al Makhtoum (grandfather to the current ruler of Dubai) which is a very nice and educational museum. We highly recommend it. They have a nicely displayed collection of photographs, coins, currency, stamps and documents.

Large homes of this period are a series of rooms around a courtyard. Three, possibly four generations lived here at one time. This house fell into disrepair, but underwent a detailed and thorough reconstruction in the 1980’s. The structures with the poles sticking out of them are wind towers which funnel any breeze from any direction down into the house as a form of early air conditioning. This particular area is right on the coast, so there is a fair amount of breeze, even in the hot months.

Posted in museum, United Arab Emirates | Leave a Comment »

More Comparison

October 18, 2009

So here’s the dome of the Emirates Palace Hotel looking up from below with my old camera:

Here’s what it really looks like with a good camera:
Man, that new camera was worth every penny.

There are two gigantic tapestries. One showing the hotel in a daylight scene and one in a nighttime scene.